Diane Warren Questioned Why Beyoncé Has 24 Writers on One Song and Found Out Pretty Fast
American songwriter and music producer, Diane Warren appeared to bite more than she could chew when she openly questioned the number of songwriters on a track from Beyonce’s latest album, ‘Renaissance,’ as reported by Los Angeles Times.
Warren, best known for writing iconic ballads and film songs had taken to Twitter to ask: “How can there be 24 writers on a song?” Added to this tweet was an eye-roll emoji. She then added, “This isn’t meant as shade, I’m just curious.”
Although the Grammy winner (and repeat Oscar nominee) did not mention Beyoncé or a particular song by name, the latter’s devoted fans were quick to give Warren a quick lesson in music particulalrly on sampling, the art of using an excerpt from an existing recording.
For clarity, Beyonce’s empowering track “Alien Superstar” has 24 songwriters on it, including herself, husband Jay-Z, Honey Redmond, Christopher Lawrence Penny, Luke Francis Matthew Solomon and Nova Wav duo Denisia Andrews and Brittany Coney and a list of others.
One of critics who weighed in on Warren’s question was singer-songwriter and producer The-Dream — who collaborated on “Renaissance” and also featured Beyoncé on his 2013 song “Turnt.”
“You mean how’s does our (Black) culture have so many writers,” he tweeted in a reply. “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?”
This response prompted another response from Warren, 65, who wrote: “I didn’t mean that as an attack or as disrespect. I didn’t know this, thank U for making me aware of it. No need to be mean about it.”
She also tweeted that it was probably the number of samples on “Alien Superstar” that led to the two dozen credits.
Despite this rply, fans still felt that Warren meant her tweets “as an attack” and argued that she was playing the victim with her responses.
Others were quick to punch below the belt and compare her signature dark-haired look to that of convicted socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
The-Dream replied again, seeming to recognize Warren’s prolific oeuvre, tweeting: “Btw I know it’s not a one on one writing contest you looking for from no one over here…… you don’t want that smoke And you know I love you, but come on. Stop acting like your records haven’t been sampled.”
“Ok, I meant no disrespect to @Beyonce, who I’ve worked with and admire. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” Warren wrote.
