One Song - Beyoncé “Break My Soul” with guest Bresha Webb

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

Listeners: Press play and release your stress, and the rest, because on this episode of One Song we’re celebrating all things house, and all things Beyoncé! The fellas are joined by card-carrying Beyhive member, actress Bresha Webb, as they break down Break My Soul. Come for the stems and the Show Me Love interpolation discourse, stay for the wiggles.  Artist: Beyoncé Album: Renaissance Released: 2022 Artist: Beyoncé Featured songs: Explode by Big Freedia, Show Me Love by Robin S, Plastic Dreams by Jaydee, Push the Feeling On by Nightcrawlers, MK, Please Don't Go by Double You, Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue, Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters and The Basement Boys, Want Love by Hysteric Ego, Sour Candy by Lady Gaga with BLACKPINK, 1999 by Charli XCX with Troye Sivan, Doo Doo Brown by 2 Hyped Brothers & A Dog, Energy by Beyoncé with BEAM, Milkshake by Kelis, Ooo La La La by Teena Marie, Vogue by Madonna  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You won't break my son You want to break my son. Oh, yeah. I am actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ Dialla Riddle. On the keys, we've got producer, DJ, and songwriter, luxury, aka the guy who likes to whisper, Interpolation, on TikTok. And this week, our special guests on the mic

with those Bay-S vocals, we've got the one and only, Bresia Webb. This is one song. Uh-huh. The show. where we deconstruct and celebrate some of your favorite songs for the past 60 years in music history and tell you why they deserve one more listen. You've never heard these songs before like this.

And you'll never hear them the same way again. I'm telling everybody. Yeah, we're telling everybody. This is one song. Hell yeah. Okay, I'm so excited for this episode. Today on one song, we're going to be celebrating all things house black dance music and the Queen Bee herself. Beyonce. I cannot wait. One of my favorite Virgoes aside for myself. She's my

Virgo sister. I feel so many connections because of the virgo-ness. It's really like, I'm not even making this out. I can see that. I can see the real thing. Yeah. And here to help us out today, we have a very special guest. You've seen her on TV shows like Love That Girl, Run the World, Sherman Showcase, Marlon, which I, you know, we have a special connection about that show. And in movies like Meet the Blacks at a Fall from Grace, it's my very good friend, Bricia Webb, Risha, thank you for coming on the show. What's up? What's up?

These are my friends. Luxury. With two X's. I like the fact you pronounce both X's when you say his name. Luxury. Extra added value. I love it. Yes.

Thank you. We couldn't even attempt to do a show about Beyonce without bringing you on. So thank you so much for being here. We're going to be talking about Beyonce's platinum hit, Break My Soul. Let's hear a clip. Before we get there, Brescia, tell us, and the one song audience, what does Beyonce mean to you? I mean, Beyonce is an amazing Virgo, okay? She means hard work.

She means dedication. She means motherhood in so many other forms. I mean, she just means to me, like, you know, just everything that she's done in her career and in her path, just excellence, you know? Like she just, Beyonce, like I wake up and I go, what is Beyonce doing? You know, and I was like, I need to get my ship together. My wife thinks that about me. So the fact that you formed this connection with her, let me ask you this, you are a member of the Beehive.

I've been for years. Like, what does it take to be a member of the Beehive? Do I have to, like, fill out a form? Are there dues? I don't know. I just, you know what? I share my joy with loving. and appreciating

Beyonce, because there's two different things. You know, a lot of people are crazy. But I appreciate the vocal acrobatics, the dancing, the dedication to watching us. Your voice control is amazing.

Thank you. I appreciate what you're doing right now. It is just so much. You know, everybody's got their thing. But, you know, it's like Tyler Perry, you know, he put on his Instagram. He's gone to, like, so many shows. And he was like,

The sad thing about just, you know, the only sad thing about going to see a Beyonce concert is that Beyonce can't see Beyonce. And I was like, oh my God, that's it. That is the one thing that you can't get for the person who has everything, the ability to sit in the front row of her own show. Yeah. Poor Beyonce. But, you know, like, there's so many people with so many gifts.

And she's, I'm honored to be a part of this lifetime where we get to, you know, you see the Michael Jackson's of it all. And everyone's like, oh, who's him? Who's going to be the greatest? It's like everyone's... I don't use my hands like that. Oh, I do. Who's great?

Who's that? Who's what? You know, it's like... But we are going to get into why her music's so special. Special. Yeah. It's so special. She's great.

Okay, so before we get into Break My Soul, I just want to talk a little bit about Renaissance as a house music album and how important and relevant that is. Now, the first time I heard Break My Soul and then the entire record, I was just blown away by how clearly it was a love letter to dance music, to electronic music, to house, to disco, to all these forms of, frankly, black music. It was a celebration. You better say it.

