Songfacts®:

• "Break My Soul" is a house jam where Beyoncé refuses to let the stresses of work and the pandemic era break her soul. She quits her job, steps outside, and takes in the positive energy.
• That beat sounds really familiar because it's sampled from the 1990 house-pop hit "Show Me Love" by Robin S. Other artists who have sampled that classic single include:
  
  Jason Derulo for his 2011 hit "Don't Wanna Go Home."
  
  Kid Ink on his 2013 cut "Show Me."
  
  Dutch DJ Sam Feldt's 2015 remake of the same title. A slowed-down deep-house version featuring vocals from Kimberly Anne, it peaked at #4 on the UK singles chart.
  
  Charli XCX for her 2022 track "Used To Know Me."
• The "release the wiggle!" hook, along with the other "release" lyrics ("Release ya anger, release ya mind...) are sampled from the New Orleans bounce veteran Big Freedia's 2014 track "Explode." This is not the first time Big Freedia has appeared on a Beyoncé tune. She previously provided a spoken interlude on Lemonade's lead single, "Formation."
• Allen George and Fred McFarlane, who wrote "Show Me Love," are listed as co-writers along with Big Freedia and her "Express" producer BlaqNmilD, plus Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. R&B and pop icons Tricky Stewart and The-Dream previously worked with Bey on her 2008 hit "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."
• Beyoncé co-produced the track with Tricky Stewart and The-Dream.
• Beyoncé released "Break My Soul" on June 20, 2022 as the lead single from Renaissance, her first solo album since 2016's Lemonade. "With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again," she told Harper's Bazaar. "I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible."
• Robin S. only discovered Beyoncé's sample of "Show Me Love" via social media. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, the house music icon explained that because she didn't write her hit song, Beyoncé's team didn't need to clear the sample with her. "My son called me and he's like, 'Mom, mom, you're trending all over the place,'" she said. "You know Beyoncé put her song out and it's 'Show Me Love' and you're trending everywhere!"
  
  "This message goes out to the Queen Bey - herself - Beyoncé, to Jay-Z, to the entire team," Robin S added. "Thank you so much for giving me my flowers while I'm still alive."
• "Break My Soul" debuted at #10 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. It was the first song to premiere in the Top 10 of that tally since Toni Braxton's "You're Makin' Me High" opened at #9 26 years previously in May 1996.
• Beyoncé took to TikTok for the first time on July 14, 2022 when she posted a compilation of TikTok creators shaking, grooving and, singing to "Break My Soul." Cardi B made a surprise appearance, where she shouts the lyrics, "In case you forgot how we act outside."
• During this song, Beyoncé encourages fans to quit people and places that break their souls. In the first verse, she steps away from her arduous employment.
  
  Now, I just fell in love, and I just quit my job
  I'm gonna find new drive, damn, they work me so damn hard
  Work by nine, then off past five
  And they work my nerves, that's why I cannot sleep at night
  
  The lyric trended on TikTok after users uploaded amusing memes where they quit their jobs.
• Beyoncé dropped a remixes EP on August 3, 2022, with four refreshed versions of "Break My Soul." They are:
  
  A 3:58 will.i.am remix
  A 5:30 version by Chicago house DJ Terry Hunter
  A 6:27 interpretation by house queen Honey Dijon
  A 9:54 club mix by New York producer/DJ Nita Aviance
  
  Dijon is credited as a songwriter on two Renaissance tracks: "Alien Superstar" and "Cozy."
  
  According to Will.i.am, he inspired Beyoncé's remix EP. "I was in France and her song came out and I'm like, 'I wish the beat did this,'" he told Britain's Metro newspaper. "So I called my collabo partner and we did it remotely on FYI, a collaboration tool."
  
  "They weren't thinking about remixes until I sent it," Will.i.am added. "They put out a remix EP and my song's first one on it - and I inspired it!"
• Beyoncé dropped another remix featuring Madonna on August 5, 2022. A core theme around Renaissance is LGBTQ club culture, and vogueing is a popular dance among the gay community. When Madonna brought it to the mainstream with her 1990 hit "Vogue" it solidified her standing as a gay icon. "Break My Soul The Queens Remix" interpolates "Vogue" with an alternative list of iconic black music artists and legendary ballroom houses (places where Black and Latinx queer, gay and trans people hang out).
• When "Break My Soul" climbed to #1 on the Hot 100, it became Beyoncé's sixth chart-topper as a solo artist and first in over 13 years. Her previous visit to the summit in a lead role was "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" in 2008-'09. Since then her collabs with Ed Sheeran ("Perfect") and Megan Thee Stallion ("Savage") have reached the chart's peak position.
• "Break My Soul" won Song of the Year at the 2022 Soul Train Awards. Beyoncé also took home the prize for Album of the Year for Renaissance, and the Ronald Isley and The Isley Brothers' song "Make Me Say It Again, Girl," on which she features, was named the Best Collaboration.
• "Break My Soul" picked up a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Recording at the 2023 ceremony, one of four awards Beyoncé won that night. This brought her lifetime total to 32, setting a new record for most Grammy wins by an artist.
• Beyoncé delivered the debut live performance of "Break My Soul" when she kicked off her Renaissance world tour in Stockholm, Sweden on May 10, 2023. She also premiered live several other songs from Renaissance, including "Summer Renaissance," "Church Girl" and "Cuff It."
• A New Orleans group named Da Showstoppaz brought legal action against Beyoncé, claiming "Break My Soul" used lyrics from their 2002 song "Release A Wiggle." The copyright lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed on August 8, 2024. The court filing did not mention a settlement agreement, meaning that it is likely that the case was simply dropped.