Did Taylor Swift swipe a lyric from a TikTok creator?

In Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, she has an oft-debated new song, “CANCELLED!” The biggest argument about the song is who it’s about (Blake Lively? Brittany Mahomes? Sophie Turner?). But one specific lyric has some wondering whether a viral TikTok meme apparently referenced in the song could earn a payout for the creator who coined it.

In the pre-chorus, Swift sings “Did you girlboss too close to the sun? / Did they catch you having far too much fun?”

If that first line feels a bit familiar to you, it might be because of a viral 2021 TikTok in which influencer and comedian Caroline Timoney said: “Listen, I can’t give any more information, but I fear I may have girlbossed a bit too close to the sun.” It currently has 7.5 million views.

In a video Timoney posted yesterday, the day after Swift released her 12th studio album, she said, “I woke up this morning to discover that my TikTok audio that I made as a sophomore in college – ‘I girlbossed too close to the sun’ — was in a Taylor Swift song. Am I her Shakespeare? Yes. Do I see us as co-writers? As fellow songwriters? Yeah, all of it, all of the above. But I haven’t changed. I’ve forgotten a few names of friends and family because I’m blowing up. This kind of things happen. But I am genuinely so shocked.”

While it’s clear that most of Timoney’s video is in jest, many of the comments encourage her to “lawyer up” and “get that money.” One commenter pointed out that the line “girlboss too close to the sun” is a reference to Candace Owens who said as much in a YouTube video from earlier this year about Swift’s alleged involvement in Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni. “But I came up w the phrase,” Timoney wrote in a comment in response.

One copyright lawyer on TikTok, Rocky Retrograde, drew parallels between this and the situation between Lizzo and Mina Lioness, who tweeted “I did a DNA test and found out I’m 100% that bitch” before Lizzo released her album Truth Hurts. Lizzo ended up giving Lioness a writing credit on the song. Retrograde — along with many of Timoney’s fans and commenters — recommended that Timoney reach out and try to do the same with Swift.

Timoney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.

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