Beyonce has removed a sample of Kelis' song Milkshake from her new song Energy after the singer was publicly accused of theft.
This comes days after Beyonce issued an apology and removed an ableist slur from another song on her latest album Renaissance. In the original version of energy, Beyonce sang a series of "las" to the tune of Kelis' 2003 hit Milkshake.
Before the album had even been released, Kelis spoke out publicly about her strong option on the matter, stating she was not consulted in the decision and using it was act of "theft".Although Kelis is neither writer or producer on the chart topper (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are officially credited as the song's writers), Kelis has claimed on numerous occasions that she was "blatantly lied to and tricked" by the two.
She has reported in the past that she "made nothing from sales of her first two albums" due to the toxic music industry and the people around her.In a recent rant about Beyonce's new song, she states how she is positive that sampling her without permission was a direct and personal "hit" at Kelis by Pharrell Williams.When fans on Instagram were excited about Beyonce and Kelis potentially on a track together, Kelis commented that it was not a "collab" (collaboration) but rather "theft".
Although no official response has been issued, A new version of the song Energy is now on streaming platforms with Kelis' sample no longer included.This is the second time Beyonce has had to revise a song on her newest album, as disability campaigners were outraged to hear a word on the song 'Heated' considered to be an ableist slur. A representative for musician released a statement saying that "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced."