"Shake It Off" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
, taken from her fifth studio album, ''
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
''. Swift wrote the lyrics and composed the melody with producers
and
Shellback. An
uptempo
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
dance-pop
Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...
song featuring a
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
line in its production, it is about Swift's indifference to her detractors and their negative view of her image. The song was the lead single from ''1989'', which Swift marketed as her first
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' ( ...
album. It was released for digital download worldwide on August 19, 2014, by
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by fo ...
.
Contemporary critics found the song's dance-pop production catchy, but some believed the lyrics were weak. Retrospectively, critics have considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for the ''1989'' era, which transformed Swift's sound and image from country to pop. The song featured on 2010's decade-end lists by ''
NME'' and ''
Consequence''. In the U.S., the single spent 50 weeks–including four weeks at number one–on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100, and received a
Diamond certification from the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA). "Shake It Off" also topped charts in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, and Poland.
The single was supported by a music video directed by
Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Romanek wrote and directed the 2002 film ''One Hour Photo'' and directed the 2010 film '' Neve ...
. The video, in which Swift portrays a clumsy person attempting to practice several dance moves without success, attracted accusations of
cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
for featuring dance routines associated with
people of color
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
such as
twerking
Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that came out of the bounce music scene of New Orleans in the late 1980s. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually prov ...
. To promote the song, Swift performed on televised live events including the
MTV Video Music Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
and the
iHeartRadio Music Festival
The iHeartRadio Music Festival is a two-day music concert festival held every year in September since 2011 by iHeartRadio along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
From 2011 to 2015, the festival was held at the MGM Gra ...
. She included "Shake It Off" on the
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
s for two of her world tours,
the 1989 World Tour
The 1989 World Tour was the fourth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her fifth studio album, ''1989'' (2014). Swift announced the tour's first dates in North America, Europe, Japan, and Oceania in November an ...
(2015) and
Reputation Stadium Tour (2018). The song has received numerous accolades, including Favorite Song at the
2015 People's Choice Awards and three
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nominations at the
2015 Grammy Awards
The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time. ...
.
Background
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
had been known as a primarily
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...
singer-songwriter until her fourth studio album ''
Red'' (released in October 2012), which incorporates various
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' ( ...
and
rock styles, transcending the country sound of her previous releases. The collaborations with Swedish pop producers
and
Shellback introduced straightforward pop
hooks and new genres, including
electronic and
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
, to Swift's discography.
Swift and her label,
Big Machine, promoted it as a country album. The album's diverse musical styles sparked a media debate over her status as a country artist, to which she replied in an interview with ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', "I leave the genre labeling to other people." Swift began recording her fifth studio album, ''
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
'', while touring to support ''Red'' in mid-2013.
Inspired by 1980s
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...
, she conceived ''1989'' as her first "official pop" record that would transform her image from country to pop.
Martin and Shellback produced seven out of thirteen tracks for the album's standard edition, including "Shake It Off".
Music and lyrics
Swift wrote the lyrics to "Shake It Off" and composed the song's melody with Martin and Shellback. The track was recorded by Sam Holland at
Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles and by Michael Ilbert at MXM Studios in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
, Sweden.
It was
mixed by
Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
, and
mastered by
Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound Studio in New York City.
Musically, "Shake It Off" is an
uptempo
A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...
dance-pop
Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...
song that incorporates a
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
line.
Jonas Thander, the song's saxophone player, based his part on Martin's pre-recorded
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
horn sample, using a
tenor horn.
It took Thander over ten hours to edit the saxophone part, which he completed over the following day.
"Shake It Off" follows a ii–IV–I
chord progression
In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
; it employs a
verse–
prechorus–
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
form to begin with a loose verse, tighten for the prechorus, and loosen again for the chorus. The song's upbeat production is accompanied by a looping drum
beat, a
handclap-based
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
, and synthesized saxophones.
The lyrics of the song were inspired by the media scrutiny that Swift had experienced during her rise to stardom.
In an interview with ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' in August 2014, Swift said about the song's inspiration: "I've had every part of my life dissected ... When you live your life under that kind of scrutiny, you can either let it break you, or you can get really good at dodging punches. And when one lands, you know how to deal with it. And I guess the way that I deal with it is to shake it off."
Discussing the song's message with
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
in October 2014, Swift said that "Shake It Off" represented her more mature perspectives from her previous single "
Mean
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set.
