- Beyoncé has removed an interpolation of Kelis' song "Milkshake" from her new album "Renaissance."
- The interpolation can no longer be heard on "Energy" if you stream the song on Apple Music or Tidal.
Beyoncé has quietly removed an interpolation of Kelis' hit song "Milkshake" from her new album "Renaissance" after being called out by the artist.
On Friday, after the release of the album, Kelis said on Instagram that she was "frustrated" that she was not contacted about her song being used on Beyoncé's track "Energy."
Kelis said it was "not a collab it's theft" in the comment of a fan post about the interpolation. She later added in an Instagram video on her own page that it was "stupid and disrespectful" that she was not contacted by Beyoncé.
While the "Lemonade" singer has yet to respond to Kelis publicly, the interpolation has been removed from the song on streaming platforms including Apple Music and Tidal. YouTube and Spotify still have the original version of the track.
Kelis also criticized Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are credited on "Energy" as well as the original "Milkshake" track.
Kelis had previously claimed to The Guardian that she was "blatantly lied to and tricked" by the pair when she signed her first recording contract. She said she made no money from sales of her first two albums, despite originally agreeing to split everything three ways with Williams and Hugo.
"But the real issue is the fact that the people like Pharrell and like Chad," Kelis said in the Instagram video. "Pharrell knows better. This is a direct hit at me. He does this stuff all the time. It's very petty. And the reality is it's frustrating."
She continued: "Pharrell, who did an interview last year talking about artists' rights and how people should be able to rework their deals and artists should be getting credit for what they've done. When in reality, when I was signed to him I had the same manager that he had and he has writing credits on my records. All my singles, coincidentally, and he never wrote a song, a lyric a day in his life."
Beyoncé recently faced more controversy involving another track on the "Renaissance" album. Fans and activists criticized the use of the word "spaz" in the song "Heated," because the word has been used in a derogatory way to describe people with disabilities, especially people with cerebral palsy.
In African American Vernacular English, a dialect of English created and used in Black communities, the word means to "go crazy" or "fight."
In a statement to Insider, a representative for the Grammy award-winning singer said the lyric would be changed.
Insider has reached out to representatives of Beyoncé and Kelis for comment.