Swift and the songwriters’ legal counsel filed court documents on Monday, but they did not mention whether a settlement had been reached. Requests for more information were not immediately answered by representatives of the parties. “The players going to play, play, play, play, and the haters going to hate, hate, hate, hate,” Swift says in the song Shake It Off. Hall and Butler used the lyrics “playas, they going to play, and haters, they going to hate” in their song “Playas Gon’ Play.” The song, which was sung by the R&B trio 3LW, was released in 2001 and featured on both MTV’s Total Request Live and the Billboard Hot 100.
In August, Swift testified in court that prior to writing Shake It Off, she had never heard the song by 3LW. The expressions “players going to play” and “haters going to hate” are frequently heard to “convey the idea that one can or should shrug off adversity,” she claimed.