Taylor Swift‘s copyright infringement lawsuit over her 2014 hit “Shake It Off” has been going on since 2017. It was dismissed in 2018, when that decision was overturned. Songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler continue to demand a percentage of profits from the song because of the similarities to their song “Playas Gon’ Play,” which they wrote for 3LW, the early ’00s girl group composed of Naturi Naughton and Cheetah Girls stars Adrienne Bailon and Kiely Williams.
Billboard has reported that the “All Too Well” singer has provided a lengthy response in a motion filed today. “The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” she claimed. She continued:
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.”
