folklore is a storytelling masterpiece

INTRO:

Folklore… is probably my favorite album right now. Yes, yes, I know, this is about as far removed from my usual content as you can get. But I’ve been wanting to branch out and shake things up lately, and given I’m now able to enjoy Taylor Swift’s music again, I figured why not take the opportunity to talk about it?

My friend Max actually suggested this a long while back, but given where I personally was, I wanted to keep my enjoyment of Taylor’s music more private given what I was going through at the time. But now that the scars have started to heal, I feel it’s time to reclaim this fully, and we do that by stepping into the daylight and focusing on what we love… fellow Swifties, you better appreciate my little “Daylight” reference there. Lover stans represent.

Now I’m not a musician or in any way an expert on songwriting, but I enjoy me a good story. Taylor has this way of crafting compelling, relatable stories that through their specific details, become universal. And as a writer and storyteller, I very much admire that, and I aspire to her mastery of the craft.

I’m also gonna link some videos about Taylor in the cards and description if you wanna know more about her as an artist, and I specifically wanna highlight three videos: You Don’t Hate Taylor Swift, You’re Probably Just Sexist by notcorry; The Carefully Crafted Narrative of Taylor Swift by Quality Culture; and basically any Chats and Reacts video in which they do deep dives exploring Taylor’s albums and how they relate to her experiences. I was going to do a section all about the road leading up to Folklore, but honestly, I kinda just wanna focus on the songs themselves, so if you want that context… again, I point to these videos.

Anyway, let us begin the pain.

THE 1 (toss a penny, make a wish):

What a perfect way to start the album. I don’t know how, but Taylor always knows exactly how to open and close all of her albums, and Folklore is no exception. I’d also like to just say, I love that because this album is meant to be more lowkey and understated, all the titles are lowercase, and there’s also something about the use of the numerical 1 instead of spelling it out that really speaks to me. Having track 1 be “the 1” is just aesthetically superior.

“The 1” sets up the theme of reflection, loss, and eventual acceptance that Folklore explores in all of its tracks, and it’s probably one of the more simple in terms of what it’s about. Everyone has that one person from their past where the feelings were strong, but things just didn’t work out for whatever reason. You often wonder what life would be like had you stayed together, or maybe if you’d even gotten the chance to have a relationship at all. You wonder what life’s like for them now. You’re not exactly sad about how things went down; it’s more, “Hey, that could’ve been a fun time, but ah well.”

It doesn’t even have to apply to a relationship. It could be any opportunity that you either weren’t able to take advantage of, that was just out of reach, or that came at the wrong time. You can really get stuck in your own head because of all the “what ifs,” but I think it’s important to recognize this as an experience most of us go through.

And it’s clear from the singer’s perspective that while they’re looking back, their present’s going well. “I’m doin’ good, I’m on some new shit; been sayin’ yes instead of no,” and “I hit the ground runnin’ each night, I hit the Sunday matinee,” give the vibe that this person is happy with where they’re at in life. For the most part, they’re at peace with the way things have worked themselves out. Just because an opportunity was lost, or something didn’t work out, doesn’t mean life came crashing down and just ended. It just means life went on a bit differently than planned.

Some other lines I really enjoy are in the chorus, with “Roarin’ 20s, tossin’ pennies in the pool.” Taylor’s imagery is always vivid and fits the vibe perfectly, and here, this reference to the Roaring 20s, a time of economic wealth, luxuriance, and indulgence, ending with the start of the Great Depression where everything collapsed, parallels this wonderful time in the past that eventually crumbled into the rift we’re singing across now. And since Folklore also is steeped in reflection, it makes sense several of the songs reference older time periods, as it gives the album this timeless quality where we can see how these kinds of human emotions repeat across the ages, because these feelings are absolutely universal.

Even the use of the penny, like how we toss coins into fountains and are told to make a wish, fits this simple wish to go back and make sure things turn out the way you hoped they would’ve. And personally, I also love the way Taylor uses colors for her songs’ imagery, and I like to assign specific colors to the mood of each song. “the 1” has always felt like a copper song to me, mostly cuz of the pennies. It could also be that she always uses “gold” to describe true, final love, whereas copper is less valuable but still charming to the eye. That’s probably just me reaching, but hey, it’s my video.

