Taylor Swift is accused of copying the lyrics to the song ‘Shake It Off,’ released in 2014, according to a 2017 lawsuit filed by singers Hall and Butler. Hall and Butler were part of the musical group 3LW that had a hit song in the 1990s. Swift has responded to the lawsuit stating that she alone wrote the song based on her life experiences, and her lawyers “accused Hall and Butler of trying to cash in on the song’s astronomical success.” Taylor’s mother even stepped in and released a statement saying “that she kept a close watch over the media her daughter was exposed to at home.” Previously, a judge dismissed the case saying that “the lyrics were too banal to be stolen,” in 2018, but now the appeal judge is letting the case go to court.
Swift has said that she wrote the song using “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-songwriter added that she had heard phrases about ‘players playing’ and ‘haters hating’ “countless times” throughout her life. “I recall hearing phrases about players play and haters hate stated together by other children while attending school in Wyomissing Hills, and in high school in
Hendersonville,” Swift wrote. “These phrases were akin to other commonly used sayings like ‘don’t hate the playa, hate the game,’ ‘take a chill pill,’ and ‘say it, don’t spray it.'”
“None of the CDs I listened to as a child, or after that, were by 3LW,” she continued. “I have never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ on the radio, television, or film. The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made.”
– Excerpt from an article for Women’s Health by Korin Miller. Read the full article here.
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