"Soldier" is an R&B/hip hop song written by Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Rich Harrison, Sean Garrett, T.I., and Lil Wayne for Destiny's Child's fourth studio album, Destiny Fulfilled (2004).

The chorus melody bears something of a resemblance to that of the Tupac Shakur song "Hail Mary".

"Soldier" produced by Knowles and Harrison and released as the album's second single in fall 2004. The song was also performed by Knowles on The Beyoncé Experience tour. It was performed as a remix in a Destiny's Child medley. The remix contained a sample of the Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's "Crank That (Soulja Boy)."

There is an official remix featuring rapper Bizarre of the group D12 on a new urban beat.

"Soldier" peaked at number 1 in Canada and Denmark and number 3 in the United States, where it became the group's tenth and final consecutive top hit, number 4 in the UK, which makes T.I.'s & Lil Wayne's first top 5 hit in the UK and peaked within the top 5 in New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Finland, Italy, Greece and Switzerland. The song also was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" category and won the group a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for "Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band or Duo". The song was sampled for "Grillz" by Nelly, Paul Wall, and Ali & Gipp. This was also sampled for the song "Body Marked Up" by Willy Northpole.

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary. The majority of cognates of the word "soldier" that exist in other languages have a meaning that embraces both commissioned and non-commissioned officers in national land forces.

The word soldier entered modern English in the 14th century, from the equivalent Middle English word soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling. The word is also related to the Medieval Latin soldarius, meaning soldier (literally, "one having pay"). These words were ultimately derived from the Late Latin word solidus, referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire.

In most armed forces use of the word soldier has taken on a more general meaning, due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, "soldiers" are referred to by names or ranks which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technical use such as: trooper, tanker, commando, dragoon, infantryman, marine, paratrooper, ranger, sniper, engineer, sapper, medic, or a gunner.

Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme. After years of performing underground, they were signed to Columbia Records as Destiny's Child, comprising Knowles, Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett.

Destiny's Child was launched into mainstream recognition following the release of their best-selling second album, The Writing's on the Wall, which contained the number-one singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name". Despite critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict and legal turmoil, as Roberson and Luckett attempted to split off the group's manager Mathew Knowles. They were soon replaced with Williams and Farrah Franklin; however, in 2000, Franklin was dismissed, leaving them as a trio. Their third album, Survivor, which contains themes the public interpreted as a channel to the group's experience, contains the worldwide hits "Independent Women", "Survivor" and "Bootylicious". In 2002, they announced a hiatus and re-united two years later for the release of their fourth studio album, Destiny Fulfilled (2004).

Destiny or fate is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos.

Although the words are used interchangeably in many cases, fate and destiny can be distinguished. Traditional usage defines fate as a power or agency that predetermines and orders the course of events. Fate defines events as ordered or "inevitable" and unavoidable. Classical and European mythology features three goddesses dispensing fate, known as Moirai in Greek mythology, as Parcae in Roman mythology, and as Norns in Norse mythology. They determine the events of the world through the mystic spinning of threads that represent individual human fates.

Destiny is used with regard to the finality of events as they have worked themselves out; and that same sense of Destination, projected into the future to become the flow of events as they will work themselves out. In other words, fate relates to events of the future and present of an individual and in cases in literature unalterable, whereas destiny relates to the probable future. Fate implies no choice, but with destiny the entity is participating in achieving an outcome that is directly related to itself. Participation happens willfully.

Biologically, a child (plural: children) is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent (such as sons and daughters of any age) or, metaphorically, an authority figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; it can also signify being strongly affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the Sixties".

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". Ratified by 192 of 194 member countries. Some English definitions of the word 'child' include the fetus and the unborn. Biologically, a child is anyone between birth and puberty or in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood. Children generally have fewer rights than adults and are classed as not able to make serious decisions, and legally must always be under the care of a responsible adult.