Diane Warren apologises after Beyoncé co-writing comments

nme.com:

Diane Warren has apologised after making controversial comments about the numbers of co-writers on Beyoncé‘s new album, ‘Renaissance’.On Monday (August 1), Warren tweeted, “How can there be 24 writers on a song?” alongside an eye-roll emoji.

The tweet was likely referring to ‘Alien Superstar’, a song on ‘Renaissance’ which credits two dozen songwriters.Those include the likes of Honey Dijon, Jay-Z, Lucky Daye, Labrinth and 070 Shake, but many of the credits are also due to sampling and interpolation of other artists’ songs.

Richard and Christopher Fairbass and Rob Manzoli of Right Said Fred appear on the list due to the song sampling their hit ‘I’m Too Sexy’, while writer and actress Barbara Ann Teer’s ‘Black Theatre’ speech is also sampled, meaning she is also credited.Ok, it's prob samples that add up the ammount of writerrs— Diane Warren (@Diane_Warren) August 1, 2022Warren faced backlash for her tweet, with many pointing out the collaborative history of Black music culture, and rejecting the notion great art is created in solitude.

Among those who responded to Warren was longtime Beyoncé collaborator The-Dream, who co-produced ‘Renaissance’ single ‘Break My Soul’ alongside Bey and C. “Tricky” Stewart.“You mean [how] does our (Black) culture have so many writers,” the singer and producer wrote. “Well it started because we couldn’t afford certain things starting out, so we started sampling and it became an Artform, a major part of the Black Culture (hip hop) in America.