If you’ve been living in a cave for recent decades, Taylor Swift has been accused of copying her 2014 smash hit track “Shake It Off.” The singer has responded to the allegations in a court file.
According to Newsweek, The report states that the case was filed initially in the first instance by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler who were alleged by Swift of lyrically copying their 2000 hit track “Playas Gon’ Play,” which was recorded by 3LW in the year 2017.
The following year, district judge Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed the case, stating that it was too “banal” to be copyrighted and referencing songs with similar words as reported by The Guardian. The decision was rescinded in the year 2019 and Swift will be facing an appeals court over the allegations.
8 August 2022 Swift made a written statement before the trial in which she denied any claims of copyright infringement. According to Court documents that were obtained by Parade.com.
In their own written declarations, Swift and her mother Andrea both stated that the singer had only a little experience with popular songs as she grew in her youth, and neither of them had ever heard about 3LW or their songs until they became by the suit sometime following the time “Shake It Off” was composed.
“I did not work outside the home during Taylor’s childhood and have direct, personal knowledge of the music to which she was exposed growing up,” Andrea wrote. She claimed she was able to monitor not just the music Swift was listening to, but also the television that she watched and was already restricted because of school and other extracurriculars.
Swift’s songs Swift consumed were mostly musical theatre and country music according to her mother, who claimed she wouldn’t permit Swift to stream MTV until she reached 13, or even 14. At the point that Swift began to get into the pop genre, Andrea claims that her music consumption was “sparing” due to rehearsal and performance schedules.
Swift Swift’s defence, the songwriter also shared new information about her songwriting process for the 1989 hit single. Swift co-wrote “Shake It Off” in February 2014 along with Max Martin and Shellback. “I wanted to write a song that would help me cope with stresses in my life,” she wrote.
She also wanted to encourage people to take a step forward and dance. “With that in mind, Shellback created a drum beat and Max Martin, Shellback, and I began collaboratively improvising musical lines to the drum beat.” She said she was enthralled by the notion of not just shaking off negativity, but also shaking when it was related to dancing.