I mean, that's right there. It's black music. It's gay music. I grew up in San Francisco in the 70s. And, like, this is a through line through my life is an appreciation for dance music. So this record celebrates it and celebrates the people. We're going to get into that in this show today in a big way. But it celebrates all of her influences, everyone who, you know, preceded her musically and in the realm of dance.

music. It's an homage and a love letter to them and the culture. I feel like that's one of the things that brought you and me together as friends was our love of dance music. And I've been trying to champion dance music as like just a palate cleanser. Yeah. You know, I feel like for specifically for black people because I'm always like, you know, we invented this music, y'all like get into it. And, you know, when I was like playing dad punk at like all hip hop parties in the early 2000s, like people were like, this man has lost his mind. But I feel like one of the things I really appreciate about this album is that Beyonce, she's basically saying the same thing. She's like, hey, y'all, come back to dance music.

Like, this is that 120 BPM. I don't want to get too cranial with it. But, like, because I'm from Atlanta. Like, I love some slow hip-hop. I do. I love some Ato-A. I love an Ato-A. But there's something about the BPM of 120. All those early Michael Jackson songs, they're all, like, Prince, all that, all that

80s music, that stuff lives in the range of like 120 to 130. And when you have music, that tempo, your soul can get into it more. Yeah, like you're dancing. I love, I mean, specifically. I mean, Baltimore club music is like 130 to 135. It's even faster. We have a lot of energy, okay? We need to channel that energy for good.

Yes, for good, okay. Baltimore in its own has a lot of energy. And, you know, because of our house music. Is that what they're calling it now, energy? I call it energy, okay? You can call it whatever you want, but I'm going to focus on energy. Yes. You know, I was raised in the clubs, you know, going to.

into paradox and going to choices and a lot of clubs where, you know. When you were near D.C., did you ever go to D.C. The tracks? Hell no. I'm from Baltimore City, okay? You just stayed right in Baltimore. D.C. over there. Oh, they're different places. Yeah, but Baltimore City, I mean, it has its own charm and it has its own swag to house music. But I love, like, how it just, it's really a release. I remember having dance circles and a lot like how New Jersey and Chicago, when they have their dance circles, it was very

tribal. It was very like a releasing of, of just everything. It was like very spiritual to see people dancing and doing these like, I got a dress on so I can't do it. You know, it was just a stomping method of just like really like, you know, the running man is that, but like just that heart palpitating type of music. So let's get a little deeper into Break My Soul. Beyonce's 22 hit single, I think is already an instant classic. I think this is going to be one of the books. And we're going to start with in our deep dive into the musicological aspect of it, the big free to sample. That kicks off the song.

And by the one thing that's interesting, we're going to get into this later, but one thing I love about the record is it kind of plays out like kind of a mixtape. Like there's all these kind of like, this break myself. Love that about it. Break myself.

It's actually the third part of a three song. There's no gaps in between the three songs in a row. It's so good. It's so good. I'm going to dive a little deep. Like the Kibbuckle brothers, like most of their albums are like continuous. And that's like a very cool thing. the energy going, right?

But I don't want to step on this. Tell us about Big Freedah. I was like, Mm-hmm. It's true. It's true. All of that. One cool thing about the Big Freeda sample is that we've already heard in the

preceding song. Like, it was already an element in our brains. That's one thing I loved about the album. Everything led, and I haven't heard albums like that in so long where it was like a through, it was just a through line. Yes. It was just like as soon as you turned it on, it was like song after song was leading into the next song. It was like it was meant to just be dancing.

And then when it goes and. to, you know, like... Datpunk does this on their albums a lot of times. Like, it starts one place, and it goes continuous. You know what? Actually, I'm so glad you mentioned that, because I was just re-watching Homecoming the other day, and it really struck me how, in Homecoming, it's a similar thing, where there's one,

the songs flow one to the next. Sometimes you only get a minute snippet of something, and then you'll get, like, the horns section on stage are going to do a little j-z-y dirt off my shoulder, and then you get to the next song. It's this constant idea, idea, idea, idea. And what I was kind of realizing is that, that Renaissance kind of takes that same idea of what she did live for Homecoming.

We've got like 100 references and ideas. And the beat from the next song comes a little early. I mean, she's not done with the song she's on. It's like she worked with the DJ. It's like to really like just to build it. It's just every song. Come on, y'all. Work with your DJ.

Just let you DJ program your album. We'll be way happier. Absolutely. And the experience turns out to feel like a seamless on stage. It's this seamless blend. You're never bored. It's always like what's going on. It's everything, all the songs you know are presented differently.

You may know, you know, to the left, to the left, but there's like a different beat or there's something new and interesting about it. And I think she took that idea into Renaissance. It's just my theory because that's how the album plays out. It plays out where you've got Big Frida in the previous song, Energy. So we know this sample, and I'll play it for you in a second. But then it starts break my soul. So it's in two songs. Can I say one more thing about this Frida opening?

