Monica Lewinsky Wants Beyoncé to Change a Lyric About Her
When Beyoncé faced backlash over some of the lyrics on her most recent album Renaissance, Monica Lewinsky found it an excellent time to bring up an old grievance with the singer. What song does she want Beyoncé to change and why? Plus, who else was none too pleased when they heard the much-anticipated album?
Beyoncé used Monica Lewinsky’s name as a verb on ‘Partition’
The line in question by Lewinsky is in a song called “Partition,” which was on Beyoncé’s self-titled album. In it, she sings, “He Monica Lewinsky’d all on my gown.”
That’s referring to details revealed by Lewinsky about her history-making affair with former President Bill Clinton. To make a long story short, she held onto a dress stained during a sexual encounter. The gown wasn’t laundered, and she handed it over to prosecutors during Clinton’s impeachment trial as DNA evidence of their affair (per History).
Notably, Beyoncé isn’t the only artist to use Lewinsky’s name in a manner to describe sexual encounters that end in stained clothing. But she’s arguably the most prominent.
Monica Lewinsky wants Beyoncé to change ‘Partition’ lyric
Following the backlash to a word that’s been deemed an ableist slur that Beyoncé used on Renaissance, she changed the lyric in question. She released a statement that explained, “The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced.”
That’s when Lewinsky took to Twitter to remind the singer of the old line she would like to see changed. “uhmm, while we’re at it,” she wrote before referencing “Partition” in a hashtag.
Lewinsky has explained how the power dynamics created an imbalance in her relationship with Clinton. “So it was wholly inappropriate as the most powerful man, my boss, 49 years old,” she told CNN‘s Jake Tapper. “I was 22, literally just out of college.”
She added, “And I think that the power differentials there are something that I couldn’t ever fathom consequences at 22 that I understand obviously so differently at 48.”
Kelis had an issue with Beyoncé’s new album
When Kelis heard “Milkshake” was used as a sample on Beyoncé’s Renaissance, she complained that the icon lacked the “common decency” to reach out and let her know. As reported by PEOPLE, Kelis told fans, “It’s not a collab it’s theft.”
She also aimed at Pharrell Williams, who co-wrote “Milkshake” and received writing credits on Beyoncé’s track, “Energy.”
“He does this stuff all the time,” Kelis claimed. “It’s very petty.”
She further explained her complaint about Beyoncé specifically. She said, “The issue is that not only are we female artists, okay? Black female artists in an industry [where] there’s not that many of us.”
“We’ve met each other, we know each other, we have mutual friends. It’s not hard,” she went on.
After much online discourse about the dos and don’ts of sampling older music, Beyoncé made another change to her album. The “Milkshake” sample was removed from “Energy.”
