WASHINGTON — Beyoncé's fans were in for a treat after "The Queen B" released the first single of her upcoming album Monday night.
The Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter dropped "BREAK MY SOUL" -- but first dropped some hints. Earlier in the day, she changed her bio to a vague message just a few words long: "6. BREAK MY SOUL midnight ET."
The song released a couple hours early on streaming platform TIDAL and on YouTube. In the track's chorus, Beyoncé sings: "You won’t break my soul / You won’t break my soul / You won’t break my soul / You won’t break my soul / I’m telling everybody".
The Monday hint took the internet by storm, with fans across the globe counting down the minutes until the single's release -- and flooding social media with GIFs of the 40-year-old star in anticipation of the drop.
"BREAK MY SOUL" is the first single off Beyoncé's upcoming seventh studio album, “Renaissance,” which is due out July 29. Her last single was “Black Parade,” which was released in 2020 to mark Juneteenth.
Her visual album, “Black Is King,” was also released 2020 and is the companion to the 2019 "The Lion King" remake's soundtrack. Her last full-length album was 2016’s “Lemonade,” which received universal acclaim and was celebrated by some outlets like the Associated Press as the best album of the decade.
According to British Vogue, Beyoncé took six years between albums both because of her own creative process and the pandemic, but it ultimately gave her "far longer to spend thinking and rethinking every decision. Just the way she likes it."
"The way we will be waking up to a new Beyoncé single tomorrow!!!" wrote former X-Factor UK contestant Jack Remmington as the caption of a photo of Beyoncé emotionally throwing her hands in the air. "We won!!!"
Fans also jokingly pointed out how the star is seemingly returning to old music-industry habits of releasing new music on Tuesdays, with global record labels now typically releasing albums on Fridays after Beyoncé set the trend and did just that with her 2013 album.