For a data set, the '' ar ...
" (2010), which was also inspired by her detractors.
According to Swift, if "Mean" was where she assumed victimhood, "Shake It Off" found her in a proactive stance to "take back the narrative, and have ... a sense of humor about people who kind of get under
erskin – and not let them get under
erskin".
In the first verse of the song, Swift references her perceived image as a flirtatious woman with numerous romantic attachments: "I go on too many dates / But I can't make 'em stay / At least that's what people say."
The lines in the chorus are arranged rhythmically to produce a catchy
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
: "Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate / Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake."
The
spoken-word bridge opens with Swift asserting, "You could have been getting down to this sick beat," amidst the "dirty cheats of the world".
The lyric "this sick beat" is trademarked to Swift by the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...
.
Release
On August 13, 2014, Swift appeared on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...
'', where she announced she would hold a live stream via
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...
on August 18, 2014. During the live stream, Swift announced the details of the album ''1989''. She debuted "Shake It Off" as the album's lead single and premiered the song's music video simultaneously.
"Shake It Off" was released digitally worldwide by Big Machine on August 19.
The same day, Big Machine, in partnership with
Republic Records
Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...
, released the song to US radio.
A limited
CD single
A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...
edition was available on September 11.
In Europe, "Shake It Off" was added to a
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
playlist on August 25, Italian radio on August 29,
and was released as a
CD single
A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...
in Germany on October 10.
The release of "Shake It Off" and its parent album ''1989'' had been highly anticipated, given Swift's announcement that she would abandon her country roots to release an "official pop" album.
The magazine ''
Drowned in Sound
''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums.
History
'' ...
'' described the single as "undoubtedly ... the most significant cultural event" since
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass ...
's 2011 album ''
The King of Limbs''.
While noting that "Shake It Off" was not Swift's first "straight-up pop" song, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...
'' Jason Lipshutz considered it a sign of a "bold foray into the unknown", in which Swift could experiment beyond her well-known formulaic
country pop
Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...
songs that had been critically and commercially successful.
Critical reception
"Shake It Off" received mixed reviews from music critics. While some deemed the production catchy, others found the song repetitive and lacking substance compared to Swift's previous album ''Red'', which was perceived to be her artistic peak.
Critic Randall Roberts from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' lauded the song's energetic production, which they described as "perfect pop confection". Roberts, however, found the lyrics shallow, calling the song insensible to the political events at the time: "When lives are at stake and nothing seems more relevant than getting to the Actual Truth, liars and cheats can't and shouldn't be shaken off."
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' Molly Fitzpatrick lauded the song's music, but felt that the lyrics fell short of Swift's songwriting abilities.
Giving the song a three-out-of-five-stars score, Jeff Terich from ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' regarded Swift's new direction as "a left-turn worth following". While Terich agreed that the lyrics were dismissive, he felt that critics should not have taken the song seriously because it was "pretty harmless".
In a positive review, Jason Lipshutz from ''Billboard'' wrote, "Swift proves why she belongs among pop's queen bees ... the song sounds like a surefire hit."
In a review of the album ''1989'',
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...
praised the lyrics for "twisting
clichés until they sound original". In the words of Andrew Unterberger from ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...
'', while "Shake It Off" was musically a "
red herring
A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question.
Red herring may also refer to: Animals
* Red herring (fi ...
" that feels out of place on the album, it thematically represents Swift's new attitude on ''1989'', where she liberated herself from overtly romantic struggles to embrace positivity. Swift herself acknowledged the song as an outlier on ''1989'', and deliberately released it as the lead single to encourage audiences to explore the entire album and not just the singles.
Retrospectively, Hannah Mylrea from ''
NME'' considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for Swift's ''1989'' era, which transformed her image to mainstream pop. While saying that "Shake It Off" was not one of the album's better songs,
Rob Sheffield
Robert James Sheffield (born February 2, 1966) is an American music journalist and author.
He is a long time contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'', writing about music, TV, and pop culture. Previously, he was a contributing editor at '' Ble ...
from ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' applauded it for "serving as a trailer to announce her daring Eighties synth-pop makeover". Nate Jones from ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' agreed, but described the song's bridge as "the worst 24 seconds of the entire album".
