Bey's track, 'Alien Superstar,' off her 'Renaissance' album sampled Right Said Fred’s hit, 'I’m Too Sexy.'
Beyoncé is vehemently denying Right Said Fred's claims that she sampled their "I'm Too Sexy" hit in her "Alien Superstar" track without permission.
In a statement to ET, Bey's rep says that "the comments made by Right Said Fred stating that Beyoncé used 'I'm too Sexy' in 'Alien Superstar' without permission are erroneous and incredibly disparaging."
The rep added, "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."
A week before Bey dropped Renaissance earlier this summer, the English pop duo's verified Twitter account acknowledged that "it's nice to get a writing credit on the new 'Beyonce' album."
The rep went on to say that Beyoncé's team asked Right Said Fred's publisher for permission on May 11, "and the publisher approved the use on June 15, 2022." What's more, "they were paid for the usage in August, 2022." And, 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."
The brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass -- along with prior member Rob Manzoli -- are credited as co-writers on the track. Nevertheless, the brothers claim that the "Break My Soul" singer sampled the 1992 hit without their permission in an interview with The Sun earlier this week, slamming Beyoncé as "arrogant."
"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," the band told the British tabloid. "But everyone else, Drake and Taylor Swift, they came to us."
Drizzy sampled the track for his 2021 hit, "Way 2 Sexy," while Swift sampled the composition for her 2017 hit, "Look What You Made Me Do."
The brothers continued, "To use our melody they need our permission so they send us the demo and we approve it and if so we get a co-write credit. With this Beyoncé thing there are 22 writers it's ridiculous so we would get about 40 [pounds]."
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