This archive report was first published on 26 July 2019.
July 26, 2019, marked the release of Beyonce's album The Gift, which sparked controversy over its lack of representation from East African artists.
However, Tanzanian singer Vanessa Mdee has come forward to clarify that Beyonce's team did indeed consider featuring East African artists on the album, but the talks ultimately fell through.
According to Mdee, she was even shortlisted for the album, but her team never followed up on the opportunity.
'I was shortlisted. I remember that there was a conversation. I never heard of it again and do not know what happened,' Mdee said in an interview with Lil Ommy TV.
She went on to express her disappointment that no East African artist was featured on the album, given the significant cultural connection between the region and the movie Black is King, which inspired the album.
'We, in EA, are not in that category, we do Afro Pop. Generally speaking, we are all in the umbrella of 'African Music,' unfortunately, they do not differentiate the many genres,' Mdee explained.