One thing is a DJ that I loved about it. was that it's on the beat. So, like, you can like, chippy, chiffy, chiffy, chiff, do you know. Like, it comes in on the beat, and, like, the audience is already, like, running to the floor, like, because they know what's about to drop.

Instant. I love songs like that. It's almost like, allow me to reintroduce myself, my name. Like, the words are the, are the, the drum fill intro. Right. Exactly.

Well, let's listen to the sample. Let's listen to it. Let's listen to the sample. Let's listen to it. Let's listen to it. Let's listen to it. All right, here's the sample as it's used in the song and break my soul.

I'm about this slow. Take her up this load. It comes in so gritty and grimy and greek-old. Like, she's like, release a wiggle. Like, I'm... Like, it comes... I'm just saying it. It comes in so gritty and grimy.

And then her voice comes in, like, angelic. Like, she's, like, emerging as like... A contrast. Like, it's immediate contrast. But also, it'd be funny. Like, this... I never realized it's totally a sample. because he's not literally in the booth going,

you know, but I think, Bresia, if you ever did a song, a house song, I think you should do like the singing and the cutting. Oh, I would love. Like, you'd be like, everybody, now! Like, I think that's funner. Like, I don't want to just do one take of just saying,

everybody! And have you guys cut it? Yeah, we just don't know. I want to be like, ever, ever, ever, back, oh. Revolutionary. Yeah. You would change dance music overnight.

Can this show just be 45 more minutes of that, please? You got this, you got this, you, you. It's just affirmation. People don't realize this about Bresia. She's willing to give you 40 minutes of just pure sample. I would pay for that. Really? I could do it live.

You know, just be like, everybody on the news floor. Everybody. Everybody. I could be my own. There you go. All right. So we get into the sample source? Absolutely.

Back to business. And here's where that comes. comes from. This is Big Frieda explode from 2014. I'm wiggling. Release your wiggle. Release your wiggle. Release your wiggle. I always wiggle. Release your wiggle, y'all. I just really confirm that she's saying, release your wiggle and I was so proud of myself because I make up my own lyrics. What was your own lyric? It was not release your wiggle. I was saying release my wiggle.

Release your wiggle but he could have said release your tickle. I don't know. I just I just do and go with whatever makes me happy. And for the record I looked it up they are happy with either pronoun. She's or He's. So we can do Shees, we can do He's. I think that's one of the beautiful things about Frida and the whole bounce scene is that, you know, Look, we haven't always been that welcoming to the LGBT community. But I feel like bounce music in particular has been propelled by a lot of people, you know, in that community. Big Freed is kind of like one of the biggest names in Dallas is not right. But there were like others.

There were some in Baltimore music too. Absolutely. I forget. Miss Tony. Yes. How you want to carry it? Like, don't get me started. No, get started.

Get started. That's what we're here for. That's what we're here for. Miss Tony say, how you want to carry it? Like, Zaltless. My ex is going to come out. It's not right.

We got a different Bresha right now. Swallowed her all the way down. She's back. No. She's back. She's coming out. Two, too. Let that Bresha. Back in.

Back in. Let her bait. I like that Bresha. I like both of the breaches. Don't get a lot of breaches. I mean, there's so many breaches in here. One key part of that original song from Big Frida is the lyrics, release your trade, release your job,

release your stress. Bresia, how do you interpret those lyrics and did you quit your job when you heard this song? I quit my job every time I hear it. I feel like it's like, I think it's just like it's happening. I've never been able to hold down a job in a while. Seriously. Welcome to acting. Reinvention.

Entertainment business. But, you know, I love this song because in the moment you do feel like you're releasing everything. It is a call to action. You know, in the moment, if you do have a job, it's just a swallow a facket. It's like an air of facket. A swallow a, yeah. It's a rebellion. It's like the original title.

You're not going to break me. You're not going to break me. Release the vibe. Release the wiggle. And I'm like, I'm not even twerking the way that they do. Like, when they do it, like, they are shaking the thing, and it's wobbling all over the place. And she's a very compact thing, this thing. She's a small.

Oh, I thought you were saying, Beyonce was small. No, I'm small. Oh, you're a small. My package is small. It's a nice package. But when it wiggles, it's not wiggling in the way that when Big Frida says, Release the wiggle. Like, that thing is going everywhere.

Like, I've seen the videos, and I want to learn. But in my heart of hearts, when I hear this song, that is wiggling, you know? Shout out to all the little wiggles. Yes, the little wiggles. There's room for little wiggles. There's room for little wiggles. It's an earthquake going to be careful. There's a earthquake.

But it's like a 4.4. It's up in Ohio. You barely feel it. And that's okay. That's okay. She was like our recent earthquake. She was like, ooh-oh, oh, oh. She shook the earth.

