Beyoncé updates ‘Renaissance’ to remove reportedly unauthorised Kelis sample
nme.comBeyoncé has made a second update to her just-released seventh album, ‘Renaissance’, removing an interpolation of Kelis’ 2003 hit ‘Milkshake’ from the album cut ‘Energy’.Shortly after ‘Renaissance’ was released last Friday (July 29), Kelis took to social media to claim that Beyoncé used elements of ‘Milkshake’ without her express permission.
She alleged that Pharrell Williams (who wrote and produced ‘Milkshake’ with Chad Hugo as The Neptunes) would have cleared the interpolation as a “direct hit” at her, and that nobody from Beyoncé’s team had reached out to let the singer know her song would be referenced.The original version of ‘Energy’ interpolates the “la la la la” refrain that’s first heard around the 30-second mark on ‘Milkshake’.
The official credits for ‘Energy’ did indeed mention that the song contained an interpolation of ‘Milkshake’, and credited Williams and Hugo as songwriters.
Kelis was mentioned as having “performed” the interpolated song, but she is not listed as a songwriter for ‘Energy’ in the same way that The Neptunes were.Notably, Kelis was never credited as a songwriter on ‘Milkshake’ to begin with.
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