All The Love and Respect towards “Folklore”
A surprise that had been given out of nowhere by the one and only Taylor Swift. Back in July 2020, Folklore was introduced to the world as a an output of Taylor’s imagination and Aaron Dessner with Jack Antonoff production. This album not only shocked Swifties — the fans and other people because the production were kept secret, this marked Taylor’s “post-pop” music. Starting from country to pop to more of a folk and alternative music, Taylor has become a greater story teller each album.
Folklore was introduced to the world on July 24th 2020. Since then until 31st December 2020, the album has been sold for over a million copies. This eight album has different approach and than the previous upbeat and pop facade albums. Folklore is what Swifties have been waiting for since those “The Hunger Games” soundtracks — “Eyes Open” and “Safe and Sound” — A mystical vibe combined with Taylor’s divine lyrics. Lets dive more into a couple of songs in Folklore.
The 1
This song started with notes of piano that turned more upbeat. The lyric itself potraying Taylor’s nostalagia while remembering a lost love. In one instance, she even wonders how life would have been today had her relationship with said former lover survived into the present.
She was not on a good mood when she said that the love did not work. However, she is not going to let that destroy her life further. For a fact, the heartbreak made her grow and she implied that we mostly can not become better versions of ourselves if we do not go through certain upsetting and painful episodes in our life.
Cardigan
This was a sweet song indeed. The lyrics itself portrays an important romantic union that is very dear to the singer. A romance that is still embedded in the memory of the singer although the love itself did not survive. In the chorus, Taylor shows the exact nature of the importance of this union to her when she talks about how “useless” she felt until he made her feel so treasured. Taylor does this metaphorically comparing an “old cardigan” to her until the someone came made her feel precious again.
The Last Great American Dynasty
Life of an American historical figure made into a beautiful piece of song by Taylor. That someone in question is the one and only Rebekah Harkness — She was a socialite, heiress and dance patron from America — . She became on of the richest women in her country in 1950 when she inherited her second husband’s fortune. In the song, Taylor describes and tells the the iconic life of Rebecca while comparing with her actual own life. The criticism that Rebecca received is also compared by Taylor because she walked the same road.
Exile
This track tells the story of a man and a woman who were once a couple. However,their union collapsed. Now, the woman has apparently moved on and found a new lover. Presently, the former lovers stumble upon each other. The man is alone but the woman is in romantic affair with another man.
That circumstances greatly saddens the man because he can’t seem to understand how quickly she moved on after the relationship’s demise. According to the woman, she gave him countless warning signs to change his behavior and try to safe the relationship but he failed to see those signs.
After all is said and done, the ex-lovers saw the whole situation to a movie which they once watched but they both disliked said movie’s ending. They therefore don’t want to watch it again, hence they are “leaving out the side door”. The last statement indicates their unwillingness to fight and salvage the relationship anymore. They know how it will end.
August
This track screams a huge amount of youthful romance and love. However, this particular one narrows things down a little bit to a specific theme of summer love. August is one of the summer months and for this reason that Taylor titled the song after the summer month in question.
In all, this song finds the speaker taking a walk down memory lane and reminiscing heavily over memories of a youthful love in the summer. And despite the romance not lasting very long, it is clear that the memories of the love are cherished and missed greatly by the singer.
Invisible Strings
In this track Taylor described an invisible string which ties two people who are destined to meet together. She uses different colors in telling the story of the state of her relationship. For instance, in the first verse, she mentions green which signifies growth or new beginnings, as well as her hope to find a new partner and begin a fresh relationship. In the third verse though, she mentions gold which implies the improvement that has taken place and how she has come to value their bond.
Throughout, Taylor maintains the message that her past failures and heartbreaks were necessary for her to appreciate her current relationship. She evokes a mood of contentment even as she wonders if her new partner is actually her soulmate.
Betty
This song can be a sequel to Taylor’s other song in Folklore which is “August”. The summer love fling on “August” was set to an end and we get to know why. On “Betty”, you finally get to know why the summer romance in “August” collapsed. And the reason it ended was because the male partner was seeing two girls at the same time, including the one from “August”.
Also, Taylor used the swear word on “Betty”. Considering this very unusual of her, many fans were shocked. That word appears twice in the song, and inside the chorus!
Referring these songs to Taylor’s word:
“Theres a collection of three songs I refer to as The Teenage Love Triangle. These three songs explore a love triangle from all three people’s perspectives at different times in their lives.” — Taylor Swift
The whole album consists of different stories, some of which aren’t even Taylor’s stories. Those songs compiled into a beautiful album that grabbed the attention of many. Folklore is a start of a fresh new Taylor Swift that came with a storm, a surprising one. This album made Taylor the first artist to held the award of a Best Seller album five times in 2020.
