Shadowing Practice: Taylor Swift on "Lover" and haters - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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It's Sunday morning on CBS and here again is Tracy Smith.
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It's Sunday morning on CBS and here again is Tracy Smith.
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Shake It Off was a number one hit for Taylor Swift back in 2014,
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but she's hardly resting on her laurels.
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Her hot new album is just one of the things we talked about
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when we visited her home in Nashville for our Sunday profile.
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You might say this is Taylor Swift's happy place at the piano in her Nashville home.
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There have been so many songs I've written at this piano.
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And it's off in the middle of the night?
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It's usually in the middle of the night.
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Or if I'm trying to get to sleep and I can't and then I get an idea,
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I'm like, well, I'm not tired anyway.
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And then kind of wander over here.
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This is kind of a rare sight,
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not just because we were there.
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Haven't serenaded someone in a while.
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Hope you know that.
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But because, for the moment,
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she was actually sitting still.
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I promise that you'll never find another like me.
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And there never really has been another like Taylor Swift.
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And you love the game.
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After only 13 years in the business,
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she's become a musical force of nature,
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with an armload of number-one hits,
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more Grammy awards than the Rolling Stones,
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and, according to Forbes, the distinction of being the highest-paid celebrity on the planet.
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Camera, look at me!
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Look at me!
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By any measure, she's an amazing young woman woman,
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but there were times, she says,
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that being young and a woman worked against her.
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You're always going to have people going,
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did she write all her own songs?
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Talking about your personal life,
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talking about your dating life.
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There's a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry, right?
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Give me an example.
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OK.
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A man does something, it's strategic.
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A woman does the same thing, it's calculated.
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A man is allowed to react,
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a woman can only overreact.
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I know that I'm a handful, baby.
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And it seems her usual reaction is to get to work.
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To the kind of tie the ladies with me.
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Taylor Swift writes or co-writes all of her songs.
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What's more, her music videos are all her vision.
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I promise that nobody's gonna love me.
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From the pastel wonderland in me.
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To the giant dollhouse in her latest video, Love Her.
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We could leave the Christmas lights up till January.
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LOVER is also the title track of her critically acclaimed new studio album, her seventh.
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Be this close forever and ever.
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Take me out of the day.
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She wrote the song on her piano at home and polished it up in the studio.
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This is her video taken on her cell phone.
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My, my, my.
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Lover. And action.
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Once she recorded the music,
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Taylor and her cats went to Hollywood to make the music video.
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And she invited us along to watch.
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Okay, so when I come onto one of these sets,
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my heart is racing.
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I'm so excited.
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It's so cool.
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Yeah, definitely.
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You?
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Absolutely. And action.
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There's a love story here.
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And like a lot of Taylor's work,
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it's an echo of her real life.
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Born in Redding, Pennsylvania, Taylor Swift discovered her love for music as a toddler.
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She set her sights on a career in country music,
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and eventually her parents and younger brother moved to Nashville to help her do it.
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My brother's a real bro for doing that.
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Yeah, they all upended their lives. For sure.
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It worked out well.
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Yeah, I buy them lots of presents.
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The rest reads like a fantasy.
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Taylor Swift became a country music phenomenon,
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and in the last few years, a pop icon.
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But the superstar is, by her own admission,
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as emotionally fragile as any other 20-something.
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I'm still someone who is the first to apologize when I'm wrong.
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And I think, but I think I'm better at standing up for myself when I have been wronged.
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So that's something that I think also comes with growing up.
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AMNA NAWAZ, Ph.D.: Which brings us to Scooter Braun.
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AMNA NAWAZ, Ph.D.: Yeah.
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AMNA NAWAZ, Ph.D.: Earlier this summer,
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Scooter Braun, a talent agent with whom Swift says she has a contentious relationship,
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acquired the rights to her previous recordings,
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her masters when his company bought Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group for a reported $300 million.
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Borchetta, who worked with Swift for years,
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says she and those close to her,
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including her dad, who was an investor,
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knew about the deal in advance and that Swift had previously been offered the chance to buy her own masters.
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She remembers it differently.
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And so you didn't see it coming?
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No. So how did you find out?
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I found out when it was online,
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like when it hit the news.
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Nobody in your inner circle knew.
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Nobody knew.
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And you didn't smell it.
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No. I knew he would sell my music.
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I knew he would do that.
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I couldn't believe who he sold it to because we've had endless conversations about Scooter Braun.
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And he has 300 million reasons to conveniently forget those conversations.
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Now, could you re-record?
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Oh, yeah.
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Might you do that?
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Oh, yeah.
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That's a plan?
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Scooter Braun may not agree with her side of the story,
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but he did reach out to Swift in a tweet last week calling her new album Brilliant.
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Oh, my God.
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OK, I'm going to do it, I guess.
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It's clear that she wants to control her music music.
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If anybody is watching this, thank you so much.
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In fact, when it's time to release one of her new songs,
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she does it personally, talking to her fans live on Instagram.
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But I'm really excited about sharing this with you,
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because you've really been there for me,
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and you've made my life what it is.
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This personal connection has earned her a loyal following.
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But her openness comes at a price.
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She's followed just about everywhere she goes these days by people who are crazy about her or just plain crazy.
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Where is home for you now?
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Um, it's a very good question.
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I try not to ever really say where I am the most,
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because since all my addresses are on the Internet,
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people tend to show up uninvited.
