Is Rihanna getting sued in 2020? Look inside the Fenty controversy

Is musician & businesswoman Rihanna in some hot water? On Tuesday, TMZ reported musicians King Khan & Saba Lou pulled a “B*tch Better Have My Money” on her & allegedly sued the artist for using the duo’s song in an advertisement promoting her cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, without their permission. 

All the deets

The song performed by King Khan & Saba Lou that was supposedly used illegally by Rihanna is titled “Good Habits (and Bad)”. Rihanna allegedly used it in one of her Instagram clips promoting Fenty Beauty, and TMZ reported that the advertisement reached up to 3.4 million views. 

Per TMZ, the duo’s legal representatives claimed in the filed lawsuit that Rihanna “ripped it from a music streaming platform” for her post, and while the singer used their original song & lyrics, she “did not have their blessing, or legal permission, to use the tune”.

The amount of damages the musicians are seeking for in return is unspecified, but they have asked Rihanna & her Fenty company to discontinue the use of their song. 

Who is King Khan & Saba Lou? 

King Khan & Saba Lou are a father-daughter musical duo, and their song “Good Habits (and Bad)” that was reportedly stolen from Rihanna was the B-side to Saba Lou’s 2012 single “Until the End”. However, if this is the first time you’re hearing of these indie musicians’ names, we’ve got you covered with some basic information on both artists. 

King Khan is a musician, producer, artist, & writer from Canada, and is best known for his work as the frontman of King Khan and the Shrines as well as being a part of The King Khan & BBQ Show. The singer is quite popular amongst the underground music scene, playing mainly garage rock/punk & psychedelic rock and has toured alongside bands like the Black Lips & Vivian Girls. 

This artist has taken part in numerous musical projects, and has even scored a few independent movies here & there. However, King Khan hit the mainstream (the news, anyway) when he splashed headlines for partying it up with Lindsay Lohan at the 2010 Cannes Festival – he even got photographed showing her his bare buttocks. 

Lately though, his escapades haven’t been so risque, as he’s partnered up with his twenty-year-old daughter Saba Lou to create music from their home in Berlin, Germany. All Music reported the young woman began making music with her father as early as six years old, creating a four-song single called “First Day of School”. 

The song “Good Habits (and Bad)” was written & recorded by her at just eight years old in 2008, and was also used (legally) as the closing theme for the Cartoon Network show Clarence beginning in 2014. The song was praised by All Music to be “a surprisingly accurate portrait of childhood” with lyrics like “Annoying my parents/Having a secret/These are my good habits/These are my bad habits . . .”

Past accusations

Shockingly, this isn’t the first time beloved musician & businesswoman Rihanna has been accused of taking another individual’s work. Earlier this year, artist & designer Selah Marley called out similarities between one of her own art installations and images & designs from Rihanna’s fall Savage x Fenty fashion show. 

According to Complex, Marley lamented in an Instagram post: “Quite a few friends brought this up to me & I wasn’t gonna say anything about this, but I’m bothered. For those who remember, I did ‘A Primordial Place’ in May 2019. I put my heart & soul (& all the money I had) into this project and . . . I don’t know. Is it just me?”

The post came with side-by-side photos comparing the two events, and the designer continued in the post: “As a young, independent, female black artist, I genuinely feel robbed. I’m not signed to any label. I don’t have any investors. I just have myself & the people who support me. It took A LOT to pull this together & to see it replicated almost exactly with no mention of my name or the work I previously put in is just ridiculous.” 

“The first photo is the recent Savage x Fenty show. The other photos are A Primordial Place. What do you think?”, Marley finished the post with. Most comments reached out to her in support & agreement, but Savage x Fenty did not release any statements regarding the situation.