Folklore: The Mastermind of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is “doing good and on some new sh*t” as she proclaims in the opening lines of one of her most recent surprise albums, Folklore. During quarantine, Swift wrote and released two surprise albums for her fans on July 24th, 2020, and December 11th, 2020 titled, Folklore and Evermore. 

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These albums deviate from the bright and brash previous production of her pop albums, Lover, Reputation, and most famously 1989. Swift takes on a stripped-down production with simple instrumentation that truly allows her beautiful lyricism to shine. 

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Swift deters from her typical autobiographical songwriting and instead creates semi-fictional stories in her album, even implementing a teenage love triangle in the 15 tracks. 

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The album was completely written, recorded, and produced from her home in Los Angeles with collaborations from Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who collaborated remotely. Swift previously worked on 1989, Reputation, and Lover with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner from a band she is a fan of called The National. New collaborations also appear on the record, including Justin Vernon from Bon Iver on the song “Exile”. Her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, also co-wrote a couple of songs on the album under the pseudonym William Bowery. 

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Folklore is Swift’s most critically acclaimed album to date. On Metacritic, a website that aggregates ratings from various critics to give an album a score out of 100, Folklore has an 88, her highest scoring album yet. The album received high praise for specifically its introspective and raw songwriting. The Rolling Stones notes Folklore as, “her greatest album — so far,” complimenting her songwriting for bringing out “her deepest wit, compassion, and empathy”. Pitchfork highlighted the album’s “cinematic love songs and rich fictional details”.

 

The album is also nominated for multiple Grammys at the 2021 Grammy Awards. Folklore is nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. “Cardigan” is also nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. “Exile” featuring Bon Iver is also nominated for Best Pop Duo / Group Performance. If Swift was to win Album of the Year for Folklore, she would be the first female artist in history to win the award three times, previously winning for Fearless and 1989.

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As for her discography, Folklore yet again exemplifies Swift’s changing sound. Previously, she switched from country-pop to retro 80s inspired pop in 1989 and switched again to a more modern electro trap pop in Reputation. Folklore is vastly different from Lover, as it is more folk-country and alternative rock inspired. The actual genre of the album is heavily debated on, as some publications note the album as pop while others note it as alternative rock and folk. 

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The most interesting story stemming from the album is the “teenage love triangle,'' which stems from the tracks, “Cardigan,” “August,” and “Betty.” “Cardigan,” the lead single that was also accompanied by a music video, describes the haunting pain of an unfaithful first love. The Lana-Del Rey-inspired piano ballad describes the protagonist, named Betty, who felt she knew all along that her first love, James, would come back to her after cheating on her and forever haunt her memories. Swift uses the extended metaphor of a cardigan to express how the protagonist felt used and then discarded after she was cheated on. 

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“August” takes the perspective of a failed summer romance, in which the narrator is the third part of the love triangle. The narrator reflects on the short time that she and James, the antagonist mentioned in “Cardigan”, spent together specifically the hope of a long-term relationship; however, the affair clearly does not work out as the man returns to the narrator of the song cardigan and expresses his regret in the song, Betty. The song is what I consider the best off the album, as it is equally as catchy and upbeat as it is heartbreaking. 

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In the country-inspired track, “Betty” takes the perspective of a man, James, who cheated on his first love, the same protagonist as in the song “Cardigan,” and is now regretting his actions and returning and attempting to apologize and rekindle their love for each other. 

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Other songs on the album take on themes of lost love and bargaining after a breakup in “the 1,”  and the history of Taylor Swift’s Rhode Island house which once belonged to Rebekah Harkness in “the last great American dynasty”. Later tracks describe a sworn enemy and tormenter showing up at the funeral of a dead object of affection in “my tears ricochet”, suicide and declining mental health in “this is me trying” and an honor to Swift’s grandfather and healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic in “epiphany.” 

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The album truly encapsulates the emotions present in the year 2020 and further establishes Taylor Swift as one of the best songwriters and leading artists of our generation.