In his 2019 ranking of Swift's singles, Alexis Petridis ranked "Shake It Off" third—behind "
Blank Space
"Blank Space" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fifth studio album, ''1989''. The song was released to US radio stations as the second single from ''1989'' on November 10, 2014, by Republic Records in partners ...
" (2014) and "
Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Genres
* Romance (love)
** Romance film
** Romance novel
Films
* ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film
* ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film
* ''Love ...
" (2008), lauding its "irresistible" hook and "sharp-tongued wit". Jane Song from ''
Paste'' was less enthusiastic, placing "Shake It Off" among Swift's worst songs in her catalog, writing: "Swift has a pattern of choosing the worst song from each album as the lead single."
Commercial performance
After one day of release to US radio, "Shake It Off" gained an audience of nine million.
The song debuted at 45 on the
''Billboard'' Radio Songs chart with 29 million in all-format audience after two days of release. After its first week of release, the single debuted at number nine on the
''Billboard'' Adult Top 40 chart, and number 12 on the
''Billboard'' Mainstream Top 40, setting the record for the highest debut on both charts.
On the Mainstream Top 40 chart, it tied with
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the w ...
's "
Dreamlover" (1993) for the highest first-week chart entry.
Although not officially released to
country radio Country radio refers to radio stations that play country music. Most country radio stations are commercial radio stations. Most country radio stations usually play only music which has been officially released to country radio by record labels. Th ...
, the single debuted and peaked at number 58 on the
''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart, where it stayed for one week.
"Shake It Off" debuted at number one on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart dated September 6, 2014, the
22nd song to do so. After two consecutive weeks at number one, it dropped to number two, where it stayed for eight consecutive weeks.
"Shake It Off" returned to number one in its tenth charting week, and spent a further week at number one, totaling four non-consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100. It also topped ''Billboard'' airplay-focused charts including Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40, and
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
.
The song sold 3.43 million digital copies in 2014 in the U.S.
"Shake It Off" was one of the best-selling singles of the 2010s decade in the U.S., selling 5.4 million digital copies as of January 2020.
As of July 2020, the single remains Swift's biggest chart success on the Hot 100, where it spent nearly six months in the top ten and 50 weeks in the top 100. The song was
certified Diamond by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA), which denotes 10 million units.
With this achievement, Swift is the first female artist to have both a song and an album (''
Fearless
Fearless or The Fearless may refer to:
Psychology
* Lack of fear
* Courage or bravery
Film, television and audio Film
* ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi
* ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...
'') certified Diamond in the U.S.
"Shake It Off" also topped the charts in Australia and Canada, where it was certified thirteen times platinum and six times platinum, respectively.
In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number two on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and was the eleventh-best-selling song of 2014.
It had sold 987,000 copies by August 2019
and was certified quadruple platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...
(BPI).
In Japan, "Shake It Off" peaked at number four on the
Japan Hot 100
The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...
and was certified triple platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
(RIAJ).
The single also topped
record charts
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include r ...
in Hungary,
New Zealand
and Poland.
It was a top-five hit in other European countries, peaking at number two in Spain;
number three in Ireland,
Norway
and Sweden;
number four in Denmark
and Israel;
and number five in Germany
and the Netherlands.
Music video
Concept
The music video for "Shake It Off", directed by
Mark Romanek
Mark Romanek (; born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker whose directing work includes feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Romanek wrote and directed the 2002 film ''One Hour Photo'' and directed the 2010 film '' Neve ...
, was released on August 18, 2014, the same day as the song's release.
It was shot over three days in June 2014 in Los Angeles.
Swift conceived the video as a humorous depiction of her trying to find her identity: "It takes a long time to figure out who you are and where you fit in in the world."
To this end, the video depicts Swift as a clumsy person who unsuccessfully attempts dance moves with professional artists, including
ballerinas
A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...
,
breakdancers,
cheerleaders, and
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ists.
She summed up the video: I'm putting myself in all these awkward situations where the dancers are incredible, and I'm having fun with it, but not fitting in ... I'm being embarrassingly bad at it. It shows you to keep doing you, keep being you, keep trying to figure out where you fit in in the world, and eventually you will."
The dances were choreographed by
Tyce Diorio.
