A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Taylor Swift released "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)" on Friday. She was just 19 when the original version of that album came out in 2010.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This new version features rerecordings of every song, plus a few bonus tracks.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN SEE YOU (TAYLOR'S VERSION) [FROM THE VAULT]")
TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) 'Cause I can see you waiting down the hall for me, and I could see you up against the wall with me. And what would you do, baby, if you only knew that I can see you?
MARTÍNEZ: Swift has been going back and rerecording many of her earliest albums recently. Like many artists, Swift does not own the master tapes to those old recordings, so this is her way to take back control over her early music.
MARTIN: Justin Stoney is a vocal coach in New York, and he's been comparing the sound of 19-year-old Taylor with 33-year-old Taylor.
JUSTIN STONEY: She has improved in her ability to go from a sort of lighter or breathier kind of sound to a solid sound with great efficiency.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BETTER THAN REVENGE (TAYLOR'S VERSION)")
SWIFT: (Singing) She's not a saint, and she's not what you think. She's an actress, whoa. He was a moth...
STONEY: If anybody goes from, say, a breathy sound to a clean sound, they might go from, like, a whoa - breathy - to a whoa - clean. And Taylor has gotten better at her ability to go from breathy to clean not just in her middle range, but all the way up in her high range.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BETTER THAN REVENGE (TAYLOR'S VERSION)")
SWIFT: (Singing) She's not a saint, and she's not what you think. She's an actress, whoa.
STONEY: If you listen to the whoas, just those whoas towards the end of "Better Than Revenge," you hear she had a belty quality 13 years ago, but her ability to get that belty, solid, strong quality these days is easier. It's stronger. It's more efficient. And it's exciting to hear.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAYLOR SWIFT SONG, "BETTER THAN REVENGE (TAYLOR'S VERSION)")
MARTÍNEZ: And if you're a singer trying to get that same tone, Stoney advises stretching your vocal cords.
STONEY: That might be sounds that sound like (vocalizing) or (vocalizing). And we could practice an exercise that went (vocalizing) or even a sort of lip trill (vocalizing).
MARTIN: And you'll also need strength.
STONEY: The hey-how-are-you-doing chest voice strength, and then we need the ability to blend that.
(SOUNDBITE OF TAYLOR SWIFT SONG, "BETTER THAN REVENGE (TAYLOR'S VERSION)")
MARTIN: Stoney says, ideally, five to six days a week of lip and tongue trilling can help you stretch out those vocal muscles.
MARTÍNEZ: And you'll be belting out those whoas in no time - I got to practice - maybe not just like Tay Tay but close enough.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BETTER THAN REVENGE (TAYLOR'S VERSION)")
SWIFT: (Singing) The story starts when it was hot, and it was summer, and I had it all. I had him right there where I wanted him. She came along, got him alone, and let's hear the applause. She took him faster than you could say... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
