“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.
