SHEERAN HOLLERS CREDITS AT "NO SCRUBS" WRITERS

The writers behind TLC’s 1999 hit “No Scrubs”’— Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle and producer Kevin Briggs—have been added to the writing credits of Ed Sheeran’s smash “Shape of You.” No explanation given.

The move sounds like a pre-emptive strategy to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit. While there’s no direct sampling of the song, one might observe similarities in the backing track. The three new writers are credited alongside Steve Mac, John McDaid and Sheeran.

A similar late-addition credit occurred in 2014 when Sam Smith and team added Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty to the writing credits for “Stay With Me," which has melodic similarities to Petty’s ’89 recording “I Won’t Back Down.”

Last year, Sheeran was sued by the heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend for allegedly copying elements of his Marvin Gaye track “Let’s Get It On” for “Thinking Out Loud"; that case has yet been settled. It was the Gaye estate that successfully won $7.4m in the groundbreaking "Blurred Lines" case with Robin Thicke and Pharrell in 2015.