The video's final scenes feature Swift dancing with her fans, who had been handpicked by Swift through
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...
engagement. The video contains references to other areas of popular culture. For instance,
VH1 noted the following resemblances: the ballerinas to the 2010 film ''
Black Swan
The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...
'', the breakdancers to the 2010 film ''
Step Up 3D'', the "sparkling suits and robotic dance moves" to French
electronic musicians
Daft Punk
Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...
, the
twerking
Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that came out of the bounce music scene of New Orleans in the late 1980s. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually prov ...
dance moves to
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip hop ...
, the cheerleaders to
Toni Basil
Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22, 1943), better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer, choreographer, dancer, actress, and director. Her song "Mickey" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia and hit th ...
's 1981 video "
Mickey
Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People Given name or nickname Men
* Mickey Andrews (bor ...
", and Swift's black turtleneck and jeans to the outfits of
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen ...
during an audition scene in the 1957 film ''
Funny Face''.
Publications including the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' also noted references to
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
and
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ and music producer. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he joined the post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead si ...
.
Analysis and reception
Molly Fitzpatrick of ''The Guardian'' considered Swift "a little too skilled a dancer" for the video's concept, writing: "The incongruent blend of modern dance, ballet, and breakdancing is fun, but the conceit falls flat."
Peter Vincent from ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' called the video "unoriginal", citing the many popular culture references, and doubted Swift's success in transforming her image to pop.
Media professor Maryn Wilkinson noted "Shake It Off" as a representation of Swift's "zany" persona during the ''1989'' era. Wilkinson noted that as Swift had been associated with a hardworking and authentic persona through her country songs, her venture to "artificial, manufactured" pop required intricate maneuvering to retain her sense of authenticity. As observed by Wilkinson, in the video, after failing every dance routine, Swift laughs at herself implying that she will never "fit in" to "any commercially viable image, and prefers to embrace her natural zany state instead". In doing so, Swift reminded the audience of her authenticity underneath "the artificial manufacture of pop performances".
"Shake It Off" attracted allegations of
racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...
and
cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
for perpetuating
African American stereotypes such as twerking and breakdancing. Its release coinciding with the race relation debates revolving the
Ferguson unrest
The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) were a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal shooting of Michael Bro ...
was also met with criticism. Analyzing the video's supposedly "racializing surveillance" in a
post-racial
Post-racial United States is a theoretical environment in which the United States is free from racial preference, discrimination, and prejudice.
Origins of the term
One of the earliest uses of the term "post-racial" to describe the United Stat ...
context, communications professor Rachel Dubrofsky noted the difference between Swift's depiction of conventionally white dance moves—such as ballet and cheerleading; and conventionally black dance moves—breakdancing and twerking. She argued that while Swift's outfits and demeanor when she performs ballet or cheerleading fit her "naturally", she "does not easily embody the break-dancer's body nor does the style of dress
hile twerking
Hile ( ne, हिले) is a hill town located in the Eastern Part of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasab ...
fit her seamlessly". Dubrofsky summarized the video as Swift's statement of her white authenticity: "I'm so white, you know it, I know it, which makes it so funny when I try to dance like a person of color."
''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' noted the video's depiction of dance moves associated with
people of color
The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...
, such as twerking, was another case of an ongoing debate about white pop singers embracing black culture. Romanek defended his work: "We simply choose styles of dance that we thought would be popular and amusing ... If you look at
he video
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
carefully, it's a massively inclusive piece. And ... it's a satirical piece. It's playing with a whole range of music video tropes and cliches and stereotypes".
Accolades
"Shake It Off" appeared on many publications' lists of the best songs of 2014. It featured in the top ten on lists by ''
Time Out'' (third), ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' (fourth), ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll (fourth), and ''
Consequence'' (eighth). The track featured on 2014 year-end lists by ''Drowned in Sound'' (14th), ''
Dagsavisen
''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...
'' (16th), and ''NME'' (27th). It was ranked by ''NME'' and ''Consequence'' as the 19th and 38th best song of the 2010s decade, respectively. ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' listed "Shake It Off" as one of the ten songs that defined the 2010s.
"Shake It Off" has received many industry awards and nominations. It was honored by the 2015
Nashville Songwriters Association International
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is a 501(c) not-for-profit trade organization that works to help songwriters in three ways: through legislative advocacy, through education and advice about the actual craft of songwrit ...
