Taylor Swift just dropped her new single “Look What You Made Me Do.” While most people are debating whether or not she’s talking about Kanye West on the song, you might also be wondering, why does that tune sound so familiar? Well, look no further than the song’s writing credits which list Taylor, Jack Antanoff, but also Richard Fairbrass, Fred Fairbrass, and Rob Manzoli. Richard Fairbrass and Fred Fairbrass made up the UK duo Right Said Fred, best known for their 1991 dance classic “I’m Too Sexy.”
The band thanked Taylor on Twitter.
The band also wrote a statement on their website.
We’re very pleased to hear Taylor Swift’s interpolation of our 1991 hit ‘I’m Too Sexy.‘ Taylor and her team reached out to us about the track, we like what she does and we were very honoured to have her interpolation feature on her new single ‘Look What You Made Me Do.’ Thanks to Taylor and her team for being absolutely wonderful. We’re very happy that our debut single will potentially be reaching new fans 26 years after its release."
A rep for Taylor confirmed to Billboard that she interpolates the song. According to The Guardian, Taylor also “borrows the beat” from Peaches' 2003 song “Operate” for her new track.
On the hook for “Look What You Made Me Do,” Taylor sings:
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me
Ooh, look what you made me do
Look what you made me do
Look what you just made me do
Look what you just made me do
The rhythm and cadence she uses on the hook are similar to the one Right Said Fred used on their 1991 debut, which featured the refrain “I’m so sexy.”
I’m too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts
And I’m too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan
New York and Japan
Although some fans might not have noticed the interpolation, Taylor is wise to credit the UK band. Earlier this year, singer Ed Sheeran was forced to retroactively credit Kandi Burruss and Tiny Harris because his hit song “Shape Of You” used the melody they wrote for TLC’s classic “No Scrubs.” Properly crediting samples and interpolations has always been an issue in the music industry, but even more so since 2015 when a court ruled that Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” had copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 song “Got To Give It Up” and the jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s estate $7.4 million in unpaid licensing fees and some of the song’s profits.
Coincidentally, “I’m So Sexy” also had an issue with proper crediting. The Fairbrass brothers didn’t realize that guitarist Rob Manzoli had lifted his guitar riff on the song from Jimi Hendrix’s “Third Stone from the Sun” until Hendrix’s estate threatened to sue them.
Although the humor is often lost on listeners, “I’m Too Sexy” is meant to be tongue-in-cheek and makes fun of superficial people. The song reached #1 in six countries, including the US. Although the band scored other hits in the UK, in the US, they’re remembered as a one-hit wonder.
But the group is okay with the song’s legacy. In 2014, Richard Fairbrass told SongFacts “With pop music, it’s weird, because writing a really simple pop tune is actually really difficult. If we could do it on a regular basis, we would, and so would everybody else. It’s actually an incredibly demanding art form.”
If anyone knows how demanding and difficult it can be to write a pop hit, it’s Taylor Swift.
Swift’s upcoming album Reputation album is set to be released on Nov. 10. Read all the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” on Genius now.
