"Soldier" is a song recorded by American group Destiny's Child, featuring American rappers T.I. and Lil Wayne, for the group's final studio album Destiny Fulfilled (2004). The artists wrote the song with Sean Garrett and Rich Harrison who produced it with the latter co-produced it with Beyoncé. A Southern hip-hop mid-tempo song, it lyrically describes each member's favorite type of male love interest. The song was released as the second single from Destiny Fulfilled on November 8, 2004, by Columbia Records and Sony Urban Music.

"Soldier" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its composition and the trio's vocal performances, but criticized the lyrical content. The song received a nomination in the category for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards and won Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band or Duo at the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards. A commercial success, "Soldier" peaked within the top five in six European countries and in Australia, being certified gold in the latter region. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Dance Club Play chart, receiving a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The black-and-white music video directed by Ray Kay featured cameo appearances by several rappers and singers. It was nominated at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards in the category of Best Group Video. The band performed "Soldier" on several televised appearances in 2004 and 2005 and included it on the set list of their final tour Destiny Fulfilled... And Lovin' It (2005). Both Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland performed the song during their solo tours after Destiny's Child's disbandment. The song was sampled in many songs by different artists, most notably by Nelly, Paul Wall and Ali & Gipp on their single "Grillz" (2005).

Writing and production

Sean Garrett and Rich Harrison assisted the artists in writing the song "Soldier", with Harrison handling production alongside Destiny's Child member Beyoncé Knowles. It is the only song on the album to feature any guest performers. "Soldier" was recorded by Jim Caruana at Sony Music Studios in New York City in 2004, with mixing by Dexter Simmons and mastering by Tom Coyne. Garrett initially wrote "Soldier" in a taxi while going to the studio where the band worked on Destiny Fulfilled; he sang the hook to the members afterwards and they liked it. Garrett further revealed about his collaboration with the group, "I loved how Destiny's Child evolved and became this really incredible pop group but I wanted to introduce them to the hood from the perspective of having the world look at them in a different way... What was great about that was they all liked guys from the streets. Each verse was a representation of the guy they were actually into."

During an interview with MTV News, Rowland said that with "Soldier" each member wanted to talk about their preference for a man during their solo verses, the place where he lives and his physical appearance. Beyoncé stated that as the song had a "Southern feel" and beat, they wanted to collaborate with Lil Wayne and T.I. who according to her added "rawness, realness and edge to the song". During an interview in 2014, Lil Wayne discussed his contribution in the song, "That set me off. Them little eight bars right there, that got me there boy. If you ask me why, it was Beyoncé. That shit was big." "Soldier" was included on the group's compilation albums #1's (2005) and Playlist: The Very Best of Destiny's Child (2012).

Music and lyrics "Soldier" is a mid-tempo Southern hip-hop song; Alex MacPherson of Stylus Magazine further found elements of Crunk&B music while Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times noted electropop elements in its composition. Discussing the song musically, Kitty Empire from The Observer classified it as a "ghetto anthem-in-waiting that echoes the Southern bent of much contemporary hip-hop". According to the sheet music published on the website Musicnotes.com by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, "Soldier" was composed using common time in the key of C minor with a pulsing hip-hop tempo of 75 beats per minute. The vocal elements span from the low note of G3 to the high note of F5. The song is instrumentally complete with ticking staccato synths, fractured, syncopated keyboard instruments, organ stabs, and off-kilter kick drums. Pitchfork Media's Tom Breihan felt that its beat was similar to materials by Dr. Dre. Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe found major influence of Jay-Z in "Soldier" further saying that "T.I. and Lil Wayne... seem like stand-ins for Hova".

Lyrically, "Soldier" is a continuation of the previous song on Destiny Fulfilled, "Lose My Breath". As the singers feel that their man does not fulfill them in the way they want, they tell him "I need a soldier", further "upping their standards". They request their man to be a "thug", proclaiming their love for "country boys"; their preference include a "soldier" who is "street" and "hood". MacPherson further felt that the trio cruised the ghetto for suitable men with "Soldier", an "ode to gangsta love". Corey Moss of MTV felt that the song was one of the most personal moments on Destiny Fulfilled in the sense that Beyoncé's then-relatively secret relationship with rapper Jay-Z was acknowledged "on record for the first time". Moss further elaborated, "Albeit minor, her [Beyoncé's] verse (about falling for a guy from the BK, as in Jay's Brooklyn stomping grounds) offers a rare moment of commentary on the couple, which has thus far only been chronicled by tabloid photographers." The song opens with T.I. rhyming lines and glorifying the profound love "between a thug and a thugette". As the song progresses, each member of Destiny's Child describes their own favorite type of man, later harmonizing together for the chorus. Midway through the song, Lil Wayne's verse contains a reference to rapper B.G. Michelle Williams is the last artist to sing her solo lines, which were described as "the sexiest" by Rashod Ollisong of The Baltimore Sun.

