Shake It Off - Custom Lyrics for an Ophthalmology Graduation
Taylor Swift's Shake It Off rewritten to celebrate UCSF ophthalmology fellows by name. Listen to the original and custom graduation version side by side on ChangeLyric.
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Yvonne needed a graduation video for her ophthalmology fellowship program at UCSF. She had the footage, she had the concept, but she needed the soundtrack to match. Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" had the right energy, but the lyrics needed to be about her colleagues and their work saving people's sight. She brought the project to ChangeLyric and we got to work.
The result is one of the most ambitious rewrites we have done. Nearly every line was changed. "I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain" became "They stay up too late, got plenty in their brains." "Players gonna play" became "the pressure's gonna rise." The entire song was rebuilt around the language of ophthalmology: optic nerves, intraocular pressure, corneal ulcers, retinal tears.
This project was completed in mid-2024 using our earlier vocal processing techniques. Our technology has improved significantly since then, and a project like this done today would achieve even closer vocal tone matching on the heavier lyric rewrites. The core approach remains the same, but the results keep getting better.
What Changed
This was not a subtle name swap. Yvonne rewrote the entire song to name each fellow individually and describe what they do. Alejandro and Aislinn appear in the opening verse. Vivian gets her own section about fighting high pressure and lowering IOP. Ashley is praised for her steady hands. Itamar, Myra, and Martin are called out for tackling flares. Mark gets the closing line about optic nerves.
The bridge is where it really comes together. Instead of Taylor Swift singing about "the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world," the custom version addresses the attendants directly: "Just think what you've been stressing out about the patients, in the efforts of UCSF, fellow's been saving sight with skill and care." It turns a pop anthem into a genuine tribute to a team of doctors.
Listen & Compare
Hear the original song and the custom version side by side
“Will and his team are absolutely amazing, responsive, professional, fast, and nice! Thank you for accommodating my requests for edits. I swapped out the lyrics for a graduation video and am just thrilled with Music Made Pro ~ they saved me hours and hours of effort!”
— Yvonne O.
Why Full Rewrites Work for Graduation Videos
Most of our projects involve changing a handful of words. This one changed almost everything. That level of rewrite is harder to pull off because the new lyrics need to maintain the original song's rhythmic structure and syllable count across every line. "Heartbreak is gonna break, break, break" has to become "optic nerve is gonna swell, swell, swell" without tripping over the melody.
Graduation videos are one of the best use cases for this kind of deep rewrite. The audience already knows the original song, so every clever substitution lands. When the room full of ophthalmologists hears "the pressure's gonna rise, rise, rise" set to the melody of "players gonna play," they get the joke and the tribute at the same time.
Yvonne went through multiple rounds of edits to get every name and reference right. That kind of collaboration is exactly how these projects should work. The customer knows their people and their inside jokes. We handle making it sound like Taylor Swift actually sang it.
Browse more projects like this in our lyric swap showcase, or start your own custom lyric swap.