: What is this called in Taylor Swift's song "Style"? In Taylor Swift's song "Style", there's a part that I can't make sense of. See here, where the lyrics go "We never go out of style, we never go out of style." In those

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Never mind, I think I figured it out.

I listened to it again, this time at full volume with headphones on so I could hear the beats better. I found that although the second word in "out of style" certainly came before the second beat, the next word "style" also comes before the third beat by the same amount.

This makes me think that it's a regular 4/4 rhythm in the bass with the same on the top, except that they're offset by a sixteenth note each time. In other words, the words "out of style" are a dotted eighth note, quarter note, then a quarter note.

Which I guess the best way to label it as is a syncopation, as N1hk said, albeit not a 332 one.

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There are a few ways to describe what is happening here. The most general is syncopation, which is emphasizing the rhythmically weak beats of a measure. It sounds to me like Taylor Swift is singing a 3+3+2 pattern, with the last note sustained over the barline. This type of rhythmic pattern is ubiquitous in popular music. This essay calls it "The World’s Most Famous Rhythm Structure" and goes into some of its origins. There appear to be different names to classify this rhythmic unit depending on which "world" musical tradition (e.g. African, Latin American, North Indian) one adheres to. I know of no definitive term for it with respect to the Western classical tradition, however. That said, I prefer how the author refers to it: as simply "332." To me this label provides the least amount ambiguity when discussing rhythm.

Edit: Removed my discussion of a flawed wikipedia article and replaced it with a different reference.