
Now that we’ve all had a few days to process Beyoncé’s transcendent dance floor opus, the internet’s awash in lyrical analysis and deep dives into Renaissance‘s eclectic influences and inspirations.
There are, of course, some bad takes, too. Among the nominees for the Best Worst Tweet of the day is none other than perennial Oscar loser Diane Warren, who not-so-subtly critiqued the credit roll on Beyoncé’s seventh solo album.
How can there be 24 writers on a song??
— Diane Warren (@Diane_Warren) August 1, 2022
First things first: Warren is an unassailable icon in the film and music industries. She’s the prolific songwriter behind countless massive songs, from Cher‘s “If I Could Turn Back Time” to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” many of which have been used to score memorable movie moments over the years. And though she’s yet to score a Best Original Song win at the Academy Awards, her track-record for nominations alone (13 and counting) is the stuff of legend.
But now that we have that out of the way: Girl, what are you thinking? Are you seriously coming for Queen Bey’s crown, mere days after she released the best-reviewed album of her career? Please, we ask kindly, get real.
After a very vocal swath of the internet quickly expressed similar sentiments directly to Warren, the songwriter followed up clarifying that this wasn’t meant to be a shady comment, just a curious one. But by that point, the damage was already done. (And, excuse us, but since when is the eyeroll emoji meant to evoke “curiosity”?)
This isn’t meant as shade, I’m just curious
— Diane Warren (@Diane_Warren) August 1, 2022
Shade or not, it’s pretty clear that Warren was singling out one song in particular, “Alien Superstar.” A true standout, Renaissance‘s third track is a triumphant and proud ballroom anthem. It also lists—count’em—24 writers in its credits, the most individual names out of any song on the record.
This is, in part, because “Alien Superstar” samples and interpolates a few other songs, including Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” and the club classic “Unique” from Danube Dance and Kim Cooper. To her credit, Warren did eventually acknowledge this, but, you know, the original tweet’s still up. So what gives?
Related: Who was Moi Renee, the late drag queen sampled on Beyoncé’s new album?
Among the “Alien Superstar” credits is frequent Bey collaborator The-Dream, who was involved as a producer and/or songwriter on nearly every cut of Renaissance. After seeing Warren’s tweet, he took it about himself to respond and give her a crash course on the history of sampling in music as an art form with distinct roots in Black culture:
You mean how’s does our (Black) culture have so many writers, well it started because we couldn’t afford certain things starting out,so we started sampling and it became an Artform, a major part of the Black Culture (hip hop) in America.Had that era not happen who knows. U good?
— MUSIC ICON THE-DREAM (@TheKingDream) August 1, 2022
In a response to The-Dream and in a later tweet, Warren claimed she meant “no disrepect,” but we still can’t get the bad taste of her original post out of our mouths. Someone with so many years of experience surely knows how sampling and accreditation works, so was she really just curious, or was she trying to imply that having so many songwriters credited delegitimizes the musicianship? And, again, that eyeroll emoji was suss.
Never one to let a wealthy celebrity off easy, Twitter has spent most of the day trolling Warren for her snarky question and weak backpedaling. So if you “Don’t Want To Miss A Thing,” take a look at a few of our favorite reactions below:
Same way you have 13 nominations and no wins. pic.twitter.com/0PZj2T2U6f
— Taylorbold. ¹³ •??•? (@TaylorBold) August 1, 2022
pack it up Ghislaine
— Yolanda Fister Tweeting Omnimedia (@yolandafister) August 1, 2022
Sure, Diane pic.twitter.com/2oPf6Yf9EN
— (@WrittenByTerry) August 1, 2022
maybe with a couple co-writers you could finally catch that oscar that you’ve been chasing for 30 years
— ✨ (@magdalenepop) August 1, 2022
Now, now. It was meant as shade. Own it if you’re going to say it.
— roxane gay (@rgay) August 1, 2022
This is kind of a boring ass narrative at this point and it’s sad to see artists attempt to devalue one another. Even if she had 50 writers on one song, does that make her any less of an artist? Celine Dion never wrote a song in her life, do we constantly discredit her?
— Kurtis (@kurtis_dickson) August 1, 2022
Bromancer7
Y’all coming for Diane as if she gives a shit LOL.
Toofie
Diane Warren isn’t wrong. 24 writers on one song, lol!
Kidomega123
The article explains that the song sampled several other songs and thus each writer of those songs were credited. Mystery solved. Also, who cares how many writers work on a project. As long as it sounds good, then whatever. There’s no litmus test for making music.
SiamSean
Gonna need a bigger stage. I’m with Toofie and Diane on this one. All those sampled wrote their own songs, not this one. We need a different term. Same goes for Jennifer Hudson. You can’t have 24 producers. This is a blatant attempt to give awards to any and everyone. Why not give them to the audience in general as well.
