Right Said Fred aren’t completely happy with how Beyoncé went about interpolating their 1991 hit song “I’m Too Sexy” on her Renaissance standout track “Alien Superstar.”
The Sun caught up with members Fred and Richard Fairbrass at the 2022 Broadcast Music Inc. Awards in London, where they discussed Bey tapping into their work without touching base about it beforehand.
“Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person,” Right Said Fred told the UK tabloi. “She just had probably thought ‘come and get me,’ so we heard about it after the fact, when you did.”
The two added, “Everyone else, Drake and Taylor Swift, they came to us.” Drizzy took the hook on “I’m Too Sexy” for last year’s “Way 2 Sexy,” while Taylor interpolated the same track on “Look What You Made Me Do.”
Right Said Fred dismissed any notion that this situation could eventually turn into a legal matter. “We’re delighted Beyoncé is using our melody, a simple ‘please’ or ‘may I’ would have been nice,” the Fairbrass brothers wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
We’re delighted Beyoncé is using our melody, a simple ‘please’ or ‘may I’ would have been nice.
— Right Said Fred (@TheFreds) October 5, 2022
Right Said Fred didn’t bring up this issue months ago, when they seemed proud to share the news that they scored a writing credit on Renaissance.
Writing credits with Taylor Swift, Drake and now Beyoncé, not bad for 2 blokes that haven’t been play-listed in the UK for over 25 years 😂 Beyonce has surprise collaboration with Right Said Fred on new album, Renaissance – Mirror Online https://t.co/Ax1jGxrf5i
— Right Said Fred (@TheFreds) July 28, 2022
Shortly after that, they testily clarified, “99.9% of journalists know f**k all about music and the most basic terminology. Irrespective of what has been written. The song usage with Taylor Swift, Drake and Beyoncé does not involve samples of our songs. The usage is all related to publishing, ie: the songwriting.”
An interpolation of “Milkshake” by Kelis was removed from album cut “Energy” in August after she accused Beyoncé of theft on Instagram. In response to a comment suggesting Bey’s song is “a collab the world really needs,” Kelis fired back, “It’s not a collab it’s theft.”
Source: Complex.com