Beyoncé is Reportedly Doing #MeToo Background Checks on Her ‘Renaissance’ Collaborators
Beyoncé is making her long-awaited return to music with her Renaissance album. And in classic Beyoncé fashion, she wants it to be perfect. That includes making sure that everyone she works with on the album has no skeletons in their closet.
Beyoncé is releasing her new album ‘Renaissance’
For her seventh studio album, Beyoncé ditched the surprise drop model that she made famous with her self-titled album back in 2013. She opted for a traditional rollout with a confirmed release date.
She released the album’s first single, “Break My Soul”, in June 2022. The song samples Robin S.‘s classic ’90s house song “Show Me Love,” and marks a new sonic direction for Beyoncé.
She spoke about the album’s creation in a 2021 interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,” she said. “I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.”
“I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she continued. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies. Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old.”
Beyoncé’s ‘Drunk in Love’ collaborator was arrested for sexual assault
When creating Renaissance, Beyoncé ensured that everyone she worked with had a clean record. It comes on the heels of her “Drunk in Love” co-writer Detail being arrested for sexual assault in 2020 for alleged attacks between 2010 and 2018. Detail has vehemently denied the claims.
Detail has also produced hit songs for Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj. He was held on almost $6.3 million bail and isn’t involved with Beyoncé’s latest album at all.
Beyoncé is running “#MeToo” checks on her collaborators
To ensure that she doesn’t associate herself with anyone with a history of assault, Beyoncé and her team have reportedly been conducting strict background checks to ensure that every producer, writer, and collaborator she works with on Renaissance doesn’t have a history of assault.
The Sun reported that Beyoncé is vetting her collaborators to ensure that someone like Detail doesn’t end up in her inner circle.
“Beyoncé was devastated when she found out Detail, one of her past collaborators, was accused of rape and sexual assault,” the source said. “She stopped working with him and her team now run #MeToo checks on any potential collaborators.”
The background checks are so serious that two artists have already been eliminated from the running to work with her. “Two songs from high-profile artists have been rejected because of allegations they are facing,” the source said. “She’s rubbed some people up the wrong way but she doesn’t care. She won’t go anywhere near you if you’ve been accused of going after one of her peers.”
“Beyoncé is a leader in her business and wants to set an example that any abuse shouldn’t be normalized,” they concluded. “This is why her new record is about empowering women.”
