During a recent interview with The Sun at London’s 2022 Broadcast Music Inc. Awards, music duo Right Said Fred — best known for their 1991 hit “I’m Too Sexy” — opened up about how they really felt about Beyoncé interpolating the song in her Renaissance dance track “Alien Superstar.”
“Normally the artist approaches us but Beyoncé didn’t because she is such an arrogant person,” Right Said Fred members Fred and Richard Fairbrass said. “She just had probably thought, ‘Come and get me,’ so we heard about it after the fact, when you did.”
“We can’t stop it. There is nothing we can do. It is sh*t,” they said. “You are going to get into a conversation with someone who has a lot more presence and power and money than we do. And that won’t go well. It’s best to let it go. If you’re not careful, you spend your life looking back. We keep looking forward the whole time.”
Just a few months earlier, Right Said Fred had shared that they were included in Beyoncé’s Renaissance writing credits, even claiming that it was “nice.” Now, they feel she should’ve done more to ask permission — but aren’t planning legal action.
“We’re delighted Beyoncé is using our melody, a simple ‘please’ or ‘may I’ would have been nice,” they shared on Twitter.
They noted that while the song has been interpolated in recent years for a number of hits, from Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” and Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy,” those artists approached them to ask permission.
“99.9% of journalists know f*ck all about music and the most basic terminology,” Right Said Fred added on Twitter. “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.”
Early on in Beyoncê’s Renaissance release cycle, Kelis also was credited for an interpolation of her song “Milkshake.” She eventually asked to be removed. “It’s not a collab it’s theft,” Kelis replied to an Instagram comment about it in August.
View Right Said Fred’s posts below.
https://twitter.com/TheFreds/status/1550381135536046086
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
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.
— Right Said Fred (@TheFreds) July 31, 2022
