Taylor Swift Joins Lady Gaga And Beyoncé In Accusations Of Plagiarism

Taylor Swift is the latest pop star to be accused of plagiarism. Spin has the news.

“An R&B singer named Jesse Braham — stage name Jesse Graham — is reportedly suing Taylor Swift for $42 million, claiming that she allegedly took lines from his song ‘Haters Gone Hate’ for her massive 1989 single ‘Shake it Off.'”

Braham spoke to the New York Daily News earlier this week.

“‘Her hook is the same hook as mine,’ he told the Daily News on Saturday, claiming Swift uses it about 72 times in her song. “If I didn’t write the song ‘Haters Gone Hate,’ there wouldn’t be a song called ‘Shake It Off.'”

The article hints that perhaps the only reason for the plagiarism lawsuit against Taylor Swift is because Braham didn’t get the selfie shot with Swift that he wanted. Many people who commented under the New York Daily News article think the lawsuit is frivolous.

“I wonder how many other words in the English language he’s going to CLAIM exclusive right to use? I guess we’ll all have to check with him first to get his permission to use anything he has ALREADY used himself LOL!” says commenter John B.

“Next thing you know someone’s gonna sue for using the name ‘baby’ in a song,” claims E GK.

Most of the comments on Twitter were also in support of Taylor Swift.

Haters continue to hate, #TaylorSwift just got hit with a #lawsuit over “#ShakeItOff” https://t.co/lKtRFJUQil via @hellogiggles #ridiculous

— Stacy Ace (@socal_Stacy) November 1, 2015

@taylorswift13 sue the lawyer for that scumbag too. they should be hounded for the rest of their lives for bringing this frivolous lawsuit!

— David Stein (@dl_stein) October 29, 2015

Taylor Swift is just the latest pop star accused of plagiarism. In fact, in order to become an iconic female pop star, it seems like you must be accused of plagiarism. The biggest case of recent musical plagiarism happened in 2011, when Lady Gaga was accused of plagiarizing Madonna’s classic hit “Express Yourself.” The plagiarism accusations of “Born This Way” certainly overshadowed the positive message it was trying to deliver.

For her part, Lady Gaga has denied the plagiarism accusations. Madonna did a mashup of both songs on her MDNA Tour in 2012 in order to show how similar both songs are. However, there are some people who don’t think the songs are similar enough to warrant a lawsuit.

Lady Gaga’s friend Beyoncé also knows what it’s like to be accused of plagiarism. International Business Times detailed the latest of many plagiarism lawsuits against Beyoncé back in June.

“Backing singer Ahmad Lane has reportedly accused the Feeling Myself singer of copying his track XOXO for her own single XO, which was released in 2013. Lane has filed a lawsuit against the former Destiny’s Child singer, her company Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Pictures, and is asking for $7m (£4.4m) in damages.”

Taylor Swift was also accused of plagiarism earlier this year. As Inquisitr reported, some thought Swift’s “Bad Blood” video was awfully similar to K-Pop group 2NE1’s video for “Come Back Home.” There wasn’t a lawsuit filed and the accusations of plagiarism went away quickly. Many thought the controversy was all part of a publicity stunt from 2NE1 in order to help the group get more exposure in America.

The truth is that most plagiarism accusations in pop music are frivolous. It’s also true that art always borrows from other art. However, as some pop singers have found out, there is a very thin line between plagiarism and tribute. What do you think of the latest plagiarism charges against Taylor Swift? Let us know in the comments section.

[Feature photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images]