Beyoncé’s new album, Renaissance, includes a song that appears to sample Kelis’ Kaleidoscope single “Get Along With You.” While the full credits for the track, “Energy,” have not yet been revealed, credited composers include Pharrell Williams and Chad (presumably Williams’ Neptunes bandmate Chad Hugo). Kelis has now said that she was not made aware that “Get Along With You” was going to be sampled for Renaissance.
Kelis made her remarks in the comment section of a post from the @kelistrends fan page. “My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” she commented from the verified account for her company Bounty & Full. “I heard about this the same way everyone else did. Nothing is ever as it seems , some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity and they have everyone fooled.” In a subsequent comment, Kelis wrote, “it’s not a collab it’s theft.”
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for Kelis for comment and additional information.
While “Get Along With You” is formally a Kelis song, she is not listed as one of its producers, composers, or lyricists, per Tidal credits. The track’s producers are Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams, Rob Walker, and the Neptunes. In addition, Hugo and Williams are the composers and lyricists of “Get Along With You.”
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Kelis claimed that “she made nothing from sales of her first two albums,” suggesting that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff.”
“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” she said. “Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed it.’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.’”
Kelis is not the first artist to be surprised at being sampled on Renaissance. “Break My Soul,” the album’s lead single, samples Robin S.’ “Show Me Love,” and, therefore, credits songwriters Allen George and Fred McFarlane (but not Robin S.). In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Robin S. said she had no formal contact with Beyoncé and her team ahead of the single’s release, and that she learned about the sample because her son told her she was “trending all over the place.”
Robin S. also thanked Beyoncé for sampling her music: “This is Robin S, and this message goes out to the Queen Bey herself, Beyoncé, to Jay-Z, to the entire team: Thank you so much for giving me my flowers while I’m still alive. I am honored, and I’m excited to see what else can happen.”
