Taylor Swift has been sued for copyright infringement on her 2014 hit song, “Shake It Off”. In 2017 songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler accused Swift of violating their 2001 song “Playas Gon ‘Play”, released by the band 3LW.
Although the songs do not sound similar, there are parts of the lyrics almost identical. The 3LW song includes the lyrics “playas, they gonna play” and “haters, they gonna hate”.
In the “Shake It Off” chorus Swift also sings, “Cause the players gonna play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate ..” Although U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled there were plenty of “objective similarities” in both songs to take him to a jury, Judge Fitzgerald also acknowledged that there were “some obvious differences” between the two songs, except for the lyrics in the chorus, the songs do not sound the same. quiet RnB, pop fusion with a smooth hip-hop style rhythm of the 2000s. Meanwhile, “Shake It Off” is an energetic and extremely catchy dance-pop tune by Taylor Swift, led by a saxophone.
The case will go to trial, but no date has been set yet. Peter Anderson, who is representing Swift in the lawsuit, did not comment on the matter.
3LW meanwhile reacted on social media by clarifying that they are not behind the lawsuit and urged Swift fans to stop directing their anger at the group.
Most recently on November 12 Swift released the album “Red” (Taylor Version) which was an immediate success. In fact, her ten-minute version of the song “All Too Well” has broken the record for the longest hit song, ranked No.1, previously held by Don Mclean’s nine-minute song “American Pie”. In Red (Taylor Version), she has also collaborated with artists such as Phoebe Bridgers for the song “Nothing New”.
