Taylor Swift responds to ‘Shake It Off’ lawsuit

Taylor Swift declared that she did not violate upon another song’s copyright, following the 2017 lawsuit by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, insisting that Taylor was copying their 2001 song ‘Playas Gon‘ Play’ for her hit song ‘Shake It Off.’

According to Hola, Taylor submitted a sworn declaration in where she stated that she wrote her song entirely by herself and had not heard the 2001 track before, in light of the accusations.

“The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” Taylor said in her declaration. “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.”

Taylor also explained that it would have been impossible for her to know about the song, as her parents did not allow her to watch “(MTV’s countdown show) TRL until I was about 13 years old.”

Her legal team detailed that some of the accusations can be easily seen as coincidence, as the similar phrases in both tracks, “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” were commonly used and Taylor might have heard them on the school playground without ever having to listen to the song.

The legal case has continued for five years, with Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald stating that the case should be brought before a jury, however a date has not yet been set. Meanwhile Taylor’s lawyer Peter Anderson says that a trial is not warranted as further evidence proves her innocence.