Taylor Swift is personally responding to accusations of plagiarism.
The 32-year-old singer is currently facing a plagiarism lawsuit. She was sued by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who wrote the 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW.
The 3LW track has the lyrics “plays, they gonna play” and “haters, they gonna hate.” Taylor’s mega hit song “Shake It Off” has the lyrics “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the hatters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
In a sworn statement, Taylor said:
“The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me.
Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”
She went on to state:
“[My parents] did not permit me to watch TRL until I was about 13 years old. None of the CDs I listened to as a child, or after that, were by 3LW. I have never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ on the radio, on television, or in any film.
The first time I ever heard the song was after this claim was made.”
3LW was a girl group consisting of Nature Naughton and The Cheetah Girls stars Kiely Williams and Adrienne Bailon.
Taylor also opened up about her inspiration for the “Shake It Off” lyrics:
“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.
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.’”
