Upon its original release, Beyoncé’s new album Renaissance included an interpolation of Kelis’ “Milkshake” on “Energy.” Kelis has said she was not informed by Beyoncé and her team that her music was going to be used on the new album. The “Milkshake” interpolation has now been removed from “Energy,” Rolling Stone reports.
On the original version of “Energy,” near the song’s end, Beyoncé sang a variation of the “La-la, la-la, la” that Kelis made famous on “Milkshake” (as shown by the TikToker @jarredjermaine). In the updated version of “Energy” on streaming platforms, Beyoncé’s series of “las” is absent. Pitchfork has reached out to Beyoncé’s representative for comment.
Despite being interpolated, Kelis was not credited as a writer of “Energy” because she is not officially a writer or producer of “Milkshake.” Her Neptunes collaborators, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, are officially the composers and lyricists of “Milkshake,” and, therefore, are co-writers of the original “Energy.” At the time of this article’s publication, Beyoncé’s website and digital streaming platforms still list Hugo and Williams as composers on “Energy.”
The change to “Energy” marks the second major update to Renaissance since its July 29 release. Beyoncé recently changed a line in “Heated” to remove words that are considered ableist.