In the age of copywrite lawsuit after copywrite lawsuit, it is only a matter of time before the next big artist gets caught up in a song stealing scandal. Recently, I had a very well intentioned (but very ill informed) person voice their concerns to me that Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" copies Michael Jackson's "Beat It", and wanted to know if Taylor had reached out to the Jackson family prior to releasing the song to gain their permission. While I initially thought to myself "lol no it doesn't" and directed them elsewhere to find the answers they were looking for, I decided to do some deeper research into both of the songs to see if they were on to something. I put on my detective hat, dusted off my magnifying glass, and went to work. After watching about five seconds of the "Beat It" music video followed by the entire cinematic masterpiece that is the "Shake It Off" music video just because I wanted to, I came to my final conclusion:
In the matter of Jackson v. Swift, I, Judge Laura of the Channel 955 Court find the defendant not guilty due to the fact that THE SONGS DO NOT EVEN SOUND REMOTELY SIMILAR. NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST. THIS IS RIDICULOUS. LEAVE TAYLOR ALONE.
Case closed.
*dun dun*