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Like, you know, dudes that think we have an imaginary marriage.
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You mentioned that you keep wound dressing with you?
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Yeah, I've had a lot of stalkers show up to the house armed.
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So we have to think that way.
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And she's come under attack in other ways.
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You need only glance at the tabloids to see some very well-publicized feuds,
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and she often hits back at her haters through her music.
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For instance, in You Need to Calm Down,
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she calls out anti-gay protesters and online trolls.
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I'm curious
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because I feel like almost every album you have a song
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where you address the haters at least one song sometimes I probably do have
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that habit I imagine that I might have that habit yeah why is
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that why sing to the haters well when they stop coming for me I will stop singing to them.
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You know people go on and on about like you have to forgive and forget to move past something.
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No you don't.
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You don't have to forgive and you don't have to forget to move on.
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You can move on without any of those things happening.
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You just become indifferent and then you move on.
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Do you believe in forgiveness?
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Yes absolutely.
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Like for people
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that are important in your life who have added you know who have enriched your life
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and made it better and and also there's been some struggle and some bad stuff too.
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But I think that, you know,
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if something's toxic and it's only ever really been that,
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what are you gonna do?
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It's like, just move on.
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It's fine.
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In doctor's office lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared.
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Taylor Swift's music is always personal, sometimes intensely so.
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There's one song on the album called Soon You'll Get Better that it's,
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I can't even really hear,
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I can't even listen to it.
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She won't talk specifically about her inspiration,
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but it comes at a time when her mother,
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Andrea, who was battling cancer, suffered a relapse.
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It's really interesting because I don't think I have written a song quite like that before,
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And it's just sort of like,
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it's just a tough one.
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I can imagine, but I can also tell you having listened to it, that it's universal.
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It's just not something that we deal with until we have to,
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until we see it, until we experience it,
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until someone close to us is going through something like that.
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And so writing about it was really emotional and I'm just gonna stop talking about it now.
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Understandable.
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Oh yeah, feel the temperature?
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It's warm.
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It's fine.
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She's a lot more comfortable here,
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where she can plunge into her work.
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This glass tank will become a symbolic fishbowl in the music video.
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I very often times remark that my life is like a fishbowl,
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and that, like, if I were to,
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like, fall in love, you know,
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somebody's choosing to be in that fishbowl with me.
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To jump into the fishbowl with you.
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To jump into the fishbowl with me and live in that world just with me,
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and you know it's not as depressing as it sounds I promise it's just a figurative it's just symbolic
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talk about fishbowls she's been dating british actor joe alwyn for
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three years seems he's up for a swim couldn't you just computer generate this
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and not jump in i don't know Couldn't we have done this on the...
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Well, yeah, we'll never know.
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All right.
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We could let our friends crash in the living room.
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At the moment, Taylor Swift is,
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well, fully immersed in today.
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Beyond that, she says she doesn't know and doesn't want to.
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Do you think about, you know,
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what am I going to do in 20, 30 years?
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You know, because that puts me into what I call,
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like, a panic spiral.
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Like, I cannot do that.
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I've never been able to do that.
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Why?
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It just freaks me out.
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When I zoom out too far, I freak out.
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Do I know where I'm gonna be or even want to be in 20 years?
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Absolutely not.
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Like, not taking a single day for granted.
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So how far ahead do you look?
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Six months.
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Just because I have to plan shows and stuff.
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But I don't know what I'll do after this album.
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And I think that's great.
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It's actually, I tell myself,
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like it's actually really ungrateful to just assume that you have 20 years.
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Like, be stoked that you have today.
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Context & Background
In a recent interview featured on CBS, renowned artist Taylor Swift shares insights into her life, creative process, and experience as a woman in the music industry. The discussion, led by Tracy Smith, sheds light on Swift's dedication to her craft, her unique approach to songwriting, and the challenges she has faced throughout her career. The transcript highlights Swift's impressive accomplishments, including her numerous number-one hits and awards, but also touches on the double standards women often encounter in the music business. This context provides a rich backdrop for English learners looking to enhance their language skills through engaging content.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- “You might say this is my happy place.” - A great way to express where you feel most at ease.
- “I promise that you’ll never find another like me.” - A strong statement to convey uniqueness.
- “You’re always going to have people going...” - A useful phrase for discussing opinions or expectations.
- “It’s usually in the middle of the night.” - Ideal for expressing habits or routines.
- “A different vocabulary for men and women.” - Perfect for talking about gender differences in language.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively learn English with YouTube through this interview with Taylor Swift, follow these steps for successful shadowing:
- Listen Actively: Begin by watching the video without subtitles. Focus on the speaker's tone, emotion, and pronunciation.
- Repeat and Imitate: Play short segments and pause after each sentence. Try to shadow speak by mimicking Swift’s intonation and rhythm.
- Break Down Sentences: Select a few of the top phrases and analyze their structure. Consider the choice of words and how they convey meaning in context.
- Practice Pronunciation: Use tools or apps to compare your pronunciation with Swift’s. This will help improve your English pronunciation by focusing on difficult sounds.
- Engage with the Content: Discuss the themes of the interview with friends or in a language exchange group. This reinforces learning and builds conversational skills.
By following these steps and engaging actively with Taylor Swift's interview, English learners can enhance their understanding of conversational English, improve their speaking skills, and gain confidence in using the language in everyday situations.
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.
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