Just a touch. So the next place I want to go is I want to talk about the machines. At the bed, at the bottom, at the root of house music, we've got the 909 drum machine. It's a Roland is a Japanese company. And it sounds a little bit like this. I feel it in my shoulders. So this kick, this high hat, some of these sounds you've heard a million times. Like that clap, that snare.

The sounds themselves are often, if not always. That clas sounded like some old Patty Austin. Yeah. In the heat of heat The heat gets so hot My body's overload Yeah, I love it So these sounds are very

They're presets They come from the machine When you buy the 909 You have kind of You're 60 or 80% of the way To making a house music track As long as you program a kick on the four On the one, two, three, four

If you get that 120, 125 range of BPMs And you just have that going Okay, we're on the road to a house music song right about now. I feel like in some ways that four on the floor house beat is one of the reasons why it has not always taken off with black people. I mean, I'm just speaking honestly.

A lot of people tell me, I can't take that repetitious drum sound. Like, that thing drives me nice. I think that's one of the reasons why house music does have such a need for, like, the sense to sort of define what's going on with the song. That's why I was sort of curious about before when you said it's a mood change when you're DJing and you go from hip-hop, you're thoughtful about how you make that transition. Yes. Because it's a very different, the outcome is different for the dancers.

I'll even take it a step further. The house songs that I find work with my black crowds are typically the songs that don't have that four on the floor. It's songs like hot music like hot. Do do do do hot. Like the drums are doing a lot of intricate patterns. Right, right. Learning a lot.

I can make my own house song right now. Just have to get a little. Yeah, all you need to do is get the roll in 909. And the second element, so we just talked about the roll and drum machine being a machine whose sounds or the foundation of kind of an entire genre. When you're listening to house music, you're going to be hearing that a lot. You're also going to be hearing in a little more specific of a way and related to break my soul. In the early 90s, there was a very specific synth sound, which was very much the sound of a crossover house into pop sound for the bass. And it's literally this.

Now what I'm playing is the organ two preset. from the Korg M1, Corg being another but different Japanese manufacturer of electronic equipment. They made a synth, and when you bought it, you got that patch. And it should be pointed out, by the way, that this is the most popular synth of all time.

More corg M1s were sold than any other synthesizers. So it's no surprise that that sounds. More than the Rhodes and some of these other ones? That's a good question. I'd make the distinction. Rhodes being like an electric piano, it's its own sort of world. This is strictly synthesizers.

Right. Synthizers, meaning the actual sounds are synthesized, literally in the machine, as opposed to being like a piano, an electric piano where you're playing something and it's hitting tines, et cetera, making a reverberating sound. So specifically, again, this organ two preset, which is in the Corg, M1, when you buy it at the shop. So it's no surprise. You've heard this a million times. Here's a couple of examples. Okay, what I've realized about this machine in particular, it really gets my shoulders. Nice. Like, I feel like I'm going to just.

You know, I just want to, you know. You're giving the shoulder right now. You can bog. I can see that there. But I really, I love what my shoulders are doing. I like how throaty and, like, bassy it is. It's like a deep bass, you know what I mean? And I feel like this song, you being from Baltimore,

Doodoo Brown by two. Doodoo Brown! Do Do Do Do Do Do You? Like that song, I don't know if you have that one in your playlist, but like, that one also has like... I played shots that you know about the do-do-browns of it all. Wait, can we look up? Okay. You know what?

Fun fact, that's why I named my first dog Doodoo. Because of Doodoo Brown? Do Do Dooh. Two Hype Brothers and a dog? Let's play a snippet. I kid you not. Whether you're from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, the song Doodoo Brown always worked. It always worked.

It always worked. Let's hear a little bit of Two High Brothers and. Doodoo Brown. There it is. There it is. Okay. You got it. Rich is doing what I feel inside.

I love it. Everybody on the floor just pause. Somebody in the middle just move. Get on down to the groom. Do-Doo Brown! That's the chorus of the song. Bois. Dopee.

Dopee. Dood Brown. Smooth. It's really about the shoulders and the ass. You know, you want to be like, mm, mm, mm, mm, and you want to. It's like the shoulders and the ass. It's like the shoulder, because what we just heard, like,

that was just the 909 and the corg. It was those two sounds I was just describing was all we heard and the sample on top. So it's like the shoulders might be the organ too and the ass might be the 909. I really think so. Maybe? I think I'm going to go with that.

I'll take that for one hundred. What is the midrift area? What is that? The midriff is flowing. The midriff is loose. Is loose? It's loose. It's...

Is there a name for that? What is that called? I know that, but I don't know a name for it and I need a name for it. For the loose... To wrap my head around the this. Because the belly button is like the clavinet of all this music. Yeah. I mean, because that was definitely deep in the 90s when this was really popping here.

