Taylor Swift addresses "Shake It Off" copyright lawsuit, says lyrics "were written entirely by me"

Taylor Swift's latest response to the copyright lawsuit was reported by Billboard yesterday (8 August), and confirmed by Pitchfork, and in the sworn declaration, Swift stated, "The lyrics to "Shake It Off" were written entirely by me."

The lawsuit was first filed in 2017, and accused her of copying lyrics from 3LW's 2001 song "Playas Gon' Play" for her 2014 hit "Shake It Off". Swift claimed in her new motion filed yesterday (8 August) that she "had never heard the song "Playas Gon’ Play" and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW" until the lawsuit in 2017.

"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," Swift wrote. "With "Shake It Off", I wanted to provide a comedic, empowering approach to helping people feel better about negative criticism through music, dance, and the personal independence enabling one to just shake off the negative criticism."

Swift continued, "The lyrics to "Shake It Off" also draw from commonly used phrases and comments heard throughout my life. Prior to writing "Shake It Off", I had heard the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" uttered countless times to express the idea that one can or should shrug off negativity. 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. 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". I drew on those commonly used player and hater phrases in creating the lyrics "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

"I also recall hearing similar player and hater phrases in many songs, films, and other works prior to "Shake It Off"," Swift added. "For example, I was present at the 2013 Country Music Awards and heard Eric Church perform his song "The Outsiders", which includes the lyric "the player’s gonna play and a haters gonna hate"."

The case was first filed in 2017 by "Playas Gon' Play" songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler. Judge Fitzgerald previously dismissed the lawsuit in 2018, stating that the similarities in the song lyrics were just "short phrases that lack the modicum of originality and creativity required for copyright protection." A federal appeals court reversed the ruling a year later, and the case was handed back to Judge Fitzgerald for new proceedings. In December last year, the Judge ruled that Swift would have to face a jury trial, but a court date is yet to be set.