The rapper appears on the singer’s latest single after first collaborating on ‘Formation.’
Beyoncé is back with her first new album in six years, and she gave fans a taste of what’s in store with the release of “Break My Soul,” the first single from Renaissance. Not only that, but the vibrant new song reunited the singer with Big Freedia, the famed New Orleans bounce artist who previously appeared on “Formation.”
While speaking with ET’s Kevin Frazier, the rapper opened up about what it meant to be featured on the new single. “I was just grateful and I was honored to be a part of something so iconic and so amazing,” she says, before revealing how the collaboration came together.
“My manager called and said, 'Beyoncé wanted to use one of your songs on her new album.' And I was like, ‘Holy crap. What is going on? Another One?’ I was like, ‘This is happening again?” the rapper recalls, explaining that “Break My Soul” features a sample of her 2014 single, “Explode.”
Invited out to Los Angeles, “they played the track a couple of times,” Freedia says. And that’s where she got to listen to the ‘90s house-influenced record, on which she can be heard rapping, “Release ya anger, release ya mind / Release ya job, release the time / Release ya trade, release the stress / Release the love, forget the rest.”
Much to her surprise, Beyoncé was also at the studio and the two were able to briefly talk about their musical collaboration. “So, we get to hang out and talk and she tells me how she’s grateful for being a part of this track,” the rapper shares. “And I’m like, ‘No, I’m grateful for you calling me to be a part of this track and having me on it.’”
Of course, things were strictly business and Freedia was only there to discuss her contributions to Renaissance, which drops on July 29. But that didn’t stop the rapper from dishing about the upcoming album.
“I know that this is going to be something very special for her coming back out,” Freedia says.
Like “Formation,” which was about the singer reclaiming her southern roots while the accompanying music video shined a light on a post-Katrina New Orleans and ongoing police brutality, “Break My Soul” also speaks to the moment it’s being released in.
Coming out as the world has started to open up again after the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down for the last two years, Beyoncé’s new music “is something that will bring us back to being outside,” Freedia says, explaining that it will speak “to being on the dance floor, to feeling alive and liberated and free.”
The rapper adds, “It’s going to be motivational and inspirational for all of us.”
Meanwhile, Freedia is just trying to stay in the moment and soak all of it in. “My phone has not stopped blowing up since last night,” she says, revealing that when she first heard “Break My Soul,” “I was just, like, in tears, grateful, still trying to pinch myself to wake up.”
“It was an amazing moment last night,” she adds, explaining that “Beyoncé means a lot to me. She has given me an opportunity to showcase my talents to the world and to be a part of something so inspirational and iconic.”
Prior to her conversation with ET, Freedia took to Twitter to share her feelings about appearing on the single. “It feels surreal to be on the track with the Queen Beyonce once again,” the rapper wrote. “I’m so honored to be apart of this special moment[.] I’m forever grateful[. Lord] someone please catch me.”
While looking back on her first time working with Beyoncé, Freedia tells ET, “I was just grateful for that phone call. That phone call changed my life… That changed a lot for me, after that song came out.”
RELATED CONTENT:
