Eric Church Says Taylor Swift Told Him She First Heard The Line “Players Gonna Play” From Her Song “Shake It Off” In His Song “The Outsiders”

Was one of Taylor Swift‘s biggest songs inspired by…Eric Church?

Of course the two already have a connection, after Swift ended up being Church’s replacement as the opener on Rascal Flatts’ Me & My Gang tour when Church was kicked off way back in 2006.

Church joked with the then-up and comer that she owed him her first gold record, and to her credit Taylor delivered. As Church recalls:

“I said ‘No, it’s great, everything’s good. They’re going to love you. And I said, ‘Only request I have is your first gold album, I want it.’

And about nine days later she walked up on a bus somewhere and had a gold album, and it said, ‘To Eric, Thanks for playing too loud and too long on the Flatts tour, I sincerely appreciate it. – Taylor Swift’”

Well apparently Taylor has kept up with Church’s music since then. And it may have saved her a lot of money.

Back in 2017, Swift was sued for copyright infringement by the songwriters who wrote “Playas Gon’ Play” by 3LW, who claimed that Swift had ripped off their song for her massive hit “Shake It Off.”

Swift was forced to give a deposition in the case, and during her testimony she revealed where she ACTUALLY got the line: From Eric Church’s 2013 single “The Outsiders.”

According to Church:

“In her deposition, when [talking about the line] ‘players gonna play, haters gonna hate,’ she says, ‘The first time I heard that phrase was in Eric Church’s song ‘The Outsiders.'”

As it turns out, Swift didn’t say that the first time she heard the phrase was in Church’s song, but she did cite hearing “The Outsiders” at the 2013 CMA Awards as an example of just how common the phrase “players gonna play, haters gonna hate” is in pop culture. In an affidavit from Swift that was submitted in the case, she says:

“For example, I was present at the 2013 Country Music Awards and heard Eric Church perform his song The Outsiders, which includes the lyric “the player’s gonna play and a haters gonna hate”.

She also cited hearing the phrases while in high school, and claimed that the lyrics to her song “draw from commonly used phrases.”

Regardless of how it was brought up, you never want to hear your name or your song mentioned in a copyright lawsuit – and sure enough, Church says that a few weeks later he was served by the songwriters who were suing Swift (though it doesn’t appear he was ever sued over his song).

Well the lawsuit was eventually dismissed, but Church reached out to Swift, jokingly scolding her for bringing him into the lawsuit:

“I sent her a text… I was like, ‘Hey, thanks! Next time, let’s just skip that part?’ And she sent me a text: ‘I’m sorry. It’s the truth though. That’s when I first heard that phrase.’

It’s since been settled. But I’m like, ‘How did this even happen?'”

The terms of the settlement in the case remain confidential, so who knows what agreement they reached. But the songwriters for the 3LW song don’t appear in the credits for “Shake It Off,” so it seems that Swift wasn’t forced to give them songwriting credit or admit that she copied their song.

And I have a feeling that Church would take it as an honor and “shake it off” if Swift had copied his song.The post Eric Church Says Taylor Swift Told Him She First Heard The Line “Players Gonna Play” From Her Song “Shake It Off” In His Song “The Outsiders” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.