Taylor Swift has always been a famous artist, but within the past two years her popularity has grown exponentially. In 2020, Swift released her album “Folklore,” which she dropped without any publicity.
Normally this is not done in the music industry, but this album took off and attracted a lot of attention, becoming the best-selling album of 2020. Other artists such as Ariana Grande and Post Malone were greatly influenced by how Swift decided to drop this album and said they would try this in the future.
Emma Gomez
JRN 101 Student
Folklore focuses on story lines throughout the album that help Swift connect with the fans. The album allows the listener to engage in a different world. The reason Swift did this is because during COVID and isolation, she felt further away from the fans than ever before. Swift wanted a way to connect with her fans through music and escape the reality we are all living in. Isolation sparked her creativity and this led to the album.
The album has a total of 16 songs which all have their own stories that connect with one another. For example, the three songs, “Cardigan,” “August,” and “Betty” center around a teenage love triangle and how each participant feels about it.
“Cardigan” is narrated by Betty, who talks about her relationship with James. Betty reflects on their past relationship and how he made her feel. Throughout the song we learn how James betrayed her. Swift sings “When you are young they assume you know nothing/ but I’d knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss/ I knew you’d haunt all over my what-ifs/ the smell of smoke would hang around this long/ cause I knew everything when I was young/ I knew I’d curse you for the longest time.” James shows you at Betty’s doorstop, without warning, and the song ends off on the lyric, “I knew you’d come back to me.” This song is heavily focused on piano, emphasizing how this song is all about reminiscing.
“August” is about a woman named Augustine, who also had a relationship with James. Their relationship was a summer romance. Throughout the whole song Swift sings, “August slipped away into a moment in time cause it was never mine.” This explains how her and James’ relationship was just a summer fling and she didn’t mean as much to him as he did to her. Augustine knew James was in love with Betty, but she couldn’t help her feelings for him. Swift sings, “Remember when I pulled up and said ‘get in the car’ and then cancelled my plans just in case you called/ back when I was living for the hope of it all.” This line tells us that Augustine was hopeful for their relationship and wanted it to work. The song ends off with the lyrics, “So much for summer love and saying ‘us’ cause you weren’t mine to lose,” indicating that James was never hers to begin with and his heart had always belonged to Betty. This song is a guitar based pop ballad with a desolate, hopeless feeling.
“Betty” is in James’ point of view on his betrayal of Betty. Betty found out about him cheating on her, and James says, “The only thing I wanna do is make it up to you.” James goes through many emotions during this song where he starts to make excuses and says, “Would you trust me if I told you this was just a summer thing/ I’m only 17 I don’t know anything but I know I miss you.” He also says how his and Augustine’s relationship was just a summer thing and he was dreaming of Betty all summer long. The storyline ends with Betty and James happily ever after. This song has a kid-like feeling combined with innocent hope, giving listeners the idea that Betty and James might make it.
Just from unpacking three out of 16 songs, we get a whole story with details, and the album has many more stories in its remaining tracks. “Folklore” is an amazing album to listen to if you want to be done with reality for one hour and three minutes. It offers up an escapism that is often so appealing in the world we live in.