Because it borders on Running Man up top. But you're doing something different with your legs, maybe. You know, that's when you pop it open. Okay. You know? Pop it open. You know? You know, I became a DJ.

so I would not have to dance. The heel toe. You know, I can't do it in this chair real quick, but, you know, it's like, dance party on one song. I'm living. After the break, we'll be getting deeper

and to break my soul and discussing the songs use of samples and interpolation as well as how it pays homage to classic house music. We'll be right back. Welcome back to one song. Before we move on, real quick, though,

off the dome, top three favorite Beyonce songs. Go. Oh, my God. I'm not prepared for this. On the spot. You had no idea. On the spot, like.

No preparation. First of all, I'm, really bad. I'm really bad at titles. I'm really bad at this. I have to be prepared. I know. This is not fair. I'm the same way. I get that. I get that. It stresses me out. But you need to answer the question. Including Destiny's Child or not? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, say my name is pretty amazing. Fine song. So that's got to go in there. That's got to be there. That's got to be there.

I can't. It's a tough one, man. It's a tough three. Just what popped in your head, boom. What just popped in your head? My favorite song is, um, what's a? I never step and nothing to yourself around me. Yourself around me.

Like, I sing that to myself. That's on Renaissance, right? Yes. Plastic off the sofa. I like the plastic off the sofa. I like the plastic off the sofa. So I like that. I sing that to myself a lot.

I can't believe I didn't know that. That's a really hard one because I feel like Also you know You kind of know people You know including her She's gonna listen to this episode She's gonna judge She's gonna be like

She's gonna judge me like in the behind Yeah you gotta be careful Brisha knows these people It's almost like a not fair Here's my question for you If you don't mind like You know Beyonce has a birthday Like what do you get her

What in the world can she possibly Not obtain herself Like it had to be like something clearly But what do you get the person? Like a child's drawing You have to do that. You have to go with a handmade, like, a craft. Yes.

Yeah. Or I get, like, the first picture framed of, like, oh, Beyonce, here's a picture of you and I. Exactly. Together. It can't be fancy. She'll be like, I already have 10. I already have 10 of these. Yeah, I think the best thing is to donate to one of her.

You know what one of my favorite Beyonce saw, Partition. I still love Partition, man. I love a Partition, Brist. You know. If you're in a good relationship and Partition, you know. If you're in a good relationship, And partition comes on. You're like, yeah.

Yeah. Roll up that partition. Also, I have a driver. Yes. It's, I mean, there's so many amazing things that can happen, you know. Drunk in love. Maybe I don't know. You know, it's, uh, party is always good.

Oh, and I love the, um, I mean, it's just all the vibe. Yeah. And then we can't even go like to the left to the left. You know what I mean? We got to do the left. There's 50 hits at the end of the day. You know. Deja vu.

Deja vu. I'm really partial to do it. I love that she did the boo. You know, and then you got to go to the ballads. And you can't be too cool to like not leave out crazy in love. You can't be too cool to leave it out. It's how she starts every show. Every time I wear hot pants, I am crazy in love.

You know, I do the little, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, you know, I do the whole thing, you know. I've seen it. I've seen her. Wow, lucky you. You know, I just, I really like to coordinate my outfits in certain ways. like with people in mind. You know, even my wigs. I go, this is brianse.

You know, like I have a brianse wig that was inspired. You know, I have a Sierra wig. Do you have to bring a fan with you for like the never-ending flowing curly locks thing? It always finds me. Yes. It always finds me. The wind just finds you. Yeah.

Yeah, I must say. I've never seen her like in any video footage where it's not just full wind in her hair situation. It's very sexy. That's what I have to be. That's just what it has to be. So what I want to talk about next is a moment ago we just went through a whole bunch of songs that used that same synthesizer preset from the chord, you know, that organ to bass sound. And I would argue that probably the most iconic use of that of all time is this song.

I know the song that already started. Thank you. Keep this going. You have to show me less. Ascap called. They said no. Don't keep this going. She deserves every chip, okay?

Yeah. And that's not even the original version of the song. That's the Stonebridge mix. You know what? It's funny. We're going to get into that. So that sound, that bass sound, which you've now heard in many songs, not the least of which is, that's break my soul.

And what we just heard is same sound, same synth bass. I mean, it's the same sound, but you're playing the same instrument. I mean, to me, those sound like very different songs. They are very different songs. I mean, because in the second one, do, do, do do do. Yeah, this is not under pressure ice ice baby. No, not at all. These are very different bass lines.

Very influenced. So why do you think Break My Soul gave credit to Show Me Love? Great question. So let's get back just for one moment into this, specifically, that Stonebridge mix and why that's relevant. Because this isn't actually the original version of the song. The original version of Show Me Love by Robin S sounded a little more like this. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, okay. I get it. I get it. Thank God for that stone cold. I mean, she was leaving some stuff on the floor there. You know, like... I hope she found somebody who really cares, though. I do, too.

