Singer-songwriter Anjulie claims she was never paid for singing some of Fergie‘s parts for the Black Eyed Peas.
Anjulie dropped the allegations in a TikTok, claiming she sang all the background vocals on 2010 track “The Time,” as well as lead vocals on “XOXOXO.”
She claims will.i.am told her the vocals she recorded would be used as guide vocals for Fergie to “recreate,” but that they used Anjulie’s vocals instead on the final track, with no credit or payment.
The singer alleges she was never paid or credited for any of her work with the band.
In a follow-up video, Anjulie claimed she attempted to take legal action, but that it was ultimately too pricey.
“I tried. I got in touch with will.i.am’s lawyer. I had a bunch of e-mail exchanges with him, and then he told me it was out of his hands,” Ajulie said.
“I talked to some other guy, he said that he didn’t know what to do and eventually just stopped returning my e-mails. I spoke to a lawyer about how to take some legal action and that was way too expensive,” she continued, quipping, “Welcome to the music industry.”
In another TikTok video, Anjulie played a clip of the song “XOXOXO” allegedly featuring her vocals on lead.
“My voice,” Anjulie said, pointing out both her background and lead vocal parts before singing a few lines of the song for comparison.
“Doesn’t sound like Fergie at all. How did they get away with that?” one viewer commented on the clip.
“I knewwwww Fergie was not singing on this album,” another wrote.
“Yeah i’ve heard BEP always has a problem with their collaborators, you deserve your credit [for real]!” someone else weighed in.
In 2018, singer Tulisa Contostavlos won her own lawsuit against Black Eyed Peas’ rapper and producer will.i.am over his 2012 Britney Spears collaboration, “Scream & Shout.”
Watch will.i.am and Britney Spears’ “Scream & Shout” Music Video Below:
According to NME, Contostavlos co-wrote the song and was planning to include it on her album, The Female Boss, under a different name.
However, she lost the opportunity when will.i.am recorded it with Spears. The final version still contains some of Contostavlos’ vocals.
Reportedly, will.i.am admitted that Contostavlos wrote the song but said “the producers didn’t want her to have it.”