, where Swift was the Songwriter of the Year. The song received an award at the 2016
BMI Pop Awards, where Swift also earned the distinction of Songwriter of the Year.
At the
57th Annual Grammy Awards
The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...
in 2015, "Shake It Off" was nominated in three categories:
Record of the Year
The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...
,
Song of the Year, (both categories lost to "
Stay with Me" by
Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...
) and
Best Pop Solo Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guides, the Best Pop So ...
but lost to "
Happy" by
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
.
At the
2015 ''Billboard'' Music Awards, "Shake It Off" received three nominations, winning Top Streaming Song (Video). "Shake It Off" won Song of the Year at the 2015
iHeartRadio Music Awards
The iHeartRadio Music Awards is a music awards show that celebrates music heard throughout the year across iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia's digital music platform. Founded by iHeartRadio in 2014, the eve ...
,
Favorite International Video at the 2015
Myx Music Awards
The Myx Music Awards, currently known as the Myx Awards, are accolades presented by the cable channel Myx to honor the biggest hitmakers in the Philippines. The awards ceremony is held annually and occurs most commonly in March, and broadcast de ...
(Philippines), and Favorite Song at the
2015 People's Choice Awards. The song was nominated for the
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (also known as the KCAs or Kids' Choice) is an annual American children's awards ceremony show that is produced by Nickelodeon. Usually held on a Saturday night in late March or early April, the show honors ...
,
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...
,
Rockbjörnen
Rockbjörnen (Swedish: ''the Rock Bear'') is a music prize in Sweden, divided into several categories, which is awarded annually by the newspaper ''Aftonbladet''. The prize was first awarded in 1979, and is mostly centered on pop and rock.
In 2 ...
Awards (Sweden),
Radio Disney Music Awards
The Radio Disney Music Awards (RDMA) were an annual awards show operated and governed by Radio Disney, an American radio network. Beginning in 2001, the show was originally broadcast only on Radio Disney, but later began being televised on Di ...
, and
Los Premios 40 Principales
LOS40 Music Awards, formerly known as ''Premios 40 Principales'', is an award show by the musical radio station LOS40. It was created in 2006 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the worldwide station.
History
LOS40 is the ...
(Spain).
Live performances
![Taylor Swift 112 (18119055110)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Taylor_Swift_112_%2818119055110%29.jpg)
Swift premiered "Shake It Off" on television at the
2014 MTV Video Music Awards on August 24, 2014. She performed the song at the
German Radio Awards
The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.[The X Factor UK
''The X Factor'' is a British reality television music competition, created by Simon Cowell. Premiering on 4 September 2004, it was produced by Fremantle's Thames and Cowell's production company Syco Entertainment for ITV, as well as simulc ...]
'' on October 12, ''
The X Factor Australia
''The X Factor'' is an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent. The first season of the show premiered on Network Ten on 6 February 2005. Ten dropped ''The X Factor'' after ...
'' on October 20, ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
'' on October 23, and ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' on October 29. On October 27, 2014, the day of ''1989'' release, she performed the song as part of a mini-concert titled the "''1989'' Secret Sessions", live broadcast by
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Mana ...
and
iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
. She also played "Shake It Off" on music festivals including the
iHeartRadio Music Festival
The iHeartRadio Music Festival is a two-day music concert festival held every year in September since 2011 by iHeartRadio along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
From 2011 to 2015, the festival was held at the MGM Gra ...
on September 19, the We Can Survive benefit concert at the
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
on October 24, and the
Jingle Ball Tour 2014
The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour 2014 was a national holiday tour by iHeartMedia that began on December 5, 2014 in Los Angeles at the Staples Center hosted by Ryan Seacrest and special guest host Nick Jonas. The tour celebrates the holiday sea ...
on December 5. At the after party for the 40th anniversary of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', Swift performed the song in an impromptu performance with host
Jimmy Fallon
James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...
on backing vocals and
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
on backing vocals and bass guitar.
"Shake It Off" was included on the
set list
A set list, or setlist, is typically a handwritten or printed document created as an ordered list of songs, jokes, stories and other elements an artist intends to present during a specific performance.
A setlist can be made of nearly any materi ...
on two of Swift's world tours—
the 1989 World Tour
The 1989 World Tour was the fourth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her fifth studio album, ''1989'' (2014). Swift announced the tour's first dates in North America, Europe, Japan, and Oceania in November an ...
