Reductions with Taylor Swift

19 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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0:46

Short conversational excerpt from a YouTube video in which Hadar Shemesh demonstrates and discusses phonetic reductions in Taylor Swift lyrics. The speakers compare careful pronunciations with naturally reduced pronunciations (e.g., ‘graven’ pronounced like ‘raven’, dropping consonants) and show how these reductions affect musical phrasing and perceived lyric flow.

Chapters

Did you know that Taylor Swift uses reductions all the time? You dug me out of my grave and. But if I were to pronounce every single word in the same way, this would not be a hit. Because what we hear is you dug me out of my graven. Graven. Sounds like raven. Graven. We don't pronounce the d. Grave and Graven. Saved my heart from the fade of? Fade of? Saved my heart from the fade of? Graven. Fate of? Graven. Fate of. Let's do it again.
You step me out of my graven? Saved my heart from the fade of. 100 on the way.