Taylor Swift Will Face Trial Over 'Shake It Off' Copyright Claim

Taylor Swift will face trial in the USA in January after a judge dismissed her request to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit. 

Back in December last year, Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald declared Swift would have to face a trial by jury, following a copyright infringement case being lodged against her alleging similarities between her song Shake It Off and Playas Gon' Play by 3LW. Swift had requested that Fitzgerald reconsider the ruling, but reports now reveal that the appeal has been denied. 

As a result, Swift must stand trial in January regarding the matter. In the new ruling, Judge Fitzgerald stated "The motion for reconsideration is denied. I don’t think it meets the standard for reconsideration, and even if it did, and I was approaching it again on the merits, I still think there’s a genuine issue of material fact in part because of the expert opinion."  

In August, Swift addressed the lawsuit publicly stating that she "had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW", until the lawsuit in 2017.

"In writing the lyrics, I drew partly on experiences in my life and, in particular, unrelenting public scrutiny of my personal life, "clickbait" reporting, public manipulation, and other forms of negative personal criticism which I learned I just needed to shake off and focus on my music." "With "Shake It Off", I wanted to provide a comedic, empowering approach to helping people feel better about negative criticism through music, dance, and the personal independence enabling one to just shake off the negative criticism."

""The lyrics to "Shake It Off" also draw from commonly used phrases and comments heard throughout my life. Prior to writing "Shake It Off", I had heard the phrases "players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" uttered countless times to express the idea that one can or should shrug off negativity. I recall hearing phrases about players play and haters hate stated together by other children while attending school in Wyomissing Hills, and in high school in Hendersonville. These phrases were akin to other commonly used sayings like "don’t hate the playa, hate the game", "take a chill pill", and "say it, don’t spray it". I drew on those commonly used player and hater phrases in creating the lyrics "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." 

The trial is set to commence on January 17, 2023.

In late August Swift made a surprise appearance at the VMA's, revealing exciting news; her next album is set for release on October 21. Titled Midnights, the album follows the story of 13 sleepless nights that the singer-songwriter has had throughout her life, leading to self-discovery and reclamation. Swift announced the new album while accepting the award for Music Video of the Year, awarded to the 10-minute version of All Too Well - her third win of the night. Later on social media, she revealed the incomplete album cover and vision behind the project. 

“I wouldn’t be able to re-record my albums if it weren’t for you,” Swift told her fans during her acceptance speech. “You emboldened me to do that. And I had made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this [award], I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out Oct. 21. And I will tell you more at midnight.” 

As promised, Swift dropped the title and vision for the album at midnight, detailing that "This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams,” she wrote. “The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.” 

Swift is also set to return to acting when the movie Amsterdam is released in November, with a trailer showing Swift in a scene wearing red lipstick with her hair in an intricate updo. Her character, who seems to be crying, wears a dress and hat consistent with 1930s fashion.

“You have a dead white man in a box. It’s not even a coffin, it has no lid,” Rock says as Swift sobs. “You know who’s going to get in trouble? The Black men.”