Plans for a highly-anticipated 2017 collaboration between Beyonce Knowles and Cardi B were scrapped for good when the news leaked online, according to the producer behind the song.

Rumours about the secret project first hit headlines in October 2017, when Michael Ashby, who goes by the name Ashby the Mix Engineer, sent fans into a frenzy after posting a picture of his computer screen on his Instagram Story timeline, showing a mixing programme with a file titled, ‘Cardi B ft Beyonce Demo.’

He captioned the picture ‘wow this feature is big’ but stopped short of sharing any further details.

He subsequently apologised to the two stars for making the big reveal. Cardi played coy as she insisted she had never met Ashby, the engineer behind her breakout hit ‘Bodak Yellow’, and denied knowing anything about the proposed song.

Producer J White Did It, who had been quietly developing the track, has opened up about the debacle, admitting the studio get-together between Beyonce and Cardi was ditched the moment Ashby made it public because the ‘Formation’ icon is known for keeping an air of mystery around her work.

“Three years ago I had a Beyonce play with Cardi and that kinda went sour because it went viral that they were doing a song together and that cut out (sic),” J White Did It explained in an Instagram video.

“I was just as giddy as everybody else (about the collaboration),” he shared, before recalling the moment he knew that project was dead, “I was sitting there just waiting, looking on the Internet, then it leaked…”

The beatmaker, who also worked on ‘Bodak Yellow’, has since been granted a new opportunity to team up with Beyonce as he produced the ‘Savage Remix’ she recently recorded with rap newcomer Megan Thee Stallion.