Why is Kelis shading Beyoncé’s Levi’s ad? Beef explained amid viral post

American singer Kelis Rogers appeared to take a dig at Beyoncé’s recent collaboration with Levi's. For context, on Tuesday, August 5, Levi's concluded its long-running REIIMAGINE campaign with the singer by releasing its fourth installment, titled The Denim Cowboy.

Kelis, who has relocated to Africa and purchased acres of farmland there, has been sharing updates on her Instagram about her farm, which appears to be under construction. In one video, dated August 13, she is seen walking around the property wearing Levi’s jeans. Her post quickly grabbed attention and was flooded with comments, with one fan writing:

 

"Now This Who Should Have Represented The Levi Brand."

In response, Kelis not only liked their comment but also replied, tagging Levi's and writing: 

“@levis get it together.”

Kelis’s remarks have turned up speculations online about whether she was taking a subtle dig at Beyoncé. While she didn't mention the Crazy In Love singer directly in relation to the Levi's ad, some fans were quick to point out their past feud.

In 2022, Kelis accused Beyoncé of "theft" after her hit 2003 song Milkshake was sampled in Beyoncé’s song Energy from her 2022 album Renaissance.

Kelis and Beyoncé’s beef, explored

It all began when a fan account, @kelistrends posted a throwback picture of Kelis and Beyoncé on July 25, 2025, tagging Kelis and stating that the RENAISSANCE album would include a sample from her on the song Energy. In response, Kelis commented that "It's not a collab it's theft." According to The Guardian, the song included a few notes that copied the melody from Kelis' 2003 hit song Milkshake. 

In follow-up comments, Kelis also claimed that she didn't know about her contribution to the album and that she heard about it "the same way everyone else did." 

"The level of disrespect and utter ignorance of all three parties is astounding,” she added.

The Bossy singer also responded to the alleged "theft" in an Instagram post dated July 29, claiming that the Single Ladies singer had copied her songs before.

"I'm an artist, so I am — as Erykah [Badu] said, 'I'm sensitive about my s—.The reality is that my real beef is not only with Beyoncé, because at the end of the day, she sampled a record. She's copied me before, so have many other artists, it's fine, I don't care about that."

She continued:

"The issue is that not only are we female artists, okay? Black female artists in an industry [where] there's not that many of us. We've met each other, we know each other, we have mutual friends. It's not hard. She can contact, right?"

Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, also known as The Neptunes and credited as the writers of Milkshake, were also listed as co-writers on Energy. However, in a 2020 interview with the outlet, Kelis claimed that she was “blatantly lied to and tricked” by The Neptunes and made nothing from sales of her first two albums, 1999's Kaleidoscope and 2001's Wanderland.

Following the accusation, Energy was updated to remove the interpolation. Williams and Hugo were also removed from the song's credits on Beyoncé's official website during the update, per the outlet.