It’s finally here –the first single from Renaissance, pop queen Beyonce’s first solo album in six years, has been released today, and it’s guaranteed to be on every dance floor around the world for the forseeable future.

Break My Soul is a fun and upbeat track co-produced by Tricky Stewart and The-Dream, the same team that brought us Single Ladies. It also has huge ’90s vibes, partially thanks to the fact it samples the iconic 1993 house anthem Show Me Love from Robin S.

The song was scheduled to hit streaming platforms at 2pm AEST, but was released two hours early through Tidal and YouTube. And though fans will have to wait until July 29 to hear the full album, this single will no doubt serve as a preview of what’s to come.

Beyonce has been building careful hype around the project by dropping cryptic clues on her social media. Earlier this month she deleted all her profile photos across Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube (a common publicity tactic used by other artists like Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar). Her website also teased something new with placeholder album art reading “What is a B7?” and “B8″.

The artist then later shared the words “act i … RENAISSANCE”, suggesting this will be a multi-part release. Renaissance will be her seventh solo album, and her first since Lemonade in 2016.

Beyonce has released plenty of new music since then, however. In 2018 she dropped Everything Is Love, a collaborative album with her husband Jay-Z. In 2019, she released a number of original songs on the soundtrack to the live-action The Lion King (which she also starred in). In 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Beyonce released Black Parade – a single that dropped on Juneteenth, with proceeds going towards her charity fund which provides support for Black-owned small businesses. And last year she also had an original track on the Richard Williams’ biopic King Richard.

But the prospect of a new solo album is something entirely different. Fans aren’t just waiting for new music; they’re waiting for a new era and a new artistic statement.