The first single from Beyoncé's Renaissance, "Break My Soul," drops tonight at midnight EST
The artist's long-awaited full-length follow up to Lemonade is set for a July 29 release
No, this is not a drill: just days after announcing her highly-anticipated new studio album Renaissance will be out July 29, Beyoncé appears to have confirmed the project’s leading single, “Break My Soul,” will drop tonight at midnight EST/ 9 p.m. PST.
The artist updated her social media bios on Monday morning to read: “6. BREAK MY SOUL midnight ET.” The number preceding the song title seems to confirm “Break My Soul” is the sixth track on the album.
Hawkeyed fans on social media have already noted that Renaissance appears to be a 16-track album. When Beyoncé first announced the new project last Thursday, she also included the subtitle “act i,” hinting that Renaissance may be split up into multiple parts.
Per Variety, the new project will feature contributions from OneRepublic songwriter Ryan Tedder and Rafael Saadiq, a legendary hitmaker who has worked with Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo and Stevie Wonder, among others. Saadiq is no stranger to the Knowles family— he also worked on Beyoncé’s sister Solange’s acclaimed 2016 album A Seat At The Table.
Although Beyoncé contributed her talents to the recent King Richard and The Lion King soundtracks, she has not released a solo studio album since 2016's visually breathtaking Lemonade. She collaborated with husband Jay-Z for 2018's Everything Is Love, and released a live album from her historic Coachella set in 2019 entitled Homecoming.
While some outlets predicted that Beyoncé would release a new track to honor Juneteenth on Sunday, as she did with 2020's “Black Parade,” the timing of “Break My Soul” doesn’t necessarily seem related to the holiday. However, for any workers enjoying a Monday day off, a midnight release tonight is the perfect way to cap off a celebratory weekend before heading back to the office. Queen B really does always keep the hive in mind.