Swift stated that she had never heard the 2001 single by the plaintiffs, which landed on the Billboard Hot 100 and MTV’s Total Request Live.
A US judge has dismissed a case alleging that Taylor Swift copied the lyrics to her famous song Shake It Off.
The complaint, which was brought to court by songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler, stated that the award-winning singer stole the lyrics from their own Playas Gon’ Play hit, which was performed by the American girl group 3LW.
Swift maintained that she drew from her personal experiences and “frequently used words and comments” she had heard throughout her life, and that she “completely” composed the song’s lyrics.
Judge Michael Fitzgerald dismissed the complaint “in its entirety” and with prejudice on Monday, meaning that neither Mr. Hall nor Mr. Butler can refile it.
The petition stated, “Under the parties’ agreement, this case is dismissed in its entirety and with prejudice, with plaintiffs and defendants to bear their respective attorney’s fees and expenses.”
The ruling was made almost a month before the case, which was initially brought in 2017, was scheduled to go to trial on January 17.
The court documents did not specify whether Swift had negotiated a settlement with Hall and Butler.
What did Taylor Swift say about the situation?
Before the lawsuit, Swift stated that she had “never heard” of the song Playas Gon’ Play or 3LW.
In a sworn statement, the 36-year-old stated, “Shake It Off is about freedom and sharing off’ unwanted personal criticism through music and dancing.”
“In creating the lyrics, I drew partially from my own experiences, in particular the unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation, and other sorts of unpleasant personal criticism that I discovered I needed to just shake off and concentrate on my music.
“Before writing Shake It Off, I had heard the expressions ‘players going to play and ‘haters going to hate’ spoken numerous times to convey the notion that one can or should shrug off adversity.”
Swift sings in Shake It Off, “The players are going to play, play, play, play, play, while the haters are going to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
Playas Gon’ Play contained the lyrics “players, they’re going to play, haters, they’re going to hate.”
Hall and Butler attempted to claim that the combination of players and detractors in their song was unique.
