Singer-songwriter and actress, Taylor Alison Swift, has been sued for $ 42 million by US R&B singer Jesse Braham (stage name: Jesse Graham) for stealing lyrics for her "Shake It Off" song from album 1989, which was released in 2014. The song is a Platinum mega-hit from the album and has over 1.1 billion hits on YouTube till date. "Shake It Off" has received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its musical style. In an interview with New York Daily News, the R&B singer said that Taylor Swift has taken up phrases from her song, Swift's chorus features the words: "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play", "And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate" and "And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake". The chorus to Graham's 2013 track is more relaxed: "Haters gone hate, players gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they'll fake you everyday". Graham also said that Taylor's hook is the same hook as in his song claiming that it occurs about 72 times in her song.
According to a report from New York Daily News, Graham first noticed the similarities between both tracks when she performed the song on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Initially, Graham only wanted a writing credit on "Shake It Off" and also requested that Swift take a selfie with him. He had no plans to file a suit then against the pop singer. But only when his humble requests were denied, he filed the lawsuit against the famous singer. "At first I was going to let it go," Braham told the New York Daily News, "but this song is my song all the way."
According to sources on MTV.com, this is not the first time the "Bad Blood" singer has been dragged down to the court. In May 2014, Swift was sued by Luck 13 Apparel Company for Trademark Infringement for using the phrase "Lucky 13" on T-shirts and greeting cards. Earlier, a Radio host sued the 25 year old singer stating that he was wrongly dismissed from his job at a Denver radio station over the June 2013 incident where Swift accused the radio host for groping her.