, where the song was the final number, and
Reputation Stadium Tour
The Reputation Stadium Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in support of her sixth studio album ''Reputation'' (2017). The all- stadium tour began on May 8, 2018, in Glendale, Arizona, and concluded on ...
, where Swift performed the song with
Camila Cabello
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...
and
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery ...
as supporting acts. On April 23, 2019, she performed an acoustic version of the song at the
''Time'' 100 Gala, where she was honored as one of the "100 most influential" people of the year.
She again performed the song on the finale of the
eighth season of ''The Voice'' France on May 25, on the
Wango Tango festival on June 1, at the City of Lover one-off concert in Paris on September 9, and at the We Can Survive charity concert in Los Angeles on October 19, 2019. At the
2019 American Music Awards, where she was honored as the Artist of the Decade, Swift performed "Shake It Off" as part of a
medley of her hits.
Halsey and Camila Cabello joined Swift onstage during the song. She again performed the song at
Capital FM's
Jingle Bell Ball 2019 in London and at iHeartRadio
Z100's Jingle Ball in New York City.
Controversies
2014 Triple J Hottest 100
Following a January 13, 2015 article on
BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...
titled "Why Isn't Everyone Voting For 'Shake It Off' In The Hottest 100?", the #Tay4Hottest100
hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
campaign on social media emerged during the voting period for the
Triple J Hottest 100
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...
, an annual poll selecting the 100 most prominent songs by Australian radio station
Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
. The campaign led to a significant amount of media coverage as Australian music fans debated the merits of Swift's inclusion in the poll.
One criterion for eligibility is being played on air by Triple J at least once in 2014; Swift's "Shake It Off" did not receive airplay, but a cover of the song by the
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
group
Milky Chance
Milky Chance is a German rock band originating in Kassel. It consists of vocalist and guitarist Clemens Rehbein, bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch, and their band members, Antonio Greger and Sebastian Schmidt.
Their first single, "Stolen ...
did. According to those critical of the campaign, the Hottest 100 is reserved for non-mainstream artists who were "discovered or fostered by Triple J" and provides valuable exposure for artists in the outer circles of the music industry. Those defending the campaign criticized Triple J's practice of favoring "masculine 'rockist' " and "
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
" artists for perpetuating
cultural elitism
Ethnocentrism in social science and anthropology—as well as in colloquial English discourse—means to apply one's own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference to judge other cultures, practices, behaviors, beliefs, and people, instead of ...
and
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
.
''
Guardian Australia
''Guardian Australia'' is the Australian website of the British global online and print newspaper, ''The Guardian''.
Available solely in an online format, the newspaper's launch was led by Katharine Viner in time for the 2013 Australian fede ...
''s Elle Hunt wrote, "the virulent response to #Tay4Hottest100 has revealed the persistence of a
dichotomy
A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be
* jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and
* mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simulta ...
I'd thought we'd thrown out long ago: that of
high art
High culture is a subculture that emphasizes and encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art, and the intellectual works of philosophy, history, art, and literature that a society con ...
versus
low."
On January 20, 2015, ''Guardian Australia'' submitted a freedom of information request to the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
in regard to the station's response to the campaign and the eligibility of "Shake It Off" for the Hottest 100 contest. Triple J's manager Chris Scaddan told the website ''Tone Deaf'': "We don't comment on voting campaigns while Hottest 100 voting is open. It draws attention to them and may influence the results of the poll." On January 23, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' citing
University of Queensland
, mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work
, established =
, endowment = A$224.3 million
, budget = A$2.1 billion
, type = Public research university
, chancellor = Peter Varghese
, vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry
, city = B ...
reported that the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign had overwhelmed the Hottest 100 for 2014—over 7,341 Hottest 100 posts over the past 30 days related to Swift, compared to 230 related to
Chet Faker
Nicholas James Murphy (born 23 June 1988), known professionally as Chet Faker, is an Australian singer and songwriter. In 2012, as Chet Faker, he issued an extended play, '' Thinking in Textures'', and signed to Downtown Records in the United S ...
, the current leader of the contest. "Shake It Off" was eventually disqualified by Triple J on January 26, 2015. In the announcement, Triple J acknowledged Swift's music and career but highlighted that her entry—which had not received airtime—would not reflect their spirit.
