Key Takeaways:
- Sevyn Streeter says she sent a cease-and-desist over “Shakira” because her demo vocals were used without approval.
- Yung Bleu claimed on X that she “[hates] her vocals” and requested to have the song taken down.
- The disagreement highlights growing tensions around artist control and collaboration in the streaming era.
Sevyn Streeter has her reasons for sending Yung Bleu a cease-and-desist over “Shakira.” On Tuesday (Jan. 13), the “It Won't Stop” singer responded after he claimed she tried to get the record pulled from streaming services.
For context, Bleu quote-tweeted a fan who said “Shakira” had them “crying so bad.” He wrote, “Too bad [Sevyn] Streeter [hates] her verse and sent a [cease-and-desist] to take it down lol.” Streeter, however, clarified that the version on the album was only the “demo” she recorded the night they worked on it.
“I asked Bleu to send me the vocals/session so that my engineer and I could re-cut, clean them and send them right back,” she explained in a post on Instagram. “After months of [texts], DMs and calls, Bleu refused to send them and refused to handle business on two additional records written by myself, Verse Simmonds and 4REST.”
Streeter added that she followed up again last Tuesday (Jan. 6), just days before THERAPY dropped on Friday (Jan. 9). According to her, Bleu responded, “I [don’t] think we gon’ make it in time lol. I think it’s amazing [though]. I told them to take it off.”
“My response was, ‘Kk, we’ll catch the next one.’ Once the song was released without my approval, I called him multiple times (to no avail), then proceeded to [text] him and his team about the lack of respect displayed by releasing my voice,” her post continued. “My lawyer was then notified.”
She added, “I tried the artist-to-artist route first. Now, it’s just business.” Streeter wrapped up her explanation by encouraging fans to stream her latest release, “‘97.” The song dropped last month and, hopefully, serves as an appetizer for her next album. Notably, she hasn’t released another full-length since 2021’s Drunken Wordz Sober Thoughtz.
Bleu, meanwhile, hinted that a video for “Nobody Like You” from THERAPY could be on the way soon.