The Lawsuit Accusing Taylor Swift Of Plagiarizing The "Shake It Off" Lyrics Has Been Dropped

The lawsuit that accused Taylor Swift of copying some lyrics in her 2014 hit "Shake It Off" has been dropped.

The copyright lawsuit's complaint, which was filed in 2017, claimed that Swift copied the lines "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" from a 3LW song, "Playas Gon' Play," written by Sean Hall and Nathan Butler. After five years, Hall, Butler, and Swift reached an agreement to drop the lawsuit, according to court documents filed on Monday.

The details of the agreement were not disclosed.

In Swift's declaration filed in August, she wrote to the judge that she only listened to country radio, and she was not aware of the group 3LW. She also said that the lyrics to "Shake It Off" were written entirely by her, and she had heard the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" said by other kids while growing up. A top she wore while performing at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards that read "Haters gonna hate" inspired the lyrics, she said.

Lawyers for Hall, Butler, and Swift did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In late 2021, Swift and her legal team asked for the lawsuit to be dropped, but the judge refused, writing in his ruling that even though Swift's team made "persuasive arguments" about how "Shake It Off" is different from "Playas Gon' Play," there is a "possibility that there is still a genuine dispute as to the potential substantial similarity between the lyrics and their sequential structure."

In December, 3LW — who recorded the song, but didn't write it — wrote on social media that they were not behind the lawsuit and asked fans to redirect their hate.

"There is nothing but love and respect for Taylor and her team," the group said. "3LW had nothing to do with this case. Please direct all hate elsewhere."

This lawsuit wasn't the first for "Shake It Off." In 2015, Jesse Braham (who has recorded music under the name Jesse Graham) sued Swift for $42 million, claiming she ripped off his song "Haters Gone Hate." But the judge dropped the case and in her ruling, she used lyrics from many different Swift songs to explain why, saying, "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."

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