Beyoncé accused of copyright infringement on ‘Break My Soul’

Beyoncé has been hit with a copyright lawsuit over her hit song ‘Break My Soul’.

The filing has been put forward by a New Orleans group called Da Showstoppaz, who claim that the pop star is guilty of copyright infringement with her hit ‘Renaissance’ track.

The issue stems from Beyoncé’s 2022 song sampling Big Freedia – who the band claim unlawfully used lyrics from their track ‘Release A Wiggle’, which they shared back in 2002.

Members of the band, Tessa Avie, Keva Bourgeois, Henri Braggs, and Brian Clark, all filed a complaint to the Louisiana federal court yesterday (May 22). In the filing, they alleged that Bey sampled Big Freedia’s 2014 track ‘Explode’ – however, the latter unlawfully used “copyrighted lyrics, melody, and musical arrangement” from their own track, making the feature in ‘Break My Soul’ unlawful.

As well as the ‘Cowboy Carter’ singer, Big Freedia, Sony Music, Jay-Z and more have been named as defendants.

“Defendants used Plaintiffs’ words, melody, and musical arrangement from their copyrighted works to create an album as homage to ‘uncle Johnny’ who exposed the music and culture of the LGBTQ community of greater New Orleans, of which three members are strongly affiliated with themselves, all displayed in its full force — the tone, actual words, melody, musical arrangement of bounce music,” the suit claims (via Rolling Stone).

It goes on to recall how the song has seen huge success due to it topping the US singles chart, being played frequently on her ‘Renaissance’ tour, and appearing in her accompanying documentary film about the live shows.

“Mrs. Carter, Big Freedia, Parkwood, Sony, and others have received many accolades and substantial profits from ‘Explode’ and ‘Break My Soul’ and the ‘Renaissance’ album, the ‘Renaissance World Tour,’ and the Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” it claims. “Da Showstoppaz’s have received nothing — no acknowledgement, no credit, no remuneration of any kind.”

In the lawsuit, the New Orleans group are asking to be credited and for compensation rights on ‘Break My Soul’ and ‘Explode,’ as well as royalties for future licences on the tracks.

A spokesperson for Beyoncé did not respond to RS’ request for comment. It appears that Bey licensed the sample of the Big Freedia track ‘Explode’ legally, meaning that the alleged infringement on Da Showstoppaz would have been accidental.

This is a developing story.

Since the start of 2024, Bey has been making headlines for the huge success of her country-inspired new album ‘Cowboy Carter’.

Shortly after it arrived, it hit countless milestones, including making Beyoncé the first Black woman to reach Number One on the US country chart with ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’, the first Black woman to score a Number One country album in the US charts, and gathering support from huge names including Michelle Obama and Paul McCartney.

The star shared a remix of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ too, and revealed that she kept much of the original backing track from the original 1968 version of ‘Blackbird’ in her cover.

She also confirmed that Stevie Wonder played harmonica on ‘Jolene’, and RAYE was credited as a co-writer on one ‘Cowboy Carter’ song.

More recently, Bey’s daughter, Rumi, became the youngest female artist to make it on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, thanks to her feature on the album’s track ‘Protector’.

“It’s an undeniable thrill to see [Beyoncé] swing so big on a project that dares her to be so intimate and vocal-focused,” wrote NME in a five-star review of the album.