There’s just one milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard, ok? Beyoncé has removed a ‘Milkshake’ sound from her new song after Kelis accused her of “thievery.” The singer’s new album, Renaissance, attracted rave reviews upon release but was quickly mired in controversy. Here’s what you need to know.
First, the album was leaked online, then Beyoncé announced she would be removing a word from her song ‘heated’ after backlash over what was described as an ableist slur in its lyrics. Controversy also kicked off between Beyoncé and Kelis, when the latter used Instagram to voice frustrations that her hit 2003 song had been used without a heads-up in new Renaissance track ‘Energy’.
Beyonce Removes Kelis’ Milkshake Sample From Her New Track
Beyoncé’s website stated that Milkshake had been ‘interpolated’, which takes an existing sound and alters it – rather than a sample uses a part of the original track directly without changes.
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However Kelis called the actions “thievery”, also singling out hitmaker Pharrell Williams and his Neptunes co-producer Chad Hugo for criticism. Williams Hugo are both credited on the album for the interpolation, whereas singer Kelis is not. She had previously accused Williams and Hugo of tricking her into a bad deal which left them with the rights to Milkshake.
“Pharrell knows better,” she said earlier. “This is a direct hit at me. The reality is, this is frustrating. I have the right to be frustrated.”
The Milkshake interpolation appears to have since been removed from Beyoncé’s track on Apple’s and Tidal’s music streaming services.
The original version of ‘energy’ used Milkshake’s ‘la la la la la’ refrain. It was not immediately clear whether the element would be removed elsewhere, and Beyoncé has not issued a statement.
Beyoncé was also criticized for using the word ‘s***’ in a lyric, despite Lizzo facing backlash before removing the same word from her new song ‘Grrrls‘ only earlier this summer. The term both singers used is a derogatory term for a form of cerebral palsy known as spastic diplegia.
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