Shadowing Practice: Olivia Rodrigo talks “Drop Dead”, Addison Rae, Living In A Haunted House and MORE! - Learn English Speaking with Video

Do you have any crazy road stories you can share from over the years?

Oh, my God.

I mean, the one that comes to mind is when I was crossing over the Canada border and they detained me.

Hi, Olivia Rodrigo.

Hey, how are you?

I'm doing awesome.

It is so good to see you.

I think the only time I've met you was backstage at a Jingle Ball once.

Oh.

You were so sweet then and so excited for you now.

Thank you.

Great to re-meet you, sort of, you know.

You as well.

Yeah, Jingle Ball is very fun and a little overwhelming.

So this is a chiller environment for us to hang.

How was your Coachella experience with Addison?

Surprising everybody.

Oh, yeah, it was so much fun.

I mean, I love Addison.

I've been friends with her for a while.

And Coachella is just such a fun environment.

I had a great time.

It was beautiful out.

I saw so many great bands and great artists.

So it was rad.

I have a question.

Maybe it's like a fan theory question of my own.

Your first two albums were one-word titles, you know, Sour and Guts.

the next one quite lengthy you know what made you break

that that trend

if you want to call it what made you change up

yeah i guess i was just running out of four letter

words um we can think of a few you know yeah yeah some some not

so safe for radio ones

but um yeah i uh i don't know i always knew going out to write this album

that i didn't want it to be four letters it's just

that i wanted to do something different

and right um i really love the title you seem pretty sad for a girl

so in I feel like it perfectly encapsulated the themes that I was going for on this album.

I was really interested in writing a sad love song, and so I felt like the title fit perfectly.

Why did you pick that?

I mean, it fit perfectly, but why did it fit perfectly?

Yeah, I mean, I set out to make this album, and I was in a place where I was really in love

and in kind of like a big girl relationship for the first time.

And so I was tasked with writing a love song, and I kind of went back and listened to all my favorite love songs

and realized that the reason why I love them so much is not because they're so happy and joyful, but because they're kind of sad and,

you know, there's an element of longing or fear or like depression or whatever in the songs.

And that's what kind of grounds it and makes it feel human and moving.

And so that was the kind of challenge

that I set out in making You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl

So in Love is trying to write a song

that was about romantic love that still captured the sort of more depressing aspect of it.

Personal favorite track or two from the album.

I know if I ask you this tomorrow, you're going to say another couple of songs.

I know, they're like my babies.

I really love The Cure.

That's my favorite.

And also I love Honeybees.

That's another one of my favorites.

I really love Maggots for Brains, too.

I'd say those three.

Sorry, you asked for two and I gave you three.

Three is fine.

Can you describe the sound and the vibe of this album?

Yeah.

I mean, really, I think the sentiment of the song comes first before any type of musical production elements. And

so I think I wanted the album to capture how tumultuous it feels to fall in love you're like up

and down and you feel great about yourself

and you feel bad about yourself

and you're like they love me oh my god do they love me like what the hope

and disappointment and there's just like so many highs and lows

and so I think I wanted the album to reflect

that it's very orchestral I think

and I like was listening to a lot of like older English bands

when I was writing in so hopefully those which bands

which bands were you like i was listening to a lot of the cure

and new order and depeche mode and like suzy the banshees

and stuff like that and so that was like the playlist

that was in my head like

while i was writing i hope it it you know came through a little bit it is a pop record

but um so yeah that's that's sort of the vibe what song

and i asked this for well there's a reason i ask it

and i'll tell you why after you answer

but what song almost for whatever reason almost did not make the album there's a song called less

that almost didn't make the album

that was like an addition in the last half uh

or in the last like moment um i don't know why i was just like feeling weird about it

and i i just i think i think it was just very raw

and vulnerable and sometimes it's a little scary to put out songs

that are like that personal but i think

that that's also one of the most beautiful things about putting out music

because you can like write your heart

and have a medium for all of these feelings that are kind of hard to express.

The reason I ask that is a lot of times when a song, for whatever reason, almost doesn't make it, that becomes either a huge track or a fan favorite.

I don't know.

There's something in the air.

I guess we'll see.

Fingers crossed.

Hey, favorite, impossible question here.

100

Another one.

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Favorite lyric on the album.

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Oh, my gosh.

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I know.

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You can go for a couple if you want.

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I mean, I feel like so many lyrics, like in The Cure, I think that song is really the thesis statement of the album And the main line,

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I guess, would be It's like, I'm unraveled Why can't you stitch me up?

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Why can't it ever be enough?

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Those lines were just so succinctly Yes, this is You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love

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And I think when I wrote that song Everything else kind of fell into place around it When you wrote that lyric, were you in a studio?

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Were you at your house and just kind of jotted on your phone real quick?

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Yeah, I wrote the initial

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Verse and a kind of

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sketch of the chorus by myself and then I brought it to Dan

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and he's like this is really good we should finish this

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and so we wrote the rest of the chorus together

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and the bridge and yeah I remember it feeling really magical

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that day I remember us leaving the studio

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and being like we did a good job today

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and it's not always we don't always feel like

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that sometimes we're like we've wasted all of our time so it's a nice feeling.

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Such a good feel.

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I think we got something here.

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Yeah.

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Hey give me something on Drop Dead what's a little backstory on you know the first track?

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Yeah I mean I really love this track it It was always the first single in my mind, the first song on the record.

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It's about a first date.

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It's about a first date that went very well.

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Congrats.

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Thank you.

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It's always a good feeling.

