Problems are piling up on Beyoncé's new album.
Just five days after its release,
Renaissance
has already had to re-record one song,
Heated
, for including a word supposedly offensive to people with disabilities.
Now another song has to deal with the controversy.
The fifth cut,
Energy,
has been accused of plagiarizing a fragment of the song
Milkshake
(2003), by singer Kelis, which she has accused of "stealing" the star.
In response, Beyoncé has removed that snippet from the song on digital platforms.
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Beyoncé will re-record 'Heated', one of her new songs, accused of offending people with disabilities
It all started with a publication by producer Jarred Jermaine on his TikTok account, in which in a video he reproduces eight
samples
(musical fragments) that Beyoncé has taken from songs by other artists to modify them and include them in her new album.
A common practice in the music industry and that does not usually lead to inconveniences, as Beyoncé herself already did with the first single from
Renaissance,
Break My Soul,
which covered the base of
Show Me Love
(1993)
,
by Robin S.
However, on this occasion the singer Kelis, also an American, described this practice as "theft" during a live broadcast on her Instagram account.
"Nothing is what it seems, some people in this business have no soul or integrity and have everyone fooled," added the artist.
Kelis not only lashed out at Beyoncé, but also at authors and songwriters.
Pharrel Williams and Chad Hugo, a duo that works under the name The Neptunes, were the composers and producers of Kelis's first three albums, but she feels that they "scammed" her by not including her as the author of their songs, so she does not have no legal rights to their songs and they own their music.
“I know what I have and what I don't have.
I also know the lies that were told.
I also know the things that were stolen," Kelis said on Instagram.
"There are people scammed, without rights, it happens all the time, and it especially happened back then."
Both Williams and Hugo are included in the
Energy
credits , while Kelis has been left out.
So for now, as a redress and to avoid further controversy with her first album in six years, Beyoncé has decided to cut that part of the song.
In a few days the data that will indicate how the
Renaissance
album is doing in listeners will be made public.
Beyoncé then hopes to start having some joy with a release that so far is giving her headaches.