Taylor Swift’s speaking voice has evolved alongside her music eras, study finds

Transcript:

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Taylor Swift talks about her musical and personal style in eras. Researchers say those eras have also influenced how she speaks. Matthew Winn of the University of Minnesota co-authored a study that analyzed her speech from 2008 to 2019.

MATTHEW WINN: As a person moves to different cities and different communities, they have motivation to change how they speak.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

While most people don’t record themselves from location to location, Swift’s career allowed for that.

WINN: We have this timeline of her voice throughout the years.

MARTIN: Swift was raised in Pennsylvania, then moved to Nashville.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY STEPHEN”)

TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) ‘Cause I can’t help it if you look like an angel.

MARTÍNEZ: Winn analyzed this clip of Swift speaking from her time in Nashville.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SWIFT: My role models in country music are Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Dixie Chicks.

WINN: Part of what it means to be a country musician is to speak with that Southern accent. And just to make sure that she was welcomed into that community, maybe that was something that helped that process.

MARTIN: When Swift released “Red” in 2012, her speech seemed to change.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “22”)

SWIFT: (Singing) Oh-oh, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22. Everything will be all right if you keep me next to you.

MARTIN: A return to her Pennsylvania accent seemed evident in a live webcast in 2013.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SWIFT: A huge inspiration for my imagination.

WINN: She was exiting country music and entering pop music, where a Southern accent wouldn’t have necessarily fit in as well.

MARTÍNEZ: Then, after she moved to New York, the pitch of her voice dropped, as in this 2019 interview with “CBS Sunday Morning.”

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “CBS SUNDAY MORNING”)

SWIFT: And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations.

MARTÍNEZ: Winn explains.

WINN: This was a time when she was being much more vocal about social and political issues and the autonomy of musicians over their own work. And so I think she did what a lot of people do. She took those issues very seriously. She started speaking with a lower voice.

MARTIN: Winn says both conscious and unconscious influences can affect a person’s speech.

WINN: Whenever someone wants to become part of a community or if they want to impress someone or just be closer to someone, especially if they admire that person or that community, they’re going to start sounding like them.

MARTIN: Winn says most people’s speech reflects all the places they’ve lived and all the people who influenced them. So if you admire Taylor Swift, you may start sounding a little like her too.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “STYLE”)

SWIFT: (Singing) You got that James Dean daydream look in your eye.