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A copyright infringement lawsuit against Taylor Swift has been dismissed with prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs cannot refile the same complaint in the same court. The suit had been filed in a California federal court in 2017 by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, who claimed that Swift who took lyrics from 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play” for her 1989 single “Shake It Off.” The copyright infringement case had been scheduled to go to trial in January 2023. Pitchfork has reached out to attorneys for Sean Hall and Nathan Butler, as well as attorneys and representatives for Taylor Swift, for comment and more information on the dismissal. In the original complaint, Hall and Butler alleged that lyrics from “Shake It Off” (“’Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna...

Caroline Polachek has shared a music video for her recent single “Welcome to My Island.” She co-directed the visual with Matt Copson, and, in it, she goes on a surreal romp around a strange paradise. With the video, she’s announced a lengthy tour of Europe and North America that begins early next year. See the full itinerary with “Welcome to My Island” below. “Welcome to My Island” appears on Polachek’s forthcoming album Desire, I Want to Turn Into You—out Valentine’s Day. Desire, I Want to Turn Into You follows Polachek’s 2019 album Pang. Earlier this year, she released the singles “Billions” and “Sunset.” In 2021, she shared “Bunny Is a Rider.” Those three tracks, along with “Welcome to My Island,” will appear on Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. Check out Pitchfork’s “The 100 Best Songs ...

At the 1991 Grammy Awards, Badalamenti was nominated for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television (for the Twin Peaks soundtrack); and Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for “Twin Peaks Theme”). He won the latter award. In addition to the twin pillars of Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, Badalamenti composed music for Lynch’s Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive, Rabbits, and Twin Peaks: The Return. He also scored mainstream films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and The Wicker Man, as well as the critically acclaimed 2012 film A Late Quartet. Beyond the realms of film and television, Badalamenti arranged the orchestration for Pet Shop Boys on 1987’s “It Couldn’t Happen Here” ...

A new three-part documentary about soft rock is coming to Paramount+, as Variety reports. It’s titled Sometimes When We Touch, and it hits the streaming platform January 3. Watch the teaser trailer for it below. Subtitled “The Reign, Ruin and Resurrection of Soft Rock,” the documentary digs into the history of the genre, which boomed in commercial popularity from the seventies through the early eighties. Sometimes When We Touch also features commentary from Kenny Loggins, L.A. Reid, Sheryl Crow, Susanna Hoffs, and more. MTV Entertainment Studios co-produced Sometimes When We Touch with the studio Gunpowder & Sky. It focuses on performers like Hall & Oates, Loggins, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, and Michael McDonald, among others. Richie, who had solo hits with soft rock cuts like “Hel...