It’s safe to say that electronic dance music is making an aggressive U-turn back into the mainstream pop world. Drake released a surprise house-inspired album last week and now the Queen of modern pop music, Beyoncé, has her own on the way. It’s amazing to see a rise in Black visibility in dance music after much discourse on it over the past couple of months.
And, after six years since her last solo release – the stonker of an album, ‘Lemonade’, Beyoncé is here to get you so excited for her next record, ‘Reinassance’, with its lead single ‘Break My Soul’. Opening up with the scratchy choppiness of New Orleans bounce, sampling its pioneer Big Freedia, ‘Break My Soul’ is a track to make you feel larger-than-life.
With the simple boing of house synths, Queen Bey attempts to master popular dance and nu-disco sounds, but isn’t always successful as the track doesn’t breathe much. Maybe it’s because we’re used to hearing Beyoncé produce fun-loving pop-R&B tracks that instantly get you grooving; this doesn’t keep you hooked for its full duration.
However, ‘Break My Soul’ seems to really be pushing Beyoncé, and (according to her latest interview with British Vogue) this is her whole goal with her next release. You have to commend that. Singing over dance tracks is not easy, and only the best R&B stars can do so. On the other hand, when the Texan queen of pop reaches the breakdown and starts rapping, she hit every single beat; there is not one flaw at all in the breakdown. It’s sassy, full of pride, and you can definitely predict that everyone would get in formation as soon as Beyoncé says “the queens in the front, and the doms in the back”.
Beyoncé has made a powerful comeback with her latest single, and if this is anything to go by, her upcoming dance album will be a huge hit. ‘Break My Soul’ is more than a few tempo and melody issues – thanks to its beautiful message of confidence.
With dance music (especially disco) being the sound of revolution when ballroom culture started to evolve, electronic music has always been significant to queer spaces. So with Beyoncé using the genre to tell those “searching for something that lives inside [them]” to get motivation to build their own foundations, this is a motivation track. And if you don’t need any motivation, then you can simply enjoy this track, turning any walkway into a runway.
The post Beyoncé’s new song ‘Break My Soul’ is a confidence-oozing comeback that embraces nu-disco appeared first on NME.
