Kicking off triple j’s Like a Version segment for 2023, Kimbra covered Beyoncé‘s ‘Renaissance’ song ‘Break My Soul’.
The New Zealand singer-songwriter’s rendition begins slow and minimalistic, foregrounding her soaring vocals against spacious synths and steady rhythms. About a minute in, it ramps up the energy considerably, with Kimbra buoyed by a pair of backup singers, funky synth bass and swinging, spirited live drums. Watch that below:
“I really like the idea of putting a new spin on something, maybe listening to the lyric in a way that you hadn’t thought of hearing it,” Kimbra said of her decision to cover ‘Break My Soul’ in a post-performance interview.
“When she says, ‘You won’t break my soul, I’m telling everybody‘ there was something kind of emotional about that, like maybe she had been broken before but now she’s coming back with a new strength.
“So, I started the idea in a slow, quite kind of sombre tone, kind of reinterpreting it as a ballad. But then I was like, ‘Yo, this still has to be a party,’ so then I made it, you know, a banger at the end,” she continued.
“[I] jumped on that interesting syncopation that’s in the song, which, to me, is the most interesting part of it, is that it takes from the house culture. Lots of little up-beats and little stabs.”
In addition to ‘Break My Soul’, Kimbra also performed her original song ‘Save Me’. The track arrived in October last year as the lead single from Kimbra’s forthcoming album, ‘A Reckoning’, which is set to arrive later this month. Watch that below:
‘A Reckoning’, Kimbra’s fourth album, is set to arrive on January 27. The follow-up to 2018’s ‘Primal Heart’ has been previewed with two singles thus far – ‘Save Me’ along with November’s ‘Replay!’
“On album three, she’s truly hit her stride,” NME said of Kimbra and ‘Primal Heart’ in a four-star review upon its release. “Throughout she offers up rich, swirling instrumentals and intricate musical landscapes, crunchy chord progressions and twinkling chromaticism complemented by her confident, warm vocals.
“This bold release is a war cry: Kimbra’s back, and she’s here to stay.”