Beyoncé removes Kelis 'Milkshake' sound from new track amid controversy over credits

Beyoncé has removed a 'Milkshake' sound from her new song after Kelis accused her of "thievery".

The singer's new album, Renaissance, attracted rave reviews upon release but was quickly mired in controversy.

First, the album was leaked online, then Beyoncé announced she would be removing a word from her song 'heated' after backlash over what was described as an ableist slur in its lyrics.

Controversy also kicked off between Beyoncé and Kelis, when the latter used Instagram to voice frustrations that her hit 2003 song had been used without a heads-up in new Renaissance track 'Energy'.

Beyoncé's website stated that Milkshake had been 'interpolated', which takes an existing sound and alters it - rather than a sample uses a part of the original track directly without changes.

However Kelis called the actions "thievery", also singling out hitmaker Pharrell Williams and his Neptunes co-producer Chad Hugo for criticism.

Williams Hugo are both credited on the album for the interpolation, whereas singer Kelis is not.

She had previously accused Williams and Hugo of tricking her into a bad deal which left them with the rights to Milkshake.

“Pharrell knows better,” she said earlier. “This is a direct hit at me. The reality is, this is frustrating. I have the right to be frustrated."

The Milkshake interpolation appears to have since been removed from Beyoncé's track on Apple's and Tidal's music streaming services.

The original version of 'energy' used Milkshake's 'la la la la la' refrain.

It was not immediately clear whether the element would be removed elsewhere, and Beyoncé has not issued a statement.

The row was the latest in a series of controversies over Renaissance.

Beyoncé was criticised for using the word 's***' in a lyric, despite Lizzo facing backlash before remove the same word from her new song 'Grrrls' only earlier this summer.

The term both singers used is a derogatory term for a form of cerebral palsy known as spastic diplegia.

Lizzo apologised publicly for using the word , and won praise from fans for quickly re-recording the track.

Her name trended alongside Beyoncé's on Twitter this week, prompting a delighted Lizzo to share the "flex" in an Instagram post.

However, some commenters were quick to point out the artists' names were trending together due to their mutual use of the same slurs in their music.

Listen to the ITV News entertainment podcast Unscripted