Out of all the songs, “the 1” makes me feel the most comfy. The entire album feels that way for me, as many have described it as cottagecore: the album. But “the 1” specifically makes me feel like I’m under a blanket with a cup of cocoa beside a fireplace, maybe in that lil cabin from the “cardigan” music video while it’s raining outside, and I’m just looking back fondly on my memories, as shitty as my memory may be. When I wanna feel at home, “the 1” is usually my first choice. I don’t know if that’s something about the song itself, or because it was the first song from Folklore I’d heard given, well, it’s Track 1, but either way, “the 1” deserves more love than it gets.

CARDIGAN (i want one now):

When creating “Folklore,” Taylor adamantly decided to focus on crafting stories that weren’t her own. You can see how her own experiences have influenced these songs, namely because when you’re a writer, or any kind of creator, your own experiences will always inform the stories you tell, because that’s just what humans do. We share our own stories, and when we hear someone else’s story, we try to relate them to our own. But “cardigan” is a bit special given not only was it the lead single of the album, but it’s also part of a love triangle where each character gets their own song.

The basic story is that James and Betty were together, but then James went and cheated on Betty with a nameless girl we call August, or maybe Augusta or Augustine according to Taylor. Each song is from a different perspective: “august” is of course for August; “betty” is for James; and “cardigan” is for Betty.

I love the fact Taylor was able to create a compelling little story about love, cheating, and all the drama that comes with both those things, especially given she goes in-depth with each person’s feelings to create three completely different but equally compelling songs. They all feel like people who could exist in the real world rather than just caricatures.

So “cardigan,” according to that narrative, is all about Betty, now an adult, looking back on the hardships of her love with James when he cheated on her, but how he got his shit together, and ultimately, he was… “the 1.” Goddammit, Barb. No I’m not sorry.

However, there’s also a lot of discourse that “cardigan” can also apply to Taylor’s relationship with her fans, which as a creator and writer myself, really resonates with me personally. But rather than talk about Taylor’s life specifically, I wanna explore the song more through the lens of any artist. Someone who creates a piece of art from their soul to share it with the world, and all the ways that affects them and the people who consume their work.

When you’re a creative, you normally don’t get into whatever craft you specialize in because you wanna make it big or rake in the dough. Usually, it’s more about enjoying the act of telling a story through whatever medium you find helps you articulate what you have to say best, and the challenge as you grow up is not to lose that spark as you try to survive in the real world, especially as an adult. A world where for most creatives, the goal is to be able to live off your work, only to discover that monetizing what you love brings a host of problems that can corrupt that innocence and destroy your love for the work you do.

There’s already the fact that when you create a piece of art, it can be terrifying to think of how it may be scrutinized by the world, and by proxy, how you might be scrutinized. Especially nowadays in the era of social media, we feel personally connected to creators through parasocial relationships: one-sided dynamics where we feel we know the creator firsthand, but the creator doesn’t even know we exist. There are a number of videos about this subject, which I’ll link in the description, namely ones done by Philosophy Tube and Lindsay Ellis, but it’s part of the gig of being a creator in today’s world, especially for YouTubers.

Not only is your work important, but also you as a person. You are, in fact, your own brand, expected to be available to the masses at all times and act perfectly beneath a microscope. Authrotuber Alexa Donne talks about this in a recent video about Author as Brand, at least in the traditional publishing world, but she posits that the age of the hermit author, and by extension, the hermit creator—the creator who simply puts their work out to the world, lets the creation speak for itself, and then returns to their quiet, private life—is over.

I mention all of this because to live that way is exhausting. In a way, it’s dehumanizing, expected to come across to audiences as authentic at all times, while also presenting yourself in an appealing way, and not once stepping out of line of your audience’s expectations. It can be isolating, being commodified that way, when maybe all you wanted to do was create something others could enjoy, while still having your own private life away from prying eyes.

