Singer Taylor Swift speaks with the media during the "All Too Well" New York Premiere in New York City, New York, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
Taylor Swift continues to claim the lyrics to her 2014 song “Shake It Off” were written by her, and not taken from the 2000 song “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW.
According to USA TODAY Swift said on Monday that the lyrics “were written entirely by me.” In the court filing obtained by the publication she said, “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”
“Playas Gon’ Play” song writers Sean Hall and Nathan Butler filed a copyright lawsuit in 2017, claiming the lyrics “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” infringed on “Playas Gon’ Play,” which includes the lines, “The playas gon’ play/Them haters gonna hate” and “Playas, they gonna play/And haters, they gonna hate.” A judged dismissed the case in 2018 saying the lyrics were “too banal” to be stolen.
An appeal panel brought back the case in 2019. Swift requested the case to be dismissed, but a judge refused citing the songs had “enough objective similarities.”
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