The song's impact on the public consciousness led to widespread recognition as the anthem of the movement, serving as a cultural symbol of the profound societal shift taking place.

In an interview with the British Vogue in June 2022, Beyoncé announced her upcoming seventh studio album Renaissance, the first part of a trilogy series, for release on July 29,[1] and called it "her most ambitious musical project to date".

[3][14] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times called the track a "thumping 1990s-style house jam" with lyrics that connect the song "explicitly to its roots in Black and queer communities".

[15] Others wrote that the record is a "boisterous and euphoric slice of '90s diva house" (Tara Joshi of The Guardian),[16] a "confidence-oozing comeback that embraces nu-disco" (Kyann-Sian Williams of NME),[17] and "the mother of all dance-pop tunes" (Jack King of GQ).

[18] Lyrically, the track sees Beyoncé "using her growliest voice to describe a search for liberation from a crushing job... and a nerve-jangling pandemic" and is "filled with dancefloor-friendly lines... and a repeated exhortation of 'Everybody'."

[20] "Break My Soul" prominently samples Big Freedia's 2014 bounce song "Explode" and takes heavy inspiration from Robin S.'s 1993 house-pop single "Show Me Love".

[23] In a five-star review for i, Lauren O'Neill described "Break My Soul" as a "floorfilling home run of a comeback" that makes you "give in to the impulses of your body and lose yourself in it".

[14] Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Pitchfork called the track "dancefloor liberation" that features "Beyoncé as an SSRI, her attempt to assuage widespread depression and crushing stress."

She goes on to highlight the song's position in a lineage of vocal house music and "Black queer tradition", calling it a "palimpsest [with] evocations and sounds layered deep in the sense memories of club heads.

"[26] Writing for NME, Kyann-Sian Williams reported that "It's amazing to see a rise in black visibility in dance music" referring to Drake's Honestly, Nevermind alongside "Break My Soul".

[17] Writing for Billboard, Larisha Paul highlighted the song's "nearly five-minute run time in an algorithmic streaming age where even venturing beyond three minutes feels like a risk."

He further praised her for honoring dance music's Black and queer origins, building on her transformation into "one of the key sociopolitical artists of the past decade" that began with Lemonade (2016).

[54] Following the release of Renaissance, "Break My Soul" ascended to the top of the Hot 100, becoming Beyoncé's eighth number-one single as a solo artist and her twelfth including Destiny's Child.

In doing so, Beyoncé holds the eighth-longest span between first and most recent number-one songs on the chart as a solo artist, with 19 years and one month since "Crazy in Love" featuring Jay-Z began its eight weeks at the summit on July 12, 2003.

[58][59] The following week, the song climbed 17 positions to reach a new peak of number four, becoming Beyoncé's 20th top 10 single in the country as a solo act and her 33rd including those with Destiny's Child.

[citation needed] The following week, the song reached a new peak of number two, becoming Beyoncé's first top 10 single in the country since 2017's "Walk on Water" with Eminem.

[68][69] On December 25, 2024, "Break My Soul" was mixed into Beyoncé's performance of "Texas Hold 'Em" as the closing song of her 2024 NFL Halftime Show set list.

On August 3, Beyoncé released an EP of four remixed versions of the track, produced by will.i.am, Terry Hunter, Honey Dijon, and Nita Aviance.