How Taylor Swift’s Voice Has Evolved Over the Years: A Fascinating Look at Dialect Change

*By AIP Publishing — September 23, 2025* 

Taylor Swift isn’t just one of the world’s most beloved pop stars; she’s also turning out to be quite the case study in how our speech patterns can change over time. Thanks to her extensive recorded interviews spanning years, researchers are now able to explore how her accent and dialect have shifted throughout her career — and what that can tell us about how we adopt and adapt our speech. 

In a recent study published in *The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America*, researchers Miski Mohamed and Matthew Winn from the University of Minnesota carefully analysed large amounts of Swift’s interview recordings. Their goal? To understand how her dialect evolved from her early days in Nashville to her time in Pennsylvania and later, New York City. 

What’s particularly fascinating about their work is how they used sophisticated software to examine over 1,400 vowel sounds. By measuring the subtle movements of vocal resonances—those tiny shifts in how we articulate vowels—they could see clear patterns of change. For instance, when Taylor was in Nashville, her speech reflected some distinctive Southern features, like pronouncing “ride” more like “rod” and changing the way she said “two” to sound more like “tee-you.” Interestingly, these dialect features faded after she moved back to Philadelphia. 

But Taylor wasn’t just changing her accent based on geography. The researchers also noted a different kind of shift in her voice when she moved to New York City. Her voice pitch lowered—a subtle but powerful signal that she was adopting a more authoritative tone, perhaps aligning with her vocal and social activism, which gained momentum during her later career. 

Winn explains, “Taylor’s dialect shifts aren’t just about geography—they’re linked to her identity and the messages she wants to convey. Her lower pitch in NYC, for example, could be a deliberate way to project confidence and authority.” 

This innovative research helps us see how accents and speech patterns are more than just regional markers—they can be powerful tools of self-expression and social positioning. Taylor Swift’s evolving voice offers a window into how language and identity intertwine, revealing the layers behind a pop star’s changing dialect.