They subsequently introduced two new rules that prohibited "trolling the poll"-type campaigns for the proceeding Hottest 100 polls.
Glen Fuller, a scholar in communications, described the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign as an example of "connective action" in the age of social media. As noted by Fuller, the emergence of personalized "action frames" expressing personal viewpoints intertwining with a larger framework of information created by media publications resulted in fragmented arguments that failed to result in a definite outcome.
Lawsuits
In November 2015, Jessie Braham, an
R&B singer known by the stage name Jesse Graham, claimed that Swift plagiarized his 2013 song "Haters Gonna Hate", citing his lyrics "Haters gone hate, playas gone play. Watch out for them fakers, they'll fake you everyday." He stated that Swift's "hook is the same as mine" and that there would be no "Shake It Off" if he "hadn't written 'Haters Gonna Hate' ". In the lawsuit, he alleged that 92% of Swift's "Shake It Off" came from his song, and demanded $42 million in damages from Swift and the distributor
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
.
On November 12, 2015, the lawsuit was dismissed by
U.S. District Court Judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
Gail Standish, who ruled that Braham did not have enough factual evidence but could file a new complaint "if his lawsuit deficiencies are corrected".
Standish quoted lyrics from Swift's songs "
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fourth studio album, '' Red'' (2012). It was released for digital download and to U.S. pop radio as the lead single from ''Red'' on A ...
", "
Bad Blood", "Blank Space" and "Shake It Off":
At present, the Court is not saying that Braham can never, ever, ever get his case back in court. But, for now, we have got problems, and the Court is not sure Braham can solve them. As currently drafted, the Complaint has a blank space – one that requires Braham to do more than write his name. And, upon consideration of the Court's explanation ... Braham may discover that mere pleading BandAids will not fix the bullet holes in his case. At least for the moment, Defendants have shaken off this lawsuit.
In September 2017, songwriters Sean "Sep" Hall and
Nate Butler
Nate Butler is an American songwriter, music producer, vocal producer, and recording artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a part of 45 plus million records sold worldwide at last count. Butler has worked with multi-platinum artists such ...
sued Swift for
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
. They alleged that the lyrics of "Shake It Off" plagiarized those of "
Playas Gon' Play
"Playas Gon' Play" is the second and final single from American girl group 3LW's self-titled debut album (2000). The single was released in April 2001. Although the song was a favorite among fans, it peaked at only number 81 on the ''Billboard ...
" (2001), a song they wrote for girl group
3LW, citing their lyrics, "Playas they gon' play, and haters they gonna hate / Ballers they gon' ball, shot callers they gonna call." U.S. District Judge
Michael W. Fitzgerald, in February 2018, dismissed the case on the grounds that the lyrics in question were too "banal" to be copyrighted; but U.S. Circuit Judges
John B. Owens,
Andrew D. Hurwitz, and
Kenneth K. Lee
Kenneth Kiyul Lee (; born August 30, 1975) is a South Korean-born American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Early life and education
Lee was born in 19 ...
of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in October 2019, reversed the ruling, holding that the district court had "constituted itself as the final judge of the worth of an expressive work", and sent the case back to the district court.
Swift's legal team filed new documents for dismissal of the suit in July 2020, and in July 2021, filed for a summary judgment, arguing that the
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
phase of the lawsuit has turned up evidence in their favor. On December 9, 2021, Fitzgerald refused Swift's request for a summary judgement. Swift's legal team filed a second motion to dismiss the case on December 23, claiming the Fitzgerald's ruling was "unprecedented and cheats the public domain" if the plaintiffs could sue everyone who uses the phrases in any songwriting, singing or says it publicly. On January 14, 2022, Hall and Butler's legal team filed a response stating, "The rules simply do not provide defendants with vehicles for rehashing old arguments and are not intended to give an unhappy litigant one additional chance to sway the judge." On December 12, 2022, the lawsuit was dropped with no final verdict.
Cover versions and usage in media
"Shake It Off" has been covered by other musicians. English singer
Labrinth
Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record labe ...
performed a cover of the song at
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cotton ...
September 20, 2014. English singer Charli XCX delivered a
punk rock-inspired version at BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in February 2015. Her version was nominated for Best Cover Song at the 2015
mtvU Woodie Awards
MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel was first known as VH1 Uno from 2000 to ...