Hopefully, she's not still looking. And just to back up a second, the reason why... 30 years in the wilderness. You got to show me love. Hopefully love shown at this point. At this point, after all that waiting. I mean, the reason why we backed up this far, by the way, just to make that connection explicit,

is that show me love is, as we all agree, a very distinctly different song Yes. Then break my soul. But Break My Soul credits show me love in the credits. It gives the writing credit. It gives a writing credit to the writers of the song, Show Me Love. Alan George and Fred McFarland.

Specifically the language, which is interesting, is it contains elements of show me love. But it's not a sample. It's not an interpolation. As we just heard, those are different notes. We're not hearing any of the same melodies. But Beyonce and crew thought the similarity was enough or perhaps just wanted to give some sort of appreciation. proactive.

I love that because I feel like all music isn't, yeah, I feel like all music is inspired by other music and I feel like to give credit where credit is due, the inspiration. Look, I think it's a great idea if you can afford to just like anytime you record a funk song,

you're like, here's a check to George Clinton because Parliament Funkadelic did funk music. But I also think, is this maybe, and this is just a theory, is this maybe because in light of of the Blurred Lines lawsuit real quick.

You know, for those who don't know Blurred Lines, like there was talk in the studio when they were recording it about, got to give it up by Marvin Gay.

Do you think this is because I heard the Renaissance was worked on by big groups of people and because Show Me Love might have come up

in the conversation that they were just trying to keep themselves protect. I think the safest answer, we don't know. None of us were in the room. We don't really,

don't know. We don't know what happened. We weren't there. None of us were there. Were you there? Were you there? If any of us might have been there, it would have been Breisha. I was not there. I was not there. None of us being there. The speculation is they did it for a reason. Was it because the goodness of their hearts? Maybe, maybe not so much the goodness of their hearts. Was it because of being careful about potentially being sued, especially to your point, because so many outside, it's possible that they were just worried about interlopers or just some like intern. No, because I think, by the way, we're not trying to be cingesies. I think that that's one of the whack things. about this industry now is that if you're in the studio making music and at some point I look at you, Breesha, I'm like, you know what? It would be dope if you sang the chorus like C.C. Peniston, then I feel like sometimes somebody can say like, oh, I'm suing because it sounds like the C.C. Penison song. And here's the evidence. And we can't go in front of the judge and say we never talked about C.C. Pinnisand even if we do a song that sounds dramatically different.

I feel like that's where the industry is at. Hopefully it won't stay there. I think that's probably true. I think the most likely scenario is that they decide. decided to just be safe and ensure that they were giving a credit to the song that they were inspired by. So what you're saying is that they showed some love. I was about to take it there, Diallo. But here's the problem. She's like, she's been looking for love and we're going to show her some love. Here you go, Robin S, and Fred and Alvin.

All of that is wonderful in theory. The place where it gets weird is that that version when it came out completely flopped. You've never heard it because no one did. It wasn't until Stonebridge's Swedish remixer came in and they took that song which was a flop, they're like, let's try to give it new life. They hired this guy, they played him a flat fee, maybe a thousand, if I'm not mistaken, to remix the song. Damn.

And made that iconic bass line, which is now a global, over 30 years later, we're still listening to the song. A few thousand dollars to define a genre. And he like complete, like, that's some, that's a, you know. Swedish man, his money. Yeah. And he's not the only person who participated in making Robin S's show me love iconic and didn't get credited for it.

Who else was there? Well, we got not one but two different singers who also got a little bit screwed over, IMHO, in their raising this to an iconic classic song. I got two names for you. I'm going to start with the first name. You ready for it? I'm ready for it. I'm ready for the first name.

I'm not ready for anything in my life. Okay, I'm not either. There was a demo singer called Andrea Martin. RIP, she passed away a few years ago. By the way, this is an important story in that this is a really big part of the industry. Actually, functions like this, where there are different roles being played. One of them is the demo singer. I've used demo singers.

I've been a demo singer even. For $150 straight up, you come in, you sing a part, you go home. You get your payday was that $150. That's it. You're not cut in to the songwriting, the publishing, the master. You never see a dollar ever again from that song. Sometimes what happens with demo singers is they go a little bit above and beyond what was really required, just out of them, they're being so talented.

And Andrea Martin's case, the way she tells the story, she was offered $300 to go a little bit extra and come up with her own melodies and that's what she did and what we're hearing in the final version is there's a little bit of a Roshaman story here there's the Andrea Martin story and the Robin Ness story they tell a little differently

I think she was influenced by that demo because I mean that... It is absolutely worth going online like that icon. That's an Andrea Martin in her telling you. telling that was her contribution. Well, Andrea Martin, what you have done. Yes.

