Why Did Britney Spears And Will.i.am Get Sued Over Their Hit Song?
Black Eyed Peas member Will.i.am, whose real name is William James Adams Jr., teamed up with Britney Spears for the song "Scream & Shout" back in 2012. At the time "Scream & Shout" was first released, Britney Spears had inked a deal to appear as a judge on "X Factor." She had a lot of things going on in her career, but she seemed especially excited to be working with Will.i.am and even tweeted about it. "Can't wait for y'all to hear @iamwill's next single featuring me. Coming very soon. Stay tuned people...." she wrote at the time. "Just left the studio w/ @iamwill working #willpower. Look out 4 #reachforthestars beamed 2 earth from mars tmrw via my friend @MarsCuriosity," read another one of her tweets.
The futuristic tune was a smash hit for the pair, who also came together to film a cool music video for the track. The song climbed all the way the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, but despite the song's popularity, Will.i.am and Spears wound up facing a serious lawsuit filed by Tulisa Contostavlos, a member of the English hip-hop trio N-Dubz. And the case ended up going to court.
Tulisa Contostavlos wanted credit as a writer on the song
According to Metro, Contostavlos filed a lawsuit claiming that she co-wrote the track and was set to release it on an album of her own. However, producers supposedly didn't like Contostavlos' version, so they decided to give it to Will.i.am, who recorded it with Spears. Of course, this isn't the first time that lawsuits of this nature have occurred. For example, Post Malone was sued by Tyler Armes in 2020 because Armes says that he wasn't properly credited on his track "Circles," according to Rolling Stone — a very similar case to Contostavlos'.
"Tulisa was annoyed when the song was taken from her and given to Britney — especially as she co-wrote it. It was set to be one of the big songs on her debut album. She didn't let it lie, and took it all the way to the courts," a source explained to Metro, adding that Contostavlos simply wanted credit for writing the track. The case ended up going through the court system, where a verdict was reached five years later.
Tulisa Contostavlos won the 'Scream & Shout' lawsuit
Tulisa Contostavlos felt very strongly about the song and was able to plead her case in a way that gave her a significant win. In 2018, she spoke out about the lawsuit. "I don't feel bad blood about it," she said during an interview on "Loose Women," according to the Daily Mail. "At the end of the day it's not a move I would have done. But look at the success that he's got out of it and off the back, I can't complain, I've got a Number One hit in loads of countries around the world, so everyone won," Contostavlos added. In addition to getting a writing credit on the track, Contostavlos also earns 10% of the song's earnings. "It's a shame it had to go that way, but chicken dinner, everyone's a winner," she said.
Following the success of her lawsuit, Contostavlos' is set to release a new studio album called "Timeless" alongside members of her hip-hop group in August, and the singer revealed back in May that she would be touring the UK with her bandmates to promote it. "Ndubz summer tour with new date included! WHO'S COMING? It's gunna go off," she captioned an Instagram. N-Dubz was honored with the award for best group at the Nordoff and Robbins O2 Silver Clef event. And, as for "Scream & Shout," the single actually hit a new milestone in 2023, hitting one billion views on YouTube, according to Billboard.