Taylor Swift finally addressed the 2017 copyright lawsuit which accuses her of stealing the lyrics of “Shake It Off,” and due to this track, she was able to earn three Grammy nominations.
Sean Hall (Songwriter) filed the lawsuit and Nathan Butler, claim Taylor Swift stole lyrics from 3LW’s 2001 hit song “Playas Gon’ Play” to write “Shake It Off.”
In court documents seen by Billboard, Taylor claimed she had “never heard” the track she is accused of plagiarizing, and said, “the lyrics to ‘Shake It Off were written entirely by me.”
“In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music,” the singer wrote, according to the outlet.
Songwriters Nathan Butler and Sean Hall claim that Swift lifted the “Playas gon’ play / And haters, they gon’ hate” lines from their 2001 song to write 2014’s song with “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
Taylor Swift also argued that the lyrics “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” are not uncommon, and said she heard them being used throughout her childhood, much like the “sayings like ‘don’t hate the playa, hate the game,’” and ‘” take a chill pill,’” she added.
