The first single from Beyoncé‘s upcoming new album ‘RENAISSANCE’, ‘Break My Soul’, has been released.
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The pop icon announced last week that she would be releasing her seventh solo album – the follow-up to 2016’s acclaimed ‘Lemonade’ – on July 29.
News of the record came after she recently deleted her profile pictures from her official social media accounts, marking the beginning of a new musical era for the former Destiny’s Child singer.
Using her social media profile pages once again, on June 20 Beyoncé informed fans via her Instagram and Twitter bios that the lead single from ‘RENAISSANCE’, a song called ‘Break My Soul’, would be released tonight at midnight EST (5am GMT).
In another surprise, the lyric video for ‘Break My Soul’ has been released two hours early. The song also got an early release on TIDAL. “I’mma let down my hair / ‘Cause I lost my mind / Bey is back and I’m sleeping real good at night,” she declares. Listen to the song below:
As Stereogum notes, ‘Break My Soul’ samples both ‘Show Me Love’ by Robin S and ‘Explode’ by Big Freedia, whom Beyoncé collaborated with on ‘Formation’. On Twitter, the New Orleans bounce icon said it was “surreal” to work with Beyoncé again.
It feels surreal to be on the track with the Queen Beyonce once again I’m so honored to be apart of this special moment I’m forever grateful lord 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾💪🏾❤️❤️❤️❤️🔥🔥🔥🔥someone please catch me 🤩 #beyonce #bigfreedia #BreakMySoul pic.twitter.com/AL8jn5lX6J
— Big Freedia 💋 (@bigfreedia) June 21, 2022
Also credited on the track are The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, who previously worked with Bey on ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’, as well as Jay-Z and BlaqNmilD.
It was previously reported that ‘RENAISSANCE’ will feature pop and country tracks with contributions from Ryan Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman and hit songwriter who co-wrote Beyoncé’s 2008 hit ‘Halo’.
Another contributor is said to be Raphael Saadiq, who, besides being co-founder of pioneering R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! and the brainchild of early 2000s supergroup Lucy Pearl, has crafted hits as a songwriter for Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé’s sister Solange for her 2016 album ‘A Seat At The Table’.
Beyoncé confirmed she was working on new music last summer. “I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she explained. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.”
The singer continued: “Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”
Back in November, Beyoncé dropped a powerful new track called ‘Be Alive’ which appears on the soundtrack for the Will Smith-starring King Richard.
Jimmy Kimmel, meanwhile, recently apologised to Beyoncé for mispronouncing her name for “20 years”.