Beyoncé is back in the headlines, and this time, it’s over an alleged unauthorized music sample. According to a new report, the “Single Ladies” hitmaker is being dragged to court after a music company filed a lawsuit against her music label, Parkwood. Beyoncé has been in a back-and-forth battle with this company since 2022, when she released her seventh studio album, “RENAISSANCE.”
The release of “RENAISSANCE” spawned several hits, including “Cuff It,” “Break My Soul,” and “Alien Superstar.” In the latter, the singer samples a portion of a song called “Moonraker” by a singer named John Holiday.
The sample appears at the beginning of the track and tells listeners not to be alarmed and to remain calm.
However, according to TMZ, a company called Hirose Entertainment and a producer named Shuji Hirose are suing the mother of three and her Parkwood label for alleged copyright infringement.
The court documents claim that Hirose Entertainment is actually the legal owner of the song, not Holiday, so any deal should’ve gone through them, not the singer.
Hirose Music Is Claiming Beyoncé Allegedly Failed To Obtain A License To Use Their Work
Beyoncé’s “RENAISSANCE” was released in the summer of 2022, and according to Hirose, the singer allegedly failed to obtain the proper license to sample a portion of their song in her chart-topping project.
To make matters worse, they alleged that Beyoncé only obtained a license for the sample weeks after the drop, but only from Holiday, who allegedly transferred his stake in the song “decades earlier.”
Hirose claimed that they’ve tried settling this matter with Beyoncé and her team since the song’s release; however, no progress has been made, and Bey has continued selling the track. The court documents state that Hirose is seeking an injunction to stop Beyoncé from continuing to make music on the song and is suing for an undisclosed amount.
A Judge Recently Sided With Beyoncé On The Matter
Beyoncé’s company was in the headlines over this matter just a few weeks ago, according to The Blast. A U.S. district judge actually dismissed the copyright and breach-of-contract complaint filed by Hirose and deemed it invalid because the company was formed in early August 2025.
“Please do not be alarmed, remain calm: like the DJ booth referenced in the works at issue, this district judge must conduct a troubleshoot test of the entire system—that is, a jurisdictional inquiry—before reaching any of the parties’ merits arguments,” the judge wrote in his filing. “Plaintiff had no legal existence at the time it brought suit, so it cannot have held a stake in the outcome of the litigation at the time it filed the complaint.”
Artists Come Out Of The Woodwork To Accuse Bey Of Failing To Get Proper Credit
This isn’t the first time that Beyoncé has been accused of stealing other artists’ work. Shortly after “RENAISSANCE” was released, the English band Right Said Fred claimed that the “Lemonade” singer used a sample from “I’m Too Sexy” without obtaining permission.
“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. 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,” the group wrote online.
Beyoncé and her team clapped back, though, saying that not only did they receive permission to use the sample, the group also spoke about how grateful they were that the 35x Grammy winner even thought to use their work.
Kelis Called Queen Bey Out
Kelis also tried to make Beyoncé’s “RENAISSANCE” release about herself, claiming in 2022 that the sample Bey used of her 2003 hit “Milkshake” was used without her permission.
“The reality is that it’s frustrating. I have the right to be frustrated,” she said, according to VIBE. “Why did no one have the human decency to call and be like, ‘Yo, hey, we would like to use your record.’”
However, Pharrell Williams, who wrote the song, spoke with the media and said that while Kelis was the performer, she had no authority to make contractual moves.
“I wish her the absolute best,” he said. “But I wrote this song.”
