Days after Drake dropped Honestly, Nevermind, Beyoncé is back with a dance music offering of her own. Here’s Kevin Bourne with his Break My Soul single review.
Move over Drake. The queen Beyoncé is taking a crack at the dance music vibes with her brand new song “Break My Soul”, the lead single off her upcoming 16-track album Renaissance; her first studio album since Lemonade. Since then she blessed her fans with Homecoming: The Live Album and The Lion King: The Gift, as well as the track “Be Alive” from the King Richard soundtrack.
With her new single it’s now official―house music is the sound of the summer, much to the disappointment of some (including yours truly). Now, I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist, but is this what Drake meant when he said, “It’s all good if you don’t get it yet…”? Maybe a memo went out among the top artists to band together to reclaim house/dance music as Black music.
The upbeat dance track is an inspirational anthem about freedom and strength as she repeats “You won’t break my soul”. If you grew up in Toronto in the 90’s, this is something you would’ve heard on Electric Circus on Saturdays. Think Robin S. and Sandeville’s 1993 smash “Show Me Love”.
She goes into the stresses of going to work all day, being overworked and not being able to sleep at night, before telling us to release ourselves of the things that would try to break our souls.
Release ya anger, release ya mind
Release ya job, release the time
Release ya trade, release the stress
Release the love, forget the rest
Building on that, she then encourages us to take control of our lives and live life on our own terms.
I’m looking for a new foundation, yeah
And I’m on that new vibration
I’m buildin’ my own foundation, yeah
Similar to Drake, she should at least be commending for trying something different. Where this song differs from Drake’s offering is in its execution. Whereas Drake’s album appeared to be a modern, Drake-ified interpretation of dance music, this is a throwback to the original sound, creating a sense of nostalgia, familiarity and timelessness. It’s also different from Honestly, Nevermind in that Black dance music was known historically for powerful vocals. Again, this makes “Break My Soul” feel more familiar, but less innovative than Drake’s release. Nevertheless, she makes up for it with a few bars, playing around with her flow and delivery.
We will have to wait until July 29th to find out if this sound is carried throughout the whole project, and if so, will Drake manage to hold on to those dance music streaming records? It will also be interesting to see who the next artist will be to jump on this new Black dance/house music wave because we know it’s coming.
“Break My Soul” is available on all major streaming platforms.
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