Do I Wanna SMASH or SMACK?

As a newly confirmed member of the Beyonce Fan Club, I still have my moments where I still have to question the validity of the things Beyonce does. Case in point, the FC and I have had many arguments of Beyonce the "writer." I do not question that she is a great talent/entertainer/even actress (I highly recommend Cadillac Records), but to put your name on every song as a writer to me is taking it too far. Now we all remember when she tried to claim the song "Irreplaceable" as her own, and Ne-Yo put a stop to that by letting B know that just because you add or subtract a word in a song does mean that you wrote it. Well it seems that Beyonce missed the meaning of the message and is at it again.

From Beyonce's latest work I Am...Sasha Fierce, most of the songs have her as having some part in the writing of the songs. However, it has come out that one of my favorite songs was written by someone else. The song "Smash Into You" was actually written by singer/songwriter Jon Mclaughlin for his album but was scrapped at the last minute. Now the story goes, since the song was so good it was offered to Beyonce to use and she "supposedly" changed the song from "SMACK Into You" to "SMASH Into You" and left all the arrangement and the rest of the words alone.

Now I know I am no musician, but does changing ONE word in a song really justify a writer's credit and the main writer's credit at that since Beyonce's name appears first. You be the judge, below is Jon Mclaughlin's version of "SMACK Into You".




Needless to say, Jon got still got paid for his song and because of all the buzz people will probably check out more of his music;I know I did, and I actually like him.

The Intellect