Beyoncé's “break my soul”: An anthem of courage, resistance, peace, and community

Abstract In 2023, Beyoncé became the artist with the most Grammys in music history. Her dance track, “Break My Soul,” from her Renaissance album,* is a radical statement about community and self‐affirmation grounded in Black and queer cultural specificity. This article explores “Break My Soul” as an anthem of uplift, advice, and unity that offers hope and reprieve to a world emerging from a global pandemic and a “racial reckoning” galvanized by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's murder of George Floyd.