Critical reception Stephen Thomas Erlewine from the website AllMusic described "Soldier" as one of the "hard-driving dance cuts" of Destiny Fulfilled further choosing it as a highlight. Similarly, Alex MacPherson of Stylus Magazine wrote in his review that "[The album] shoots its load quickly, although just as effectively: 'Lose My Breath' and 'Soldier' are stunning, both displaying the Beyoncé trademark of creepily submissive lyrics matched with dominatrix vocals and arrangements to superb effect." MacPherson continued praising the song's slow "contemptuous grind" and the singers' vocal delivery further concluding that T.I. and Wayne "get comprehensively owned". The New York Times writer Kelefa Sanneh described the track as part of the album's "lovable" material and went on saying, "[it] takes a ludicrous premise... and turns it into sharp, coldblooded electro-pop". Andy Battaglia writing for The A.V. Club felt that the song and "Cater 2 U" "make sassy end-runs around notions of womanly subservience, but their best musical moments hide in tiny melismatic twirls instead of hooks". The Guardian writer Caroline Sullivan described the track as "juddering" while BBC's Nick Reynolds called it "good fun". In a review of the song, Tom Breihan, an editor of Pitchfork Media, wrote that "Soldier" would have been a "perfectly acceptable album track" on The Writing's on the Wall (1999), but noted that its sound was different from the songs played on mainstream pop radio. Praising the trio for their vocal performances, he continued: "'Soldier' might not carry with it the shock of the new, but it's still a nice little single... The women of Destiny's Child don't sound the slightest bit convincing singing about how they need thug boyfriends, but they wind their voices around a gorgeous hook exactly as well as they always have. T.I. and Lil Wayne stop by, not saying anything but sounding cool and tough and unflappable doing it. It's pretty good, but don't expect it to set your world on fire." Barbara Ellen of The Observer said the song was "of the exemplary standard" of the band's previous albums, Survivor (2001) and The Writing's on the Wall. Describing it as an "overt bid for street cred", Entertainment Weeklys Tom Sinclair felt that T.I and Lil Wayne "bring little to the party" with their contribution to the song. Erika Ramirez and Jason Lipshutz writing for Billboard magazine felt that the group "cemented their street and chart credibility" with the song. Another reviewer from the same magazine felt that the band's "personal transition from teen-dom to womanhood" was most evident on "Soldier" and two other songs from the album. Jenny Eliscu from Rolling Stone wrote in her review, "It's a hot track, even if the message feels affected coming from these church girls." For the same reason, Vibe writer Dimitri Ehrlich described it as a Broadway show tune about thug life. Gil Kaufman from MTV News described the song as a "bouncy homage to thug love that featured the signature DC mix of urban grit and slick production". Rashod Ollisong writing for The Baltimore Sun gave a more mixed review for the song, writing "It is catchy, but the beat is trite, and the lyrical message is downright trifling" before adding that it glorifies a "warped" image of black masculinity which he heavily criticized. He further argued that the group "should put more thought into their lyrics" due to the background and image each member created throughout their career.

Accolades "Soldier" won in the category for Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band or Duo during the 2005 Soul Train Music Awards. At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the song received a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration but lost to "Numb/Encore" (2004) by Jay-Z and Linkin Park. At the 23rd Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards, "Soldier" was recognized as one of the Most Performed Songs in 2005 along with the group's other song "Lose My Breath". The following year it was one of the Award Winning R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at the 2006 ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards.

In 2013, Lindsey Weber from Vulture put "Soldier" at number nine on her list of the top 25 songs by Destiny's Child. Houston Chronicles Joey Guerra also included the song in his 2013 list of the band's best songs. The same year it was ranked at number 64 on a list compiled by Andrew Noz from Complex magazine of Lil Wayne's 100 best songs. Similarly, Emily Exton from VH1 listed "Soldier" at the 19th position of T.I.'s 20 best songs praising his "hot intro verse". On the occasion of Beyoncé's 32nd birthday, Erika Ramirez and Jason Lipshutz from Billboard included "Soldier" at number 15 on the list of "Beyonce's 30 Biggest Billboard Hits".

Commercial performance