Taylor Swift has hit back at plaintiffs in a US copyright lawsuit over her hit song Shake It Off, saying the lyrics were written “entirely by me”.
The multi-award-winning singer said she drew on her own experiences and “commonly used phrases and comments” she had heard throughout her life for the track.
The claim is brought by songwriters Sean Hall and Nate Butler and alleges that Swift removed the lyrics to her song from their own Playas Gon’ Play, performed by American girl group 3LW.
Swift, 36, said she had “never heard of” the song Playas Gon’ Play or 3LW, before the trial, in an affidavit filed Monday and obtained by the PA news agency.
“The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” she said.
“Shake It Off is about independence and ‘shaking off’ negative personal criticism through music and dance.
“In writing the lyrics, I was partly inspired by the experiences of my life and, in particular, the relentless public scrutiny of my personal life, ‘clickbait’ reporting, public manipulation and other forms of criticism. personal negatives that I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music.
“With Shake It Off, I wanted to offer a comedic and uplifting approach to helping people feel better about negative reviews through music, dance, and the personal independence of getting rid of negative reviews.”
She added, “The lyrics to Shake It Off are also inspired by commonly used phrases and comments throughout my life.
“Before writing Shake It Off, I had heard the phrases ‘players gonna play’ and ‘haters gonna hate’ countless times to convey the idea that negativity can or should be ignored.
“Until I learned of the plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song 9 Playas Gon’ Play and I had never heard of this song or the group 3LW.”
Swift’s lawyers previously appealed the judge’s decision to allow a trial in the case, arguing it was an ‘unprecedented’ case and asked for the decision to be reconsidered .