Beyoncé rarely enters the fray, but when she does, she will pull up with the receipts. In a comment reminiscent of earlier sampling frustrations over a different Renaissance track, the band Right Said Fred claimed Queen Bey sampled their song “I’m Too Sexy†without direct permission. In response to the dustup, she called their allegations “erroneous and incredibly disparaging,†guaranteeing that she went through the proper channels to clear the sample. “Permission was not only granted for its use, but they publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album,†the pop star said in a rare statement to E! News, listing the myriad ways Right Said Fred is wrong. “For their song, there was no sound recording use, only the composition was utilized. Permission was asked of their publisher on May 11, 2022 and the publisher approved the use on June 15, 2022. They were paid for the usage in August, 2022.â€
Although she credited the band for their composition on her song “Alien Superstar,†Right Said Fred alleged that Beyoncé used their track without directly asking for clearance. “Normally the artist approaches us, but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person,†the brothers told The Sun on October 3. “She just had probably thought, ‘Come and get me,’ so we heard about it after the fact when you did.†A tweet from months ago complicates their comments to the tabloid. When Beyoncé said the band acknowledged the sample and expressed their gratitude, she was likely referring to a tweet in which the Freds seem happy about their credit on “Alien Superstar.†“It’s nice to get a writing credit on the new ‘Beyonce’ album,†they wrote on July 22, a full week before the album dropped. Imagine receiving a clap back from with receipts that show you were being a flip-flop, flippy, flip-floppin’-ass bitch. Couldn’t be me.