A second lawsuit has been reportedly filed against Taylor Swift over her 2014 chart-topper ‘Shake It Off‘, but this one has slightly more merit than the last.
TMZ is reporting that Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who wrote 3LW‘s 2001 banger ‘Playas Gon’ Play‘, are seeking 20 percent of the royalties from Swift’s track.
It’s not hard to see where the similarities lie. ‘Shake It Off’ includes the chorus lyric, “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” while ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ goes, “The playas gon’ play, them haters gonna hate.”
A rep for Taylor told TMZ: “This is a ridiculous claim and nothing more than a money grab. The law is simple and clear. They do not have a case.”
In 2015, an R&B artist by the name of Jessie Braham (who records as Jesse Graham) issued a $42 million lawsuit against Swift, accusing her of ripping the lyrics from ‘Shake It Off’ from his straight-to-YouTube song. Yes, really.
The judge threw that one out like a boss:
“At present, the Court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court. But, for now, we have got problems, and the Court is not sure Braham can solve them.
“As currently drafted, the Complaint has a blank space – one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And, upon consideration of the Court’s explanation in Part II, Braham may discover that mere pleading BandAids will not fix the bullet holes in his case.
“At least for the moment, Defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.”
But like we said, Hall and Butler have slightly more of a leg to stand on, given their track was a certifiable banger back in the early naughties and not some irrelevant YouTube song heard by all of three people and a confused cat.
And if Taylor does credit them on the track, she’ll be following the steps of close mate Ed Sheeran, who quietly credited the song writers of TLC‘s banger ‘No Scrubs‘ after it was pointed out that the hook to his chart-dominating ‘Shape of You‘ sounded veeeeeery familiar.
TBC on this one, folks.
