Taylor Swift will face a jury trial for plagiarizing the lyrics to her 2014 hit Shake It Off from another song.
A U.S. judge denied Swift’s request to dismiss the case on the grounds that a jury could find the song copied Playas Gon’ Play, a song released by girl group 3LW in 2001. Both songs feature variations on the lines “the players will play”. and “enemies will hate”.
Reached by the Guardian, representatives for Swift declined to comment.
District Judge Michael W Fitzgerald initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2018, saying the lyrics were too “banal” to be copyrighted, citing 13 songs – by Fleetwood Mac and Notorious BIG – that featured phrasing similar.
But Playas Gon’ Play songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler appealed the decision, seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages, and a federal court overturned the decision in October 2019.
In response, a rep for Swift said, “These men are not the originators or originators of the common phrases ‘gamers’ or ‘haters’ or combinations thereof. They didn’t invent these common phrases and aren’t the first to use them in a song.
They expressed confidence that the “real Shake It Off writers” — namely Swift and co-producers Max Martin and Shellback — “will prevail again. [Hall and Butler’s] claim isn’t a crusade for all creatives, it’s a crusade for Mr. Hall’s bank account.
On December 9, Fitzgerald denied Swift’s request for summary judgment, which would have immediately ruled that she had not infringed copyright.
Fitzgerald wrote, “While there are notable differences between the works, there are also significant similarities in word usage and sequence/structure”, adding that “the court cannot presently determine that any reasonable juror could not find substantial similarity in lyrical phrasing, word arrangement or poetic structure between the two works”.
He said Swift’s proposed experts made “compelling arguments”, but that was not enough for him to escape the case.
Lawyers for Hall and Butler said the court “did the right thing.”
“Our clients are finally getting closer to the justice they so deserve,” said lawyer Marina Bogorad. “The opinion…is particularly gratifying to them as it reinforces the idea that their creativity and unique expression cannot be misused without retribution.”
3LW’s song charted at No. 21 in the UK and No. 81 in the US. Swift’s Shake It Off reached number two in the UK and number one in the US and is the best-selling single of her career.
This isn’t Swift’s first copyright case with Shake It Off. In November 2015, R&B singer Jessie Braham alleged that the song plagiarized her 2013 song Haters Gonna Hate. He sought $42 million in damages from Swift and distributor Sony, but his lawsuit was dismissed for lack of factual evidence.
The date of the new trial has not yet been announced. Its outcome could become a reputational issue for Swift, who has made a point of campaigning for artists’ rights in recent years and suing parties she believes have infringed her copyrights.
And these aren’t unfamiliar scenarios for Swift on either side of the divide. She gave British pop group Right Said Fred a songwriting credit on their 2017 single Look What You Made Me Do, which interpolated the melody from their 1992 song I’m Too Sexy.
This year, she received a co-writing credit on teen pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s song Deja Vu in recognition of its similarities to her 2019 song Cruel Summer, written with Jack Antonoff and St Vincent AKA Annie Clark.
In 2016, she revealed that she co-wrote This Is What You Came For, a song performed by Rihanna and written by Swift’s ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris. She was previously credited under a pseudonym, Nils Sjöberg.
Spotify recently named Swift the second most streamed musician in the world in 2021. She was propelled to the top spot by Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny.