. Rock singer
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, artist, and poet. He has released 23 albums, as well as three studio albums as a former member of alt-country band Whiskeytown.
In 2000, Adams left ...
covered "Shake It Off" on his
track-by-track cover of Swift's ''1989'', released in September 2015. The cover incorporates acoustic instruments and a thumping drum line which critics compared to that on
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
's 1985 song "
I'm on Fire
"I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album ''Born in the U.S.A.''
History
"I'm on Fire" was first recorded in January 1982 during the fir ...
".
The song has featured in parodies and homages. In an April 2015 episode of ''
Lip Sync Battle
''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and John K ...
'', actor
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the developm ...
lip synced to "Shake It Off" and
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees
were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...
' 1977 song "
Stayin' Alive
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack. The band co-produced ...
" in a battle against Jimmy Fallon, and won. The title of "
Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date
"Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date" is the fifth episode of the fifteenth season of the animated sitcom ''Family Guy'', and the 274th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on November 6, 2016, and is written by Artie Joh ...
", a ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' episode featuring a fictionalized character of Swift aired on November 6, 2016, is a pun on the lyrics of "Shake It Off". Actress
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...
and comedian
Nick Kroll
Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The Lea ...
covered the song with
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
crossover elements for the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the musical animated film ''
Sing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
'' (2016).
"Shake It Off" was also sung by Mexican-Kenyan actress
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Lupita Nyong'o, several accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award, and nominations for ...
on a ukulele in the 2019 film ''
Little Monsters''. A cover of the song by the cast of the 2020 television series ''
Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
''Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist'' is an American musical comedy-drama television series created by Austin Winsberg that premiered on January 7, 2020, on NBC. The series stars Jane Levy as Zoey Clarke, a software developer who discovers she has t ...
'' was featured in the final episode of its second season.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
of ''1989''.
*
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...
–
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
background vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...
, songwriter, clapping, shouts
* Cory Bice – assistant
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, ...
*
Tom Coyne –
mastering
*
Serban Ghenea –
mixing
* John Hanes –
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
for mix
* Sam Holland – recording
* Michael Ilbert – recording
* Jonas Lindeborg –
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
*
–
producer, songwriter,
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
programming, claps, shouts
*
Shellback – producer, songwriter,
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, keyboard, background vocals,
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
, programming, claps, shouts,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
* Jonas Thander –
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
* Magnus Wiklund –
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Release history
See also
*
List of best-selling singles in Australia
This is a list of highest-certified singles in Australia according to the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Since 1983, ARIA certifies a single Platinum for shipment of 70,000 copies across Australia. Single figures can include "q ...
*
List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number ones singles of 2014
*
List of ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary number ones of 2014
*
List of ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary number ones of 2015
*
List of Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2014
This is a list of the Canadian '' Billboard'' magazine Canadian Hot 100 number-ones of 2014.
Note that ''Billboard'' publishes charts with an issue date approximately 7–10 days in advance.
A Canadian flag denotes a Canadian artist.
Chart hi ...
*
List of number-one digital songs of 2014 (U.S.)
*
List of number-one singles of 2014 (Australia)
The ARIA Singles Chart ranks the best-performing singles in Australia. Its data, published by the Australian Recording Industry Association, is based collectively on each single's weekly physical and digital sales. In 2014, fourteen singles ...
*
List of number-one singles from the 2010s (New Zealand)
*
List of most-viewed YouTube videos
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. Although the most-viewed videos were initially viral videos, such as "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie Bit My Finger", the most-viewed videos were increasin ...
*
List of most-liked YouTube videos
__FORCETOC__
This list of most-liked YouTube videos contains the top 30 videos with the most likes of all time, taken directly from the video page. YouTube implemented a like and dislike button on these pages in March 2010, part of a major re ...
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
{{featured article
2014 singles
2014 songs
Big Machine Records singles
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles
Dance-pop songs
Music videos directed by Mark Romanek
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Hungary
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Song recordings produced by Max Martin
Song recordings produced by Shellback (record producer)
Songs written by Max Martin
Songs written by Shellback (record producer)
Songs written by Taylor Swift
Songs involved in plagiarism controversies
Taylor Swift songs
Number-one singles in Poland
Reese Witherspoon songs
Ryan Adams songs