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Kelis may be best known for Milkshake and her falling out with Beyoncé, but the singer had actually been involved with making music since the 1990s. Her two albums, Wanderland and Kaleidoscope, helped put Kelis’ name on the map and had critical acclaim. But it was not until Milkshake was released that Kelis’ status went from dance floor hitmaker to that of an international star.
While Kelis appeared to be living a lavish life of a successful R&B pop singer, behind the scenes, things were not playing out as Kelis envisioned they would. This is because while Milkshake was receiving praise and was even nominated for a Grammy Award, none of that equated to monetary success for Kelis.
It was not until the money stopped coming in for album sales and appearances that Kelis alleges the contracts she signed as a teenager were significantly different than promised. This meant that while Milkshake would continue to bring in money in the years after its initial popularity, Kelis would not be the recipient of it.
‘Milkshake’ Made Kelis A Superstar In 2003
Kelis was no stranger to fame when Milkshake dropped in 2003. This is because her first two albums had made the Bossy singer a name on the R&B scene. But something was different about Milkshake and Kelis knew it. While she knew the song would get attention, Kelis had no idea it would make her into a superstar.
“I knew right away that it was a really good song, and it was the one I wanted to be the first single,” Kelis explained. “But I don’t know that I knew exactly what was going to happen with it. I just knew that it was where I wanted to be.”
Kelis knew the song was special when it was released and had a feeling it would be a hit, given what the music scene was offering at the time.
“It made sense to me, actually, because the way music is right now, there was nothing else like it. I knew it was fun, and it didn’t take itself too seriously.”
And while the song indeed became the hit Kelis thought it would be, because she did not own the rights, none of that monetary success came Kelis’ way.
Kelis Doesn’t Own The Rights To ‘Milkshake’
Kelis was the voice behind Milkshake and because of this, she was paid the original performer fees. However, fans were shocked to discover that the Millionaire singer did not own the rights to her most famous song.
This fact was relatively unknown until Beyoncé made the decision to sample Milkshake in her song, Energy and Kelis let her true feelings about the song being used be known.
“My mind is blown too because the level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all 3 parties involved is astounding,” Kelis explained, referencing Beyoncé and The Neptunes. “I heard about this the same way everyone else did. Nothing is ever as it seems, some of the people in this business have no soul or integrity, and they have everyone fooled.”
Kelis went on to state that the reason she was so upset with Beyoncé was that the two “met each other, we know each other, we have mutual friends.” Because of this, it was “beyond this song” and instead, a lack of “decency” that Beyoncé showed for Kelis.
“It’s not hard. She can contact me, right? It’s common decency.”
Kelis went on to elaborate stating the use of Milkshake in Energy “was a TRIGGER for me. Milkshake alone is one of the most licensed records of our generation. I am a creator; I’m an innovator. I have done more than left my mark on an era of music and style that will go down in history.”
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After the backlash from both Kelis’ and Beyoncé’s fans once the realization was made that Kelis not only did not receive any money for the sampling and that she was not even contacted for permission to use a portion of Milkshake on the Energy track, Beyoncé removed the sample from her track.
But it led fans to look deeper at the controversy that existed between Kelis and The Neptunes over publishing rights on the song.
Who Gets The Royalties From ‘Milkshake’?
When Kelis signed the contract for her first two albums, she alleges that she was told that she would receive one-third of the publishing rights. The other two-thirds would be split with The Neptunes.
After the tour money stopped coming in and songs from her albums, not to mention the newest single, Milkshake were not providing dividends, it was clear the contract did give Kelis the deal she thought she was agreeing to.
“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” Kelis explained. But what happened instead, according to Kelis was that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by “the Neptunes and their management and their lawyers and all that stuff.”
Kelis went on to say, “Their argument is: ‘Well, you signed it.’ I’m like: ‘Yeah, I signed what I was told, and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.'”
Because of this, The Neptunes, aka Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, whom Kelis was “close friends” with, are the ones who receive the money for the publishing rights not only to the songs on Kelis’ first two albums but to Milkshake as well.
Kelis Found One Way To Earn From Her Song
While publishing rights may have been taken away from Kelis, that does not mean that Kelis has not made ANY money off of Milkshake. That money just came a couple of decades after the song became a huge hit via an Uber Eats ad.
“Obviously, I use Uber Eats all the time,” Kelis explained of her teaming up with the company. “So, it wasn’t a hard sell. This is fun, I get it, it’s cute,” going onto note that the commercial is “very tongue-in-cheek.”
Kelis went on to say, “I don’t ever take myself too seriously, I just think it’s fun. It’s fun that after 20 years, it is still relevant and it is still recognizable and it’s still something that I think takes a place in this generation, but I think it’s lived its life.”
While Kelis may not have gotten all that she deserved when she was younger after the publishing rights were stripped from her, at the end of the day she had gotten the last laugh.
Between Uber Eats and cookbook deals that have come from performing Milkshake, Kelis gets to have a piece of the Milkshake pie, even if she has to think outside of the box to make it happen.
