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Taylor Swift insists she wrote all of the lyrics for Shake it Off.
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She made the declaration as she as addressed a 2017 copyright lawsuit that claimed she stole the phrases of her 2014 hit.
Writing in a federal courtroom doc filed on Monday she denied copyright infringement and claimed she had “by no means heard” the tune she is accused of plagiarizing – 2001’s Playas Gon’ Play by the U.S. pop trio 3LW.
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Extracts of the movement obtained by Billboard stated Taylor, 32, unequivocally rejected the accusation, writing “the lyrics to Shake It Off have been written completely by me.”
She additionally offered context round how the phrases got here to be included within the tune.
Taylor insisted it was unimaginable she plagiarized the 3LW observe as she “had by no means heard the tune Playas Gon’ Play and had by no means heard of that tune or the group 3LW.”
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She added: “The primary time I ever heard the tune was after this declare was made.”
Taylor added: “In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, particularly, unrelenting public scrutiny of my private life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation, and different types of adverse private criticism which I discovered I simply wanted to shake off and concentrate on my music.”
She argued the phrases “gamers gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” have been widespread and used all through her childhood – “akin to… sayings like ‘don’t hate the playa, hate the sport,’” and “‘take a chill tablet.’”
Taylor went on: “I recall listening to phrases about gamers play and haters hate acknowledged collectively by different kids whereas attending faculty in Wyomissing Hills, and in highschool in Hendersonville.”
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She highlighted how there have been quite a few makes use of of the phrase in “many songs, movies, and different works,” and referenced a 2013 efficiency wherein she wore a T-shirt with the time period “haters gonna hate.”
The lawsuit, filed by Playas Gon’ Play songwriters Sean Corridor and Nathan Butler, was dropped in 2018, however was later resurrected by an appeals panel the next yr.
In December 2021 a decide dominated the case needs to be determined by a jury, though an official courtroom trial date has not but been set.
Taylor’s legal professionals are backing her claims by arguing no single entity can monopolize a time period broadly utilized in standard tradition.
Her legal professional Peter Anderson stated: “It’s, sadly, commonplace for a success tune to be met by litigants hoping for a windfall primarily based on tenuous claims that their very own tune was copied… however even in opposition to that background, (the) Plaintiffs’ declare stands proud as significantly baseless.”
Shake It Off was the lead single from Swift’s fifth studio album, 1989. 3LW, in the meantime, launched Playas Gon’ Play in 2001 as a part of the woman band’s eponymous debut album.
It comes as Taylor has additionally defended her use of a jet after she final month topped a celeb league desk of the most important personal airplane polluters.
