Beyoncé Releases Surprise Four-Track EP of ‘Break My Soul’ Remixes
Beyoncé surprised fans on 4th August by releasing a four-song remix EP of her ‘Renaissance’ single ‘Break My Soul’.
The EP, which includes four revamped versions of the lead track with the same name, features contributions from Nita Aviance, Terry Hunter, Honey Dijon and will.i.am.
The Black Eyed Peas frontman, for his part, reduces the song’s basic bounce beat, while Hunter adds church organs for a more ethereal interpretation of the album’s signature ballroom sound.
While adding trance cadences and tribal drum beats respectively, Aviance and Dijon stretch the original song’s duration past the six-minute mark. Dijon’s tune expands on her prior work with the record; before, she served as a producer on the songs ‘Cozy’ and ‘Alien Superstar’ from the ‘Renaissance’ album.
The EP’s selection of well-known dance music artists is consistent with the album’s sonic focus.
In a four-star review for NME, Kyann-Sian Williams wrote that ‘Renaissance’ is “indebted to house music and New Orleans bounce”, and pays “homage to that scene’s unique spirit”.
In a similar vein, Dijon praised the album’s larger presentation of “black queer and trans culture” and thanked Beyoncé for revealing her “Chicago house music roots” on Instagram. Dijon wrote, “I am honoured, humbled, delirious with joy, and proud.”
Following 2016’s ‘Lemonade,’ Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, ‘Renaissance,’ debuted last week to mostly positive reviews. On 4th August, fellow singer Lil Nas X praised the record, saying it is kind of transforming his life somehow.
However, there have been some problems with the release of ‘Renaissance’. The first of them were allegations that Beyoncé had utilised parts of Kelis’ ‘Milkshake’ without the latter’s express permission in the tune ‘Energy’.
Along with a change to the lyrics of ‘Heated,’ a fresh version of the single without the interpolation was released on Tidal and Apple Music on 3rd August.
The term ‘spaz’ was removed from ‘Heated’s’ lyrics on Apple Music earlier this month as a consequence of outcry for its usage of an ableist slur in the outro. It came after Lizzo received similar critiques for removing the same word from her track ‘Grrrls’ a few weeks prior.
The information about Beyoncé’s larger trilogy record, of which ‘Renaissance’ is a part, was uncovered by a fan who received a vinyl copy of the album.
“This three-act project was recorded over three years during the pandemic,” Beyoncé wrote in the vinyl’s accompanying booklet, saying the period was “a time I found to be the most creative.”
—Silviya.Y
