Shake It Off! How Taylor Swift has ditched her Southern accent

In the 19 years since she released her first song, Taylor Swift‘s music been through several transitions, changing from country, to pop, to indie folk, and almost every genre in between. 

Now, a study has revealed how it’s not just Swift’s music that has evolved. 

Scientists from the University of Minnesota say the chart-topping singer’s accent has also changed over time. 

In their study, the team analysed years of Swift’s recorded interviews to track how her dialect has transformed. 

Their analysis shows how Swift had a Southern accent when she lived in Nashville from 2004-2014.

But when she moved to the east coast, she quickly adopted a more northern American drawl, alongside a lower pitch.

‘Taylor lowered the pitch of her voice when she moved to New York City. This was the time in her career when she became more well-known for speaking up on issues of social change and feminism, as well as musician’s rights,’ said Matthew Winn, co-author of the study. 

‘Sometimes people with a lower pitch are perceived as a voice of authority, and it is possible that she was making use of that tendency to ensure her message was received.’ 

In their study, the researchers set out to understand how, or even if, Swift’s voice has changed over the years. 

‘Taylor Swift is perfect for this type of longitudinal analysis because she has been interviewed and recorded many times over the years and had motivations for changing her accent at specific times,’ said Mr Winn. 

The team collected recordings of interviews Swift gave when living in Nashville, when she moved back to Pennsylvania, and when she relovated to New York City. 

From the recordings, the researchers selected over 1,400 vowel sounds, and used software to measure the vocal resonances.  

‘Those resonances indicate the exact way that a person articulates a vowel,’ explained Mr Winn. 

‘The key thing about analyzing dialects is measuring the movement of the vowel through the mouth from the start to the end of the vowel — that’s what makes it distinct across dialects. 

‘We made ten measurements per vowel to show this movement, which was key to showing how her articulation changed in the different cities.’

Their analysis revealed how Swift adopted features of a Southern accent when she lived in Nashville. 

For example, in early interviews she would pronounced ‘ride’ more like ‘rod’, and ‘two’ more like ‘tee-you’. 

However, when she moved back to Philadelphia, these features all but disappeared. 

The reason for this change remains unclear. 

However, the researchers suggest that Swift’s use of a Southern accent could have been a way to integrate into the country music community, as opposed to just connecting with Nashville as a city. 

The news comes shortly after Taylor Swift fans caused an earthquake by dancing so hard in Edinburgh during the star’s Eras Tour. 

The 220,000 Swifties’ dancing at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium was so enthusiastic that it triggered an earthquake which could be picked up by seismologists more than 3.7 miles (six kilometres) away.