Shadowing Practice: How Taylor Swift REALLY Feels About 'Extreme' Fans Decoding Her Lyrics - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I have to know that like there's certain things that we have as a tradition between me and my fans.
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It's maximalism.
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It's just a lot of a lot.
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Taylor Swift showing love to her fans but admitting sometimes there's a few Swifties out there who make it weird.
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Yeah, I'm not gonna seem ambivalent about that at all.
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I'm like, that dude didn't write the song I did.
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In a new 30-minute sit-down with the New York Times Magazine celebrating the 30 greatest living American songwriters, Taylor breaks down her songwriting process.
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I always apply the rule, may the best idea win.
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Her favorite album...
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Are you ready for it?
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I loved the Reputation album.
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I was like, you guys say what you want.
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I know what I did.
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I love it.
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Like, go with God.
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Sorry.
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And the unspoken bond as she shares with her millions of fans around the world.
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I have to know that, like, there's certain things things that we have as a tradition between me
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and my fans they love for an emotional song to be track five oh hi
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but there's corners of my fan base who are going to
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take things to a really extreme place there's people who are
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going to try to like do detective work figure out the details who is that about, what is this?
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Left in my scarf there, it's your sister's house.
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When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it's sort of like a paternity test.
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Like this song's about that person because I'm like, that dude didn't write the song I did.
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Taylor also crediting her haters for inspiring some of her best work.
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Yeah, criticism has been a huge fuel for me.
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It's been a huge jumping off point, like a creative writing prompt or something.
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Like Blank Space would not exist if I hadn't had people being like,
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here's a slide show about her boyfriend. And then Antihero.
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That song doesn't exist if I don't get criticized for every aspect of my personality.
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But I think a little bit of it, You gotta just be like, this is part of it.
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The fans are the people who turned it into something very empowering.
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If it's an interesting point to you to kind of respond to, then that's a gift for you to be able to write something.
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Don't respond to like trolls in your comments.
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That's not what we want from you.
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We want your art.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 37 sentences and 420 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:24. The speaker talks at a natural 174 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
14 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| aspect noun | /ˈæspɛkt/ | Any specific feature, part, or element of something. |
| slide noun | /ˈslaɪ̯d/ | An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again. |
| detective noun | /dɪˈtɛktɪv/ | A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator. |
| inspire verb | /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by… |
| prompt verb | /pɹɑmpt/ | To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do. |
| songwriter noun | A musician who composes songs; especially writing the song's lyrics and/or creating a melody or a tune for the song. | |
| scarf noun | /skɑːf/ | A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck. |
| criticize verb | /ˈkɹɪtɪsaɪz/ | To find fault (with something). |
| empower verb | /ɪmˈpaʊ.ə/ | To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something. |
| ambivalent adjective | /æmˈbɪv.ə.lənt/ | Simultaneously experiencing or expressing opposing or contradictory feelings, beliefs, motivations, or meanings. |
| maximalism noun | The opposite of minimalism: a tendency toward excess. | |
| paternity noun | /pəˈtɜɹnəti/ | Fatherhood, the state or quality of being a father. |
| songwriting noun | The work of a songwriter. | |
| unspoken adjective | /ʌnˈspoʊkən/ | Not spoken; not said. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| jump off verb | To move from an elevated place by one jump. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, didn't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: ambivalent /æmˈbɪv.ə.lənt/, paternity /pəˈtɜɹnəti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like aspect, slide, detective.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.