Taylor Swift gets on my nerves a bit, but so do people who are desperate to piggy back off others’ success by leeching money out of them via bogus claims. Such is the case with R&B singer Jesse Braham (who?), who claims that Swift stole lyrics from a song he wrote in 2013 called “Haters Gone Hate” for her own song (and actual smash hit) “Shake It Off”. In addition to $42 million in compensation, he’s also seeking to have his name added as a writer of “Shake It Off”, which, let’s face it, is never going to happen.
From BBC News:
Mr Braham – who goes by the stage name Jesse Graham – claims he has copyright ownership of the phrases “haters gone hate” and “playas gone play”, which appear in the chorus of Swift’s song.
In Mr Braham’s song, the chorus comprises: “Haters gone hater, playas gone play/ Watch out for them fakers, they’ll fake you everyday.”
The chorus of Shake It Off features lyrics including: “Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play/ And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.” She sings another line: “And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake.”
Apart from the lyrical similarity, the songs bear no resemblance musically.
Braham insists that there’s no way in hell that Swift could ever have used those phrases independently and that she must have copied off his song, which… please get a life, sir. Let’s be honest – he didn’t make up “players gonna play” and “haters gonna hate” – they’re literally huge colloquial phrases used by TONS of people since coming into existence.
Mr Braham, 50, told the New York Daily News he believed there was “no way” Swift could have penned the lyrics independently of his song.
“Her hook is the same hook as mine. If I didn’t write the song Haters Gone Hate, there wouldn’t be a song called Shake It Off,” he said.
He added he had spoken to Swift’s record label, Big Machine, four or five times about the issue.
He originally asked to be named as a writer and requested a selfie with the pop star, but was repeatedly dismissed and told his claim had no merit.
“At first I was going to let it go, but this song is my song all the way,” he said.
Please let a judge dismiss this bullshit ASAP. He requested a selfie and got turned away, so he’s suing? Fuck this guy. What a waste of court time and money.
I hope this guy win and Swift has t pay thru the snout. I also hope she leaves her label can you imagine he would have settled for a selfie and a writing credit but she has to pay MILLIONS !!!!!
JJ u suck.
“Mr Braham – who goes by the stage name Jesse Graham – claims he has copyright ownership of the phrases “haters gone hate” and “playas gone play”
This guy is an ass.
Hell, I hereby copyright the word ‘snout’, so now YOU, jj, owe me money.