Beyoncé Shuts Down Right Said Fred’s “Erroneous” Sampling Claims

On her new album, Renaissance, Beyoncé interpolated Right Said Fred’s hit “I’m Too Sexy” on “Alien Superstar.” As a result, the group’s Fred and Richard Fairbrass, as well as past member Rob Manzoli, are credited as co-writers of “Alien Superstar.” In a recent interview with the British tabloid The Sun, however, the Fairbrass brothers claimed, “Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person she just had probably thought ‘come and get me’ so we heard about it after the fact when you did. But everyone else, Drake and Taylor Swift, they came to us.”

Beyoncé has now responded Right Said Fred. In a statement shared with Pitchfork, the musician said:

The comments made by Right Said Fred stating that Beyonce used “I’m Too Sexy” in “Alien Superstar” without permission are erroneous and incredibly disparaging.

Permission was not only granted for its use, but they publicly spoke of their gratitude for being on the album.

For their song, there was no sound recording use, only the composition was utilized.

Permission was asked of their publisher on May 11, 2022 and the publisher approved the use on June 15, 2022. They were paid for the usage in August, 2022.

Furthermore, the copyright percentage of the Right Said Fred writers with respect to the use of “I’m Too Sexy” is a substantial portion of the composition.

Collectively the Right Said Fred writers own more than any other singular writer and have co-writer credit.

This accusation is false.

As Beyoncé noted in her statement, Fred and Richard Fairbrass had previously seemed happy to have been included on Renaissance. Following the release of the album, Right Said Fred tweeted, “It’s nice to get a writing credit on the new ‘Beyonce’ album.” In addition, the band shared on Instagram, “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 😂.”

Following the release of Renaissance, Beyoncé amended the album to remove an interpolation of “Milkshake” after Kelis said that she was not informed that her music would appear on the album.

5 Takeaways From Beyoncé’s New Album, Renaissance