Kelis has been screaming truth to shame devils since her first single, “Caught Out There,” on which triflin’ men get a mouthful of well-deserved verbal rage. So it was not out of character for the Harlem-born punk-pop queen to express her frustration with Pharrell’s involvement in her being interpolated on Beyoncé’s Renaissance without her knowledge.
The artists credited on what is arguably Bey’s most vocally superior opus began to leak during the album’s traditional rollout (a surprise, considering the unconventional release campaigns for Beyoncé and Lemonade). Upon seeing Kelis’s name credited on “ENERGY,” fans believed they were getting the collaboration of their early-aughts dreams. However, Kelis immediately called the replayed sample of her 2003 hit “Milkshake” “theft,” later going live on Instagram to air her grievances.
