Finally, the long-overdue Taylor Swift backlash might actually gain some ground.
It really won’t, of course, as she’s more lawyered up than a frat boy with a DUI. But as it turns out the fairly moronic lyrical hook from her mega hit “Shake It Off” was purportedly directly lifted from indie R&B singer Jesse Braham, Braham claims via the New York Daily News.
Because it wasn’t enough to blatantly recycle the “sick beat” (trademarked) of immediately preceding hits like “Happy” and “All About that Bass.” The kicker is that the plaintiff originally only wanted some writing credit and a selfie with T-Swift, which Taylor quickly put the kibosh on.
Sure, the hook is just two terrible, pop culture clichés. They’ve been around the pop block more than a few times. In fact, it really should be 3LW suing her instead:
Playas, they gonna play
And haters, they gonna hate
Ballers, they gonna ball
Shot callers, they gonna call
So this controversy may be too flimsy for a $42 million suit, as the simplistic lyrics already underwent several regurgitations — but it’s still poetic justice as Swift previously tried to copyright the even more meaningless pop culture cliché “This Sick Beat,” proceeding to sue the pants off her own fans for daring to make Etsy trinkets featuring that lyric (the gall of these people giving her free advertising!). Hell, type “Taylor Swift sues…” into Google. It suggests “Everyone” as its follow-up.
She’s used faux feminism as a shield when her content was scrutinized, despite its undeniable, hypocritical race issues, and paid every Pitchfork-approved indie darling to appear on-stage with her, hoping to gain some indie legitimacy through osmosis. But it seems the mainstream is finally moving past her ‘aw-shucks American Sweetheart’ of pop façade and seeing her true nature as a soulless and well-oiled corporation.
As a pop monopoly conglomerate there’s little chance this will touch her. It takes a heavyweight plaintiff like Marvin Gaye to win even open-and-shut plagiarism suits. But from every lawsuit springs hope that maybe, just maybe, we won’t hear the exact same lyrics, hooks and beats on the radio through eternity. Maybe more mainstream artists will try something new. Here’s to hoping.
