Beyoncé and Jay Z Sued Over Song “Drunk in Love”

Beyoncé and Jay Z just received some probably upsetting news–they’re being sued. A Hungarian folk singer, Mitsou, or Mónika Juhász Miczura, is claiming that 29 percent of Drunk in Love uses her music. Artist Timbaland is also being sued, given that he co-produced the power couple’s song. Watch the video below to hear the song in question.

Do you hear that sort of high-pitched singing in the background, particularly for the first 30 seconds or so? Mitsou is claiming that’s her, and was part of a song she recorded with her folk band Ando Drom. She claims that it’s been edited and altered, but it is still her voice. In addition, she claims that overall, her vocals and music feature on roughly one-and-a-half minutes of a five-and-a-half minute song–or just under thirty percent. According to E! here is what Mitsou claims is the actual breakdown:

Mitsou claims ‘Drunk in Love’ begins with her voice singing an a cappella solo for the first 13 seconds of the song. After this introduction, she purports that her ‘voice continues to sing as Beyoncé begins to sing’—up until the 41 second mark. Mitsou states that her vocals join Jay Z when he raps in the song from 3:14 until 4:05, a total of 51 seconds

The song that Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Timbaland supposedly took from is entitled “Bajba, Bajba Pelem.” The song was also released in the United States in 1996, under the English name “Gypsy Life on the Road.” That song doesn’t appear to be available anywhere online, but here is a song by her band with an almost identical title, and definitely sounds very similar to my admittedly very untrained ear.

It’s not just the fact that her voice may have been stolen by Beyoncé and Jay Z that offends Mitsou. It’s also the way in which her music was allegedly used. The original Hungarian song was described by Mitsou as evocative of “hopelessness, when one can no longer trust anyone but her own mother and God.” Beyoncé’s Drunk in Love is certainly about a significantly different topic–sexual relationships between long-term partners. Mitsou also purportedly has issues regarding how her song was used to provide sort of an exotic background noise for Beyoncé’s music.

The suit argues that the use of Mitsou’s music was a copyright infringement, and it was filed last week in a Manhattan Supreme Court. It asks for unspecified damages. It also asks for the song to stop being distributed, but given that the album on which Drunk in Love appeared was the fastest-selling album on iTunes–ever–and sold five million copies worldwide, I doubt it’ll slow down the spread of the song. And that’s not even including all the times (presumably a ton) that the song was illegally downloaded.

Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Timbaland are nowhere close to being the first artists to be accused of infringing copyright; however, we’ll have to wait and see who ends up being right.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.