You created monsters. Because I was in the backseat of my mom's car like, like, sorry for the listeners. And that was a $300 payday to her. What? $300 payday to her. $100,000 payday to the... The Swedish guy.

That guy. And last but not least, Robinette herself didn't get a writing credit. Are you fucking kidding me? Who got paid off of this song? The two producers. who are named Alan George. Who got paid for Break My Soul? And Fred McFarlane.

Alan George and Fred McFarlane got paid on this song. They are the writers. Do right by history. And they are the ones that Beyonce credits on Break My Soul. Not any of these other. Because, I mean, legally, they're credited for the whole song. So I should just stop when I'm doing and just produce music. You'd have more power there.

And really just pay people to do the... And this is a story about power. This is a story about power. If you're sitting in the producer's chair and you're like, well, I got $150 you want it. How about $300? Like Kanye said, no one man should have all that power. Or like Beyonce said, My Power. My Power.

And that's a great album, too. That's a great album. I'm still stuck. I mean, seriously. Come on now. Come on. Like, you're asking me for three favorite Beyonce songs. I just can't.

I really can't. I love everybody's music. But, you know, like, I just don't have it off the dome like that. I'm still in my head. All right. You can't talk about a Beyonce song without talking about The vocals. My man.

Can we hear some of the acapella from Break My Soul? Yeah, let's hear some Break My Soul Acpella. This is Beyonce knows. Come on. Carter. She took it to church. This whole album, she took it to church. Let's hear it.

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, everybody, everybody. Everybody. Everybody. There's your iconic line.

It's fun to kind of listen through the song and hear how that builds. By the end, you have it with a little bit of extra sauce on top. You won't break my soul. You won't break my soul. You won't break my soul. I'm telling everybody. Telling everybody. Angelic.

You're taking into church. You won't break my soul now, no, no. You won't break my soul. So you out. You know, can I say real quick? One thing I love about this show is that by playing these isolated vocals, sometimes you hear things that you don't hear in the song. And that's the first time I noticed how much Beyonce actually has that growl that Stevie Wonder has,

which is like, you know, like it's something that, you know, you hear. I hear that too. For the first time ever, also I would be remiss if I didn't say the first time when the song first came out, I heard my six-year-old in the backseat of the car saying, you won't break my soul. You won't break my soul. And I was like, hey, man, who's trying to break your soul? He felt it. And he said, Felix, which is my other son.

So this song can apply to anybody. It can be your boss. It could be your sibling. everybody's everybody's soul's being broken by somebody somebody and this song says you will not break my soul

it's a declaration that was great that was everything but those vocals man they're so clean they're so clean you know I can I also say every time I hear it say

everybody I always wish somebody had done a remix where they bring it everybody everybody everybody I always thought that would have gone so well so Beyonce

if you happen to be listening just throw that in Remix it again. By the way, the remix, the Queens remix With the Madonna Vogue. Oh. Insane. Insane.

It's amazing. A totally different song almost. But really giving flowers. Giving all the flowers. All the flowers. And it gives me chills in a different way because she's just like, she just sounds like she's the, she's head of her house. Yeah. And we are, we are at the Queen's Ball.

I mean, seriously, I'm so excited to go to the concert because it is an ex-c, it's just. I'm going to a concert. Are you? I'm going to the concert. Yeah, I am. I'm like, I'm beyond excited and I'm also like... I'm ready. I'm not ready.

I feel like I need to prepare more. I'm not sure how to prepare for it because it's going to be such a like a life-altering situation. She wants us to wear silver. She wants us to wear silver. I didn't know this. Yes, she put it on her website for her birthday. She wants us to all mirror each other's joy.

Wait, so what's happening? You have to wear silver? For, yeah, sea queens. Silver? I didn't know. Because she wants us to mirror each other's joy. For her birthday, because she's a Virgo. I would want to show up.

gray, but it'll look silver. Yeah, you know. I mean, just, you know, I feel like that's what she's giving and she wants us to do something. We should show up. We're going to show up. I don't have any silver, though. Do you have silver?

Did you all of? Do you own any silver? I have gray. It'll look silver under the lights. Yes. I will say, her vocals untreated are, like, in that upper echelon. I mean, it's like Marvin Gay. I mean, it's just really, I love Marvin Gay's voice, the texture of it.

And, you know, one of my favorite. songs by him is I want you and like hearing that amazing you know the vocals of that it's just it's just oh and I feel like her vocals is like a real call like it's just it's spiritual

it's very spiritual it's very spiritual it's very one thing I also love about her obviously her vocals are insanely beautiful and gorgeous to listen to and creative and they're filled with different changes like changes of voice like she sort of goes from one kind of character to the next within a song I love the characters in them another thing though as a song

I think she's really underrated. She's very collaborative as a songwriter. And obviously she gives a lot of credit to her collaborators, whether they're interpolated or sampled or in the room, like Tricky in the Dream. But I love the fact that she for years has been insisting that we not lose the bridge in the song. I love that.

