LOS ANGELES, CA – A new Beyoncé era has begun.
Less than a week after announcing her upcoming seventh album “Renaissance,” Beyoncé dropped the record’s first single “Break My Soul” on Monday, June 20.
The upbeat, feel-good dance track, which was co-produced by The Dream and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, features samples from Robin S’ 1993 song “Show Me Love” and Big Freedia’s 2014 bounce song “Explode.”
While the song was scheduled to hit streaming services at midnight ET, Tidal subscribers appeared to get early access to the new track when it was released on the streaming service – which is co-owned by Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z – three hours early.
Sonically, the 16-track album is set to feature more dance and country-inspired songs and will also include songwriting contributions from Ryan Tedder and Raphael Saadiq, according to Variety.
Tedder, who is also the front man for the pop rock band One Republic, co-wrote Beyoncé’s 2008 smash hit “Halo,” while Saadiq previously produced Solange Knowles’ acclaimed 2016 album “A Seat At The Table.”
Although Queen Bey’s 2016 album “Lemonade” marked her last solo record, her dedicated fans, known collectively as the BeyHive, never had to wait too long for new material, as the 28-time Grammy winner continued to release several other projects including: the 2018 album “Everything Is Love,” which she and Jay-Z cooked up under the duo name The Carters and her 2019 “Homecoming” album that featured live tracks from her now iconic 2018 Coachella performance.
She also released “The Lion King: The Gift” album, which included new songs from her and featured appearances from several artists including Donald Glover, Burna Boy, Kendrick Lamar, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Tiwa Savage, 070 Shake, and others, after lending her voice to the Disney film in 2019.
“Renaissance” is now available for pre-save on Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music and is set to be released on Friday, July 29.
