Singer-songwriter Beyoncé performs onstage during The 59th Grammy Awards at Staples Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty Images
Singer-songwriter Beyoncé performs onstage during The 59th Grammy Awards at Staples Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty Images
Beyoncé's first single from her upcoming album is just hours away from release.
Unusually, the Grammy-winner didn't announce the song via a tweet or Instagram post. Instead, she changed her bio on all social media pages to read: "6. BREAK MY SOUL midnight ET."
Photo / Twitter @beyonce
This song will mark the first proper look at her seventh solo studio album Renaissance, set for release on July 29. Beyoncé revealed the project only days earlier, alongside a cover shoot with British Vogue.
Fans were expecting the singer to drop the song on Juneteenth, as she did two years ago with her single Black Parade, but this new track appears to have different aims. Pitchfork reports that Break My Soul was intentionally chosen to drop on the summer solstice and signals the start of a new era for the megastar.
Sources told Variety that the album will feature both dance and country-leaning songs, and will feature tracks produced by hit songwriters Ryan Teddy and Raphael Saadiq.
The 16-song project is titled Renaissance: Act I on Beyoncé's website, fuelling speculation there could be more to come beyond the July 29 release date.
Earlier this month, Beyoncé set off alarm bells that something big was coming when she wiped all pictures off her social media accounts. Her Twitter and Instagram profile pictures have still not been repopulated.
Renaissance will be Beyoncé's first solo studio album since 2016's Lemonade and Break My Soul is the artist's first new single since last year's Be Alive.
Although Lemonade was her last solo project, Beyoncé has actually dropped four albums in the years since.
In 2018 she released Everything is Love, a joint effort with husband Jay-Z; in 2019 she dropped Homecoming, a 40-track compilation of her legendary Coachella performance; and later that year she followed up with a regular and a deluxe edition of The Lion King: The Gift, a companion album to the Disney film that earned her the Grammy Award for Best R&B performance in 2021.
Beyoncé performs during the ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty Images
That victory was Beyoncé's 28th Grammy, making her the new record holder for most Grammys won by a female artist, topping the 27 held by Alison Kraus.
Beyoncé met British Vogue's editor-in-chief Edward Enninful for the magazine's July issue, and he recently gave insight into her plans for Renaissance.
Writing about their meeting, Enninful said: "New music is coming - a thrilling abundance of it.
"The creation has been a long process, she explains, with the pandemic giving her far longer to spend thinking and re-thinking every decision. Just the way she likes it."