She's a bridge person. She's not just a like... She's a real R&B singer. I mean, like... Yes. And shout out to the real R&Bs, you know? Yeah. There's like it's, like, it's a art that should always be cherished. because it's always the bass.

It's always the base. It's an opportunity to take. Your song structure is usually like verse, chorus, verse chorus. And on the pop radio, a lot of times it's just one more chorus. But when you have a bridge, you have a whole new country to go to to visit. Yes, you have a whole new. We could do whatever we want to do in that bridge. Maybe 16 bars and then we come back.

That'll be a future game on the show. Name your top three bridges of all time. I love a good bridge. I love a good bridge. But in the meantime, I think that her vocals, whether high or low, are so, so awesome. I'm so thankful for you playing them. All right, so we started by saying this song

is a love letter to house music. Diallo, do you think it succeeds? Oh, I think it more than succeeds. I feel like from the fact that the songs bleed in from one into the next, the fact that there is so much danceable music here. And we haven't even talked about some of the other songs on Renaissance.

Church Girls a classic. Cuffet, a classic. Actually, my favorite song on there is summer Renaissance. Can I just say? I mean, I should have a seventh. I know I've named so many. No, I don't think you got to the third. I mean, just the whole album is such a beautiful album, Cuffet.

I mean, that was like the song of the year. It was like song of the year. I was saying my favorite song. My own little gym that like not everybody gets around to, but it's, but it means something to me is summer Renaissance. Because it's got the Donna Summer. I want to house you. Yeah. I mean, like that track.

I mean, besides the fact that she went to like the Jungle Brothers style. I'm going to house you. I'm going to house you. Like, you know, like, besides that that's just there, I get chills to even think about this song. I feel love. You got the goosebumps. Oh, if you're going to sample and interpolate,

I feel love, which is my favorite song of all time. You have to do it. This is the only way to do it. And she successfully did it. And she did it and somehow did it in a way. Yeah. That like, when those, when that subwoofer bass kicks in, I have chosen.

I have that throw coming up my leg, folks. Hold on God, call herself. Donna Summer. Shout out to Don. Donna Summer. Donna Summer. But I think it did one other thing, which was it let a lot of black artists know, hey, you can play with your BPM.

So suddenly, you know, Lil Uzi Vert had his, I Want to Rock, which was like a Bmore Club track. It was. You know what I'm saying? Thank you for saying that. Yes, it is. 100% is. It led a lot of new BPMs into the mix.

And I think that that's good. It keeps the music fresh as we go through this decade. I've noticed, too, like I was just thinking the other day just popped in my head. about how you have been DJing it when we DJ together at our monthly at Pinkies in Los Fillas. I'm going to come. You've got to come. Shameless plug.

But I've noticed that you played at least once or twice and like it really fits in the mix. Yes. It's such a, and I wouldn't have thought to DJ that song. I think disco fans like it. It's so good. Summer R&Ansons. I think disco fans like it, house fans like it. R&B fans like it.

I think it's one of those songs that, you know, transcends genre and does a really good job. But I think, yes, absolutely. Beyonce recorded a house record and we are so thankful for you Bresia what do you think is next for Beyonce and what do you think her legacy is going to be? Wow, these are really

big questions. Big questions. I mean, I just want to say that just Renaissance as a whole is such a beautiful love letter to the LGBTQ community and in her uncle and such an amazing gift

for a love letter Her uncle Johnny. Johnny, yeah. And her mom and just that whole legacy of, you know, her childhood and what it has taught her. And I just love that, that her life is so infused into her music. It's like when you listen to every album, I feel like when I go through that, I know exactly where I was in my life. Yeah. And I feel like I know a piece of her, too, you know.

And so that connection. That connection. I think that's what her legacy is. It's like a real connection between her fans and what she's going through and what she's expressing her love through her music, you know. I think that, you know, if I can piggyback on that, I think that, you know, there are artists who are great and successful. Yeah.

And then there are like those once in a lifetime artist that seem to defy all the odds. And I think that, you know, in my lifetime, few have defied the odds quite like Beyonce. I just feel like she's the biggest pop star out there. And she's doing it in a way that I feel elevates, not just black people, but black women. I agree. I agree. Luxury help me in this thing. All right, man. Well, I am producer, DJ, and Interpolation Whisperer, Luxury.

And I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ, Diallo Riddle. And this is One Song. We'll see you next time. This has been one song, and I'm telling everybody. Everybody, everybody. Everybody. See, got to use that, B. You leaving money on the table.

Oh.