LOS ANGELES — Taylor Swift is standing behind her work after another group accused her of copying their song in her 2014 hit “Shake It Off.”
The R&B girl group 3LW first sued Swift in 2017, saying the superstar had stolen the chorus of “Playas Gon’ Play” without permission. “Playas Gon’ Play” repeats a hook of “Playas, they gonna play/ and haters, they gonna hate,” while Swift’s hook of “Shake It Off” repeats “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.”
A judge in 2018 threw the case out, saying 3LW’s chorus was too unoriginal to be protected. The next year, however, an appeals court reinstated the lawsuit, setting the stage for a jury trial at a yet-to-be-determined date.
