--- title: Beyonce Stealing and Plagiarism Accusations: Drunk in Love Lawsuit description: It's tough at the top canonical: https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-16T21:42:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:53:48.580Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Beyonce Stealing and Plagiarism Accusations: Drunk in Love Lawsuit og:description: It's tough at the top og:url: https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38dae31e9ec973af/69876f2acd68486ca2098a85/ap449295156372.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Beyonce,JAY Z og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Beyonce Stealing and Plagiarism Accusations: Drunk in Love Lawsuit twitter:description: It's tough at the top twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38dae31e9ec973af/69876f2acd68486ca2098a85/ap449295156372.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Beyoncé's 'Drunk In Love' Lawsuit Is Just the Singer's Latest Scandal > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Dec 16, 2014 9:42 PM UTC  IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT - Beyonce and JAY Z perform during the Beyonce and Jay Z - On the Run tour at Stade De France on Friday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Paris, France. (Photo by Rob Hoffman/Invision for Parkwood Entertainment/AP Images) IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR PARKWOOD ENTERTAINMENT - Beyonce and JAY Z perform during the Beyonce and Jay Z - On the Run tour at Stade De France on Friday, Sept. 13, 2014, in Paris, France. (Photo by Rob Hoffman/Invision for Parkwood Entertainment/AP Images)Rob Hoffman—Invision for Parkwood Entertainment  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Dec 16, 2014 9:42 PM UTC One year after the release of her self-titled album, Beyoncé’s music is being closely analyzed yet again — and not, this time, from her Beyhive. The singer is one of many who’s been accused of sampling without permission throughout her career. Questions of authorship and of sampling are particularly pernicious and difficult to solve in the recording industry; [just this month,](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/judge-dismisses-a-suit-over-jay-zs-run-this-town/?%5Fr=0) a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Beyoncé’s husband Jay Z for his sampling of a single syllable from a funk song. [A new lawsuit](http://pitchfork.com/news/57851-beyonce-jay-z-timbaland-sued-over-drunk-in-love/) filed by Hungarian singer Mitsou alleges that Beyoncé, Jay Z, and producer Timbaland used her song “Bajba, Bajba Pelem” at the start of “Drunk in Love.” While musicians of all stripes can get hit with lawsuits given the unclear standards around sampling and the ephemeral nature of authorship, Beyoncé’s been hit more frequently than many of her contemporaries. Being queen, it’d seem, has a headache-inducing cost — as several of her songs and videos have come in for criticism. * **“Baby Boy”**: One of Beyoncé’s first solo singles was alleged by songwriter Jennifer Armour to bear substantial similarities to her “Got a Little Bit of Love for You,” which had been submitted as a demo to Beyoncé’s label. “Armour cannot prove Beyoncé had access to Armour’s demo tape before composing the allegedly infringing elements of her own song,” the [Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/06-20934-cv0.wpd.pdf) in a decision declining even to address the songs’ similarity. * **“If I Were a Boy”**: The lead-off single for Beyoncé’s album _I Am… Sasha Fierce_ was penned by songwriter BC Jean, whose own version of the song was rejected by her record label. After Beyoncé discovered the song and recorded it, a [Fox News gossip columnist wrote](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/10/14/katie-holmes-first-broadway-report/) that Jean had been “strong-armed by Beyoncé’s people.” That seems a bit overzealous: For her part, Jean [told an interviewer](http://articles.courant.com/2009-01-11/news/artsjava0111.art%5F1%5Ftimes-square-recording-job-search) that she’d been surprised her first-ever song had been recorded by another artist, but that the Beyoncé version had “opened so many doors, it’s amazing.” * **“Countdown”**: Beyoncé took inspiration [from contemporary ballet](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2011/10/beyonce-accused-of-plagiarizing-choreographer/) in her “Countdown” video, but one of her muses was far from flattered. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker claimed “plagiarism”; though it’s difficult to cite a source in a music video, Beyoncé took it upon herself to credit De Keersmaeker in a statement after the choreographer spoke out. “I’ve always been fascinated by the way contemporary art uses different elements and references to produce something unique,” Beyoncé said. * **“Run the World (Girls)”**: The apocalyptic, disturbing clip for this 2011 single was [specifically compared](http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/may/20/beyonce-visual-artists) to the work of photographer Pieter Hugo, down to imagery of pet hyenas on chains. And her performance of the song at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards was compared to the similar work of choreographer [Lorella Cuccarini](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player%5Fembedded&v=DxpclMcX3bs). “Thank god for YouTube or I would have never been exposed to something so inspiring,” Beyoncé [later said](http://www.idolator.com/5875782/beyonce-explains-lorella-cuccarini-inspiration-billboard-awards-performance/beyonce-billboard-music-awards-lorella-cuccarini/full-size). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/"},"headline":"Beyoncé's 'Drunk In Love' Lawsuit Is Just the Singer's Latest Scandal","datePublished":"2014-12-16T21:42:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:53:48.580Z","description":"It's tough at the top","url":"https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/","keywords":["Music","Beyonce"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38dae31e9ec973af/69876f2acd68486ca2098a85/ap449295156372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38dae31e9ec973af/69876f2acd68486ca2098a85/ap449295156372.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Beyonce,JAY Z","caption":"Beyonce,JAY Z","creditText":"Rob Hoffman—Invision for Parkwood Entertainment","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3635711/beyonce-drunk-in-love-plagiarism/","name":"Beyoncé's 'Drunk In Love' Lawsuit Is Just the Singer's Latest Scandal"}}]}] ```