#accent-change

#accent-change

As Swift's star rose, something else shifted: her voice. Researchers at the University of Minnesota analyzed recorded interviews with Swift throughout her career and found that after she moved to Tennessee, she picked up a southern accent. She began to pronounce my like "mah" and boom like "bee-oom"-features not typically present in a Pennsylvania accent. Matthew Winn, a co-author of the study, told me that these changes suggest that Swift's voice subtly altered to fit in with the Nashville scene.

'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.'