Diane Warren has issued an apology after being criticized for her tweets that appeared to recall songwriting credits featured on Beyoncé’s seventh studio album. Renaissance.

In a tweet shared on Monday, Warren posed the question, “How can there be 24 writers on a song? alongside an eye-rolling emoji. Warren then followed up with another tweet: “It’s not meant to be shade, I’m just curious.”

Warren later tweeted, “Okay these are evidence samples adding up the number of writers.”

Although Warren did not directly mention Beyoncé in his tweets, the songwriter was criticized by fans who accused the songwriter of apparently calling out Beyoncé when referring to one of her songs. “Alien Superstar”, which features more than 20 authors in the credits due to the use of samples and tweens.

An user wrote, “How you’ve been in the game for 80 years and you don’t know how samples work?” to which Warren replied, “Because I don’t use them.”

Roxane Gay too replied to Warren’s initial tweet, “Now, now. It was meant to be shade. Own it if you mean it.”

The-Dream, who collaborated with Beyoncé on Renaissancealso rang, writing“You mean how did our (black) culture have so many writers, well it started because we couldn’t afford certain things initially so we started sampling and it became an art form, an important part of black culture (hip hop) in America. If that time hadn’t arrived, who knows. Are you okay?”

In response, Warren wrote, “I didn’t mean that as an attack or disrespect. I didn’t know that, thanks for letting me know. No need to be mean with that.

Warren, who also worked with Beyoncé and is credited as a songwriter for her song “I Was Here,” later issued an apology for her earlier tweets, explaining that she “didn’t mean any disrespect” to the singer: “Okay, I wanted to say no disrespect to @Beyonce, with whom I have worked and whom I admire. I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.

Beyoncé has yet to publicly respond to Warren’s tweets.