3LW’s Songwriters Continue Lawsuit Against Taylor Swift Over Her Hit “Shake It Off”

The former girl group’s writers’ claim against Swift was dismissed by a judge last year.

Early 2000s girl group 3LW had a successful career in their day, but it’s been speculated that they could have had a longer run if there wasn’t so much tension behind the scenes. Prior to being known as a star of 50 Cent’s Power series, Naturi Naughton was a member of the trio, along with The Real’s Adrienne Bailon and singer Kiely Williams.

Naturi has publicly stated that she was kicked out of the group after a physical altercation that occurred in Atlanta. According to Naturi, the other girls would often bully her until finally she was physically put out of a vehicle and left on the side of the road. After sharing the story of her dismissal from 3LW earlier this, Naturi and Kiely engaged in a back and forth social media beef. While the ladies seemed to have been at odds, a pair of their songwriters were continuing on with their court battle against pop star Taylor Swift.

Sean Hall and Nathan Butler claim that Swift’s chart-topping hit “Shake It Off” plagiarizes their lyrics from their 2001 3LW song “Playas Gon’ Play.” Hall and Butler first filed a lawsuit against Swift in 2017, but in 2018, a judge dismissed their claim. However, this week a court revived their suit, and they’ll be facing off against the singer once again.

“We are happy the court unanimously sided with us,” Hall reportedly said in a statement. “This case is giving voice to all of those creatives who can’t afford to stand up and protect their work in the face of well-financed Goliaths.” Yet, Swift’s representative responded to Hall’s statement, according to Rolling Stone, by saying, “Mr. Hall is incorrect, the court did not unanimously side in their favor, the court sent the case back to the lower court for further determination. These men are not the originators, or creators, of the common phrases ‘Players’ or ‘Haters’ or combinations of them. They did not invent these common phrases nor are they the first to use them in a song. We are confident the true writers of ‘Shake It Off’ will prevail again. Their claim is not a crusade for all creatives, it is a crusade for Mr. Hall’s bank account.”

The crux of the argument centers around the similarities of the lyrics “playas gonna play” and “haters gonna hate.” Check out the two tracks below and let us know if the choruses are anything alike.