ScottOnEarth
It’s amazing how a very simple, logical question can inspire so much negativity, hatred and victim posturing. Even the author of this article asks if Diane was “coming for Bey’s crown.” Get real….and grow up. She asked a question about a song that admittedly has the most noted songwriters of any other song. So, a good question.
gjamesm46
Can we stop pretending the Beyoncé album is any good. It’s embarrassing
Jim
AMEN
Bromancer7
Glad someone finally said it.
psk
ditto. A few good songs surrounding by noise.
missvamp
ty- everyone needs to stop praising her like she’s some goddess. if you need to sample everything, your sht stinks. if you need everyone else to write for you, you’re not an artist, you’re a hack. diane warren is an artist, grammys or not.
jackscott
Oh please, Warren was right… 24 writers – get real! B doesn’t walk on water, no matter how large an ego she has!
Kidomega123
Except Beyoncé doesn’t have an ego. She literally never talks about herself. She just releases music and keeps to herself. Y’all are the ones who make hating on her your favorite pastime. Boring
thebaddestbabby
most of her new music is just about how many billions of dollars she has and the lavish life she can afford. I would like the album better if it the vocals were stripped out
armandov
The argument is that almost half of those credit are for samples. But still, when you have 12 writers, it means the first 2 credited do all the work & Beyonce throws in a word or two
jorgecruz
Actually only 5 of the 24 credited writers are for sample, the other 19 are new on this song. Beyonce doesnt have to be the greatest songwriter or singer and can still be a great performer. Carole King writing Tapestry is impressive. 106 engineers from around the world writing this album using tons of sampling and “inspiration” from many other artists-that is good computer programming and good use of google song search.
Jim
Diane is the real deal
Beyonce is a marketing product.
cc423
Bingo
Bromancer7
^^^THIS
Terrycloth
Well know. It took 5 people to write Baby by Justin Bieber. Took 5 people to write Imma Bee by the Black Eyed Peas…it took ONE to write Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury…let that sink in..
cc423
Sampling is not writing. Diane Warren does not need to sample a dozen other songs to make a song. Also… why are we ignoring the fact that a song on this album includes the slur “spaz” several times and Beyoncé has yet to apologize.
thebaddestbabby
because 99% of people who are not bri’ish just found out that in that country it is a slur. In conclusion, no one cares about her use of spaz
Den
What the hell are you talking about? And what world do you live in? I grew up in the US and am in my 70’s and even as a kid of 10 knew that spaz referred to spastic, a form of motor difficulty often indicative of cerebral palsy, it was also ALWAYS a slur.
Just because YOU are apparently clueless, does not mean 99% of those outside of GB are as well. Just because YOU do not care does not mean nobody does.
Grow up, and get over yourself!
QJ201
I’ll quote Madonna for my review of Bey’s new release
Reductive
MyBlackAmbition
HYSTERICAL!!!! and ACCURATE!!!!
humble charlie
as long as all the writers get royalties, what’s the problem? at the same time i can understand diane warren’s initial question. the number of names does seem kind of overwhelming. but then things change in the music BUSINESS.
abfab
I’m so glad someone mentioned Carole King. In one interview she was asked if she had a critical opinion regarding pop singers today. In so many words, she said MELISMATIC SINGING has become so over the top and mundane.
Den
It is an interesting opinion, but one that needs to be viewed through the lens of her vocal abilities, and chosen genre. She was never a melismatic singer so there might be a tad bit of jealousy there.
Gospel and R&B are traditionally melismatic, as is Appalachian music. It can be over the top when not in service of the lyrics and emotion. And complex runs can definitely obscure a good melody when not in the hands of an extraordinary vocalist like Avery Wilson or Shoshana Bean.
GentlemanCaller
I am unimpressed by Renaissance–to me it’s a bland and boring conflation of samples and overproduction that sounds like a remix album based on an uninteresting original and Diane was not wrong to call out the number of artists, which may be reflective of a too-many-chefs problem. I know that’s just my opinion, not a reflection of objective reality, and I know my opinion is a minority one. What I’m really tired of, though, is being pronounced racist because I don’t like this particular record, despite my annoying stanning of Lil Nas X and Lizzo. Is it now mandatory that everyone applaud every artist of color, regardless of the quality of their work? I mean, there are plenty of gay movies that are crap, but do I have to like them because they’re made by LGBT people? Are all telenovelas equivalent in quality to Citizen Kane or Black Panther? Some doofus busking in an alley deserves the same praise as Beyonce or Gaga or Madonna? Argh, this world.
eireapparent
Beyoncé is so effing overrated. Do not care. Indicative of so many of the ills of consumerist music culture.
Calin
Silly article!