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- Beyoncé is back with her new song “Break My Soul,” and it’s a Great Resignation anthem.
- The song is about quitting your job and finding new motivation, something many have been doing over the last year.
- It also cements the Great Resignation as part of today’s popular culture.
Beyoncé has officially quit her job.
Her latest single “Break My Soul” has been heralded as a Great Resignation anthem – and marks a cultural turning point.
The musical icon – which rapper Big Freedia samples – sings, “I just quit my job / I’m gonna find a new drive / Damn they work so damn hard on me / Work at nine / Then after five.” The job is wearing on her Nerves – and “that’s why I can’t sleep at night”.
Like the millions of Americans who have quit their jobs in a near record-breaking year, Beyoncé isn’t completely abandoning the concept of work. Instead, she’s “looking for motivation” and a “new foundation” — something that’s certainly propelled many of America’s quitters into other roles, as they realize life’s too short to work in a job they don’t have have passion
Nick Bunker, an economist at Job Site Indeed, told CNBC’s Greg Iacurci that “Break My Soul” is “an example of broader public awareness or discussion of people quitting their jobs, which reflects what’s happening in the job market and happened in society. “
But the Beyoncé Effect goes beyond simply reinforcing an existing trend.
“She’s a cultural icon, so everyone has all eyes on her,” Terri Lyne Carrington, founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and drummer who once supported Destiny’s Child, told Insider.
“What I appreciate about her is that she uses her platform responsibly; not every well-known or commercial artist with such a big platform does that. She’s really influencing the younger generation. So many young women blame her for every word.”
Beyoncé can create what Carrington calls a “ripple effect,” especially among younger generations — who also happen to be driving the Great Retirement. Music can have a powerful impact and helps people come together as a community, Carrington said, and it has “always been a tool for justice.”
A Beyoncé endorsement can be more than just a shy reference in a new summer song. When the star released the single “Formation” in 2016, which also came after the singer went on hiatus, he mentioned the chain Red Lobster. That mention saw a 33% jump in sales, according to CNN, and Red Lobster spokeswoman Erica Ettori told the outlet that Red Lobster was trending on Twitter — a first for the chain.
Of course, buying some cookies is easier than just getting up and quitting the job (although today’s job market makes it a lot easier to quit than it has been in recent years).
“I know people say Beyoncé told me to quit my job. I’m not sure if that’s necessarily her intention because I don’t think she wants people to starve either,” Carrington said. With inflation driving prices ever higher, it’s particularly hard to be unemployed now — even those Americans with a job are seeing their wage increases being eaten up by inflation.
“PSA: When Beyoncé sings “I quit my job,” she’s referring to transitioning from job to job, not that she’s quit,” said Arindrajit Dube, an economist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst tweeted.
And Beyoncé isn’t quitting her job — it’s making music, after all — and she’s certainly a far cry from the low-wage workers who drove the Big Resignation. Forbes has a net worth of $450 million, and the extra $10 million she added to her net worth from 2021-2022 probably made a nice contribution to inflation.
But the song itself “captures” American workers’ pandemic realization that “things can collapse pretty quickly,” Carrington said, and the importance of living fulfilling lives and contributing to the greater good.
“I think it really speaks to the moment and the fact that people are fed up with being really unfair, underpaid, underappreciated, all those things,” she said. “If we could all feel that we’re really, really creating value with our work, then I think that’s the big picture.”
