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Beyoncé Removes Kelis Sample From ‘Energy’

By Autumn Hawkins August 3rd, 2022

“Energy” from Beyoncé’s seventh studio album Renaissance contained an interpolation of Kelis’ 2003 hit” Milkshake” much to Kelis’s chagrin. After Kelis uploaded several videos calling out the icon, it sparked a heated social media debate between the Beyhive and the Tasty singer which resulted in the “Milkshake” interpolation being removed from the record Rolling Stone reports.

On the original version of “Energy,” Beyoncé sings “La-la, la-la, la” in the same melody as Kelis did back in 2003.  Now, in the updated version of “Energy,” the “La-la, la-la, la” is no longer heard.

Although “Milkshake” is interpolated and not sampled, Kelis was not credited as a writer on “Energy” because Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo have the writing and production credits on the song. Since the interpolation is no longer heard on the track, Williams and Hugo’s credits as composers on “Energy” have since been removed.

The change to “Energy” is the second revision Beyoncé has made to Renaissance following the lyric change on “Heated” for using an ableist slur.

Beyoncé Changes Ableist Slur In "Heated" After Backlash

Beyoncé is under fire for using an ableist slur in her new song “Heated.” The 28-time Grammy winner dropped her seventh album Renaissance on Friday (July 29). The 16-track project features the song “Heated” in which the singer uses the word “spaz” two times on the record. “Spazzin’ on that a–, spaz on that a–,” she sings on the song’s outro. The term “spaz” is described as an ableist slur for the condition spastic cerebral palsy, the most common type of cerebral palsy.

Lizzo, who was under fire for using the word in her song “Grrls” from her newest project Special changed the lyrics once she found out that the slur hurt fans.”It’s been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song ‘GRRRLS,'” she shared in a Twitter post. “Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language.”

Following the backlash, the word is now set to be replaced, with a spokesperson for the singer telling Sky News it was not “used intentionally in a harmful way.”

Take a look at how fans are reacting below:

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    https://twitter.com/broth3rbo1/status/1554004187272323072

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