Taylor Swift has filed a motion yesterday (August 8) in response to a 2017 copyright lawsuit claiming she stole the lyrics to her 2014 single “Shake It Off” from 3LW’s 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” Billboard reports and Pitchfork can confirm after reviewing court documents. “The lyrics to ‘Shake It Off’ were written entirely by me,” Swift stated in the sworn declaration.
“Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.” In her motion, Taylor Swift wrote that she had heard the phrase “haters gonna hate” in “many songs, films, and other works” prior and even owned an Urban Outfitters t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase, which she noted she wore during a live performance in 2013. “I was struck by messages that people prone to doing something will do it, and the best way to overcome it is to shrug it off and keep living,” she wrote.