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But, yeah, I just wanted to capture this sort of energy of being on a great first date,

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of really liking someone and hoping that it works out and being a little nervous and anxious. So, yeah,

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that's the idea behind it all right olivia leading up to

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the album release there was a mural i think it was

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on melrose here in la um it was painted over several

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weeks how did this whole thing uh how did it come

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together how did it happen yeah well i was gonna do

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a few things differently for this album the first was i

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wanted to change the color obviously it's not purple anymore

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and i wanted to switch up the four letter words like we were talking about

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so i thought it would be really fun

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if like there was an in real life way to like signify the change um

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and people really took to it it was really fun i got

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so many texts from people like what does this wall mean

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what's going on what what shade is it turning um and

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but it's just so funny your friends are even curious yeah yeah just people

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that i know they're like oh my god why am i

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watching this wall on my tick tock like for you page um

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but i don't know it's just

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so fun i i i really like doing things in real life you know what i mean like we're

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so obviously connected through our phones and stuff like that

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but it's really nice

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when music can bring people together in real life even like outside of a concert environment

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so that's been really fun to get to see people kind of make the pilgrimage over to the wall

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and sometimes I've driven past a few times

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and there's like girls hanging out I'm like hey oh my god did they flip I don't even know

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if they saw me I was a little too nervous but um

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yeah maybe one of these days

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if I had a mural I'd be driving by like god

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nobody better tag this I know graffiti artists away hey did

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you uh did you paint any of it personally like late

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when nobody was watching

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or no I actually didn't I should have I there's a

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gum wall right now like kind of like the one in Seattle, because it's the line in Drop Dead.

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I've got chewing gum and a bunch of stuff I'd like to know.

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And so there's a bunch of gum on the wall, and I put the first piece.

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So if you go there, my piece of gum is on that wall.

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There's some Olivia gum.

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It's pretty gross.

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Hey, Olivia, how are, I mean, I know tour coming up at some point here.

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Yeah.

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Tour talks, how are plans going?

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What can you say?

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Maybe all of it's top secret.

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I don't know.

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I mean, it's not top secret.

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I just really don't really know that much, to be honest.

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I've kind of been so album mode.

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But, yeah, I'm really excited to play these songs live.

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I think playing them live gives them a whole different meaning

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and I kind of miss being on the road being being able to connect with fans You know

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so up close and personal is a really special feeling

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so I'm excited Do you enjoy like I know you love being on stage

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but tour life road life is kind of a lot going on You got that schedules are super tight.

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Some people love that some people don't do you like road life and all that comes with it?

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Loaded question some days.

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I love it and some days.

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Oh my god.

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I miss my own bed But you know, it's fun.

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I mean, there's two sides to every coin.

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I like love being able to travel and go to new places and experience things and experience different cultures and stuff.

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But it is hard.

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It's especially hard to be creative on the road, I find.

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Like, I can never really, like, sit down at the piano and, like, write my heart out when I'm just, like, so constantly all over the place.

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So, you know, it's a give and take.

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Do you have any crazy road stories you can share from over the years?

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Oh, my God.

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I mean, the one that comes to mind is when I was crossing over the Canada border and they detained me.

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Oh, lovely.

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And they thought that I was Olivia Rodriguez, who had been arrested for something like a DUI or something.

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And I was like, I'm Olivia Rodrigo.

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I promise.

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Classic mistake.

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I get it all the time.

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But, like, please, my record's clean.

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I've heard some wild stories, and that's going to go in my little cabinet there.

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Oh, my God.

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Hey, message to fans.

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These fans have loved you from day one.

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I mean, they're so excited for this next album.

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And what would you like to say to this crazy, lovely, amazing group of people?

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Gosh, I mean, love y'all.

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It's such an honor to get to grow up alongside you guys, and I'm really, really grateful that people are still tuning in to hear what I have to say on these songs.

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And I never take it for granted, so thank you very much.

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Olivia, I am obsessed with the paranormal.

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Ghosts, haunted houses, all that stuff.

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I love this because I am too.

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Okay, look, I've got a podcast called Paranormalish, and what I do is I talk to people year-round who've had these experiences.

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And if you haven't, that's fine.

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Have you ever had anything you would consider a paranormal encounter?

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I'm living in a haunted house right now.

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Stop it.

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I'm living in a haunted house.

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Give me some details.

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But it's fine.

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Is it though?

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Love, love the ghost.

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Like super nice friendly ghost.

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My friend was in there alone one time

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and was trying to mess with me and held the phone up to the TV and was like, ha ha ghost if you're in here, like turn the TV on for Olivia.

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Whatever.

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Nothing happens.

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It's like 10 o'clock at night.

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The TV starts blaring an old Turner classic movie at full volume.

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Shut up.

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Like a movie from the 50s.

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and she ran out and she was so scared.

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It's never happened to me, though, because I am respectful.

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Have you ever looked up, like, the backstory of, like, who you think might be in there?

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I actually, my mom knows a lot about it, but I prefer not to know.

242

Oh, my, okay.

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One of these days.

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Oh, God, I hope I'm not, like, doing bad juju saying this on the radio, but no, peace and love, peace and love to the ghost, and I love living in my house.

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Well, ghosts are like people.

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I take good care of it.

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Yeah, ghosts are like people, I think.

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There's some good people and some bad.

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You got a good one, apparently.

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I got a good, really good.

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If anything else happens, interesting, God, you have to share this.

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Okay, okay.

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I'll keep you updated.

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Thank you for hanging out, Olivia Rodrigo.

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Thank you.

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At the end of every interview, fist bump to make it official.

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Give me a love.

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Grrr.

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Bye.

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Yay.

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.

Shadowing Practice: Olivia Rodrigo talks “Drop Dead”, Addison Rae, Living In A Haunted House and MORE! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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