Right Said Fred Reacts to Taylor Swift Sampling "I'm Too Sexy" in "Look What You Made Me Do"

"What a marvellous reinvention!" the pop trio tweets

By Zach Johnson Aug 25, 2017 5:00 PMTags

Taylor Swift is nothing if not generous.

"Look What You Made Me Do," the lead single off her sixth studio album Reputation, debuted at midnight and shot to the top of the iTunes sales charts. Swift wrote the song with producer Jack Antonoff, and it samples Right Said Fred's No. 1 hit "I'm Too Sexy" (first released in 1991). After Taylor's new anthem debuted, Right Said Fred tweeted, "What a marvellous reinvention!"

To show their appreciation, Antonoff and Swift gave Fred Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass and Rob Manzoli songwriting credits, and on Friday, the trio received a floral arrangement. "Look what you made us do," the two musicians wrote. "We love you and can't wait to celebrate with you!"

Right Said Fred tweeted photos of the flowers and the note (from Scarlet and Violet) Friday. "We're very pleased to hear Taylor Swift's interpolation of our 1991 hit 'I'm Too Sexy,'" the band wrote on its website. "Taylor and her team reached out to us about the track. We like what she does and we were very honored 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."

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Reflecting on the surprising longevity of "I'm Too Sexy," the British pop group said, "We're very happy that our debut single will potentially be reaching new fans 26 years after its release."

Taylor had her team reach out long ago to get permission to borrow bits of the original song.

"A simple thing like having a writing credit—they didn't have to do that. They could have been more difficult about that and they were absolutely cool right from the beginning about everything, so thank you to Taylor and all of her people. In fact, the only time I thought about money was when a friend of mine said, 'Well, you've got a writing credit on the album. That's going to make you a few quid.' It hadn't even crossed my mind. I didn't even think about it for a second," Fred admits. "Then the moment he said it I thought, 'Of course! Yeah, you're right!'"

Fred tells People it "was a bit weird" keeping everything a secret.

"I wasn't allowed to tweet and I wasn't allowed to do this and I wasn't allowed to do that. There are lots of musicians we are working with and we had to keep them on board and come up with shows for next year, so we had to imply that there was something happening this summer that would help shows without letting anything on, even when they were asking, 'Who is it? Who is it?' We couldn't say who it was or what was happening, so that was a bit weird and frustrating," Fred confesses. "I am actually quite happy that it's now in the open and we can get on with it."

The group didn't know "exactly how" Swift would be using their song. "I am more than happy with it," Fred says. "She used the rhythm as much as anything. It's flattering. When we recorded 'Sexy' I didn't think it would last more than six months. So to be talking about it 26 years later and a star like Taylor using it and being influenced by it is really flattering. Absolutely flattering."