Beyoncé & Madonna: BREAK MY SOUL (THE QUEENS REMIX)
The “Queens Remix” of Beyoncé's “Break My Soul” is credited to Beyoncé & Madonna and includes a huge chunk of Madonna's “Vogue.” In the rap, Beyoncé laundry-lists Black female singers instead of movie stars, including: Queen Mother Madonna, Aaliyah, Rosetta Tharpe, Santigold, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Betty Davis, Solange Knowles, (Erykah) Badu, Lizzo, Kelly Rowl(and), Lauryn Hill, Robert Flack, Toni (Braxton), Janet (Jackson), Tierra Whack, Missy (Elliott), Diana (Ross), Grace Jones, Aretha (Franklin), Anita (Baker), Grace Jones (again), Helen Folasade Adu (aka Sade), Jilly from Philly (aka Jill Scott), Michelle (Williams), Chlöe (Bailey), Halle (Bailey), Aaliyah (again), Alicia (Keys), Whitney (Houston), Riri (aka Rihanna), Nicki (Minaj).
She then lists the houses of: Extravaganza, Revlon, LaBeija, Amazon, Avion, Balmain, Ninja, Lanvin, Telfar, Ladosha, Mugler, Balenciaga and Mizrahi.
It is transcendent. People give Madonna crap for theft, but as this very ballroom-authentic version of “Vogue” reminds us, when Madonna vogued, she gave it her own spin, made it more staccato, more pop, and went full '40s and '50s Hollywood.
Also, the criticism about how white it was is off base — Madonna's frame of reference was necessarily white, and Hollywood created few famous Black faces who would have immediately suggested themselves to a 30-year-old white woman in 1990.