A lot of the time when you talk about Taylor’s music, the discussion will veer into her own experiences and personal life, for good or for ill. And in a way, it’s frustrating that the work itself is often overlooked or oversimplified, and people’s judgment as to whether it’s good falls on whether they even like Taylor as a person, when they don’t even know her personally. This also is likely due to her being a woman, as people tend to be more critical of women who speak about their experiences so freely, especially when it comes to women talking about love or relationships. But since I can’t speak much to that as an enby who was assigned male at birth, I’ll leave that to someone who’s more qualified. (and also “The Man”)

“Cardigan” personalizes this relationship between creator and audience. How it feels like the creator knows each member of the audience intimately and is able to vocalize their feelings in a way that should be impossible. How the audience, if they feel they know the creator well enough, could show their love and adoration through monetary support, or just outward excitement.

Specifically the lines, “You drew stars around my scars, but now I’m bleeding.” How we can try to piece together a creator’s struggles to say we know them, how a creator can make wonderful art worthy of being hung in the night sky from their traumas and hardships, but eventually, that can bring a new assortment of traumas that are even harder to address.

“I knew you’d haunt my ‘what ifs.” ”I knew I’d curse you for the longest time.” To quote “long story short,” the knife cuts both ways. It’s a two-way street where not only can creator and audience help each other to process their own feelings, but also, in a way, hurt each other. For the creator, it’s the commodification of themselves, their work, and their experiences, opening them up to public discourse and scrutiny. For the audience, it’s work that can affect them in any number of ways, possibly even bringing them back to dark moments depending on the work’s material.

But ultimately, while “cardigan” may talk about all these hardships and be honest in how they can hurt, it’s ultimately positive. If the bond between creator and audiences is strong enough, if the work is able to stand on its own, and if proper boundaries are enforced, that dynamic doesn’t have to be destructive. It can be like how most of us creatives wished it was when we were younger; for ourselves, and for the enjoyment of others, and nothing more. “And I knew you’d come back to me.”

And on a tangential note… can we talk about the music video for “cardigan” tho? The aesthetics? Taylor climbing into a piano filled with gold cuz music brings her to another world? All the ways it can take you to a beautiful, lush realm of peace, or leave you stranded, barely treading water in the middle of a dark, stormy sea. And all while following COVID guidelines to ensure everyone’s safety. We love to see it.

THE LAST AMERICAN DYNASTY:

Literally only Taylor is able to make the story of how she bought a mansion into an iconic feminist ballad of utter relatability. We stan.

Now, I wanted to do some research into Rebekah Harkness for this, and oh my lord y’all, this woman was an icon. A philanthropist with a knack for ballet, a 4-time divorcee, at one point scoring a guy who was 20 years younger than her (goddamn girl), and literally writing in her scrapbook that she “set out to do everything bad.” She had literal “I Did Something Bad” energy, holy shit.

I still need to look more into this woman’s life, and apparently that’s covered in “Blue Blood” by Craig Unger, which goes for… $700 for a hardcover?! Fuckin’ excuse me?! Oh good god, only literal blue bloods could afford that. Rebekah Harkness is turning over in her Dali-designer urn! Her ghost will not stand for this, oh no! Apparently it’s out of print, so um… whoever his publisher is, get to it and give us the goods! Also Unger, thank you for your service, everyone say thank you to Craig.

But there are so many parallels between Rebekah and Taylor’s lives that it’s uncanny. It’s no wonder what when Taylor bought Holiday House, and learned about its owner’s past, her jaw crashed through the marble floor and she was convinced she had to write a song about it. And given folklore has a timeless, reflective vibe, it makes sense a historical lookback type of song feels right at home here.

She tells Rebekah’s story as though she’s a fictional character, getting you invested in her story as she says fuck it to the social norms of her time and does her own thing. And when the perspective shifts as Taylor goes from third to first person… y’all, I know for a fact all of our minds exploded when we heard that. Utterly legendary.

My only question is at least according to wikipedia, Rebekah apparently dyed a neighbor's cat green, not a dog. So either Taylor messed that up, or she decided to cement herself as a cat person and treat someone’s dog to a key lime dye job. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, but goddamn.

EXILE:

Yes, yes, we’re obligated one obvious breakup song per album. But real talk, “exile” is a wonderfully tragic song about the thing that kills far too many relationships: miscommunications. We become so sure of the narratives we craft in our heads, and we’re too arrogant or afraid to be vulnerable and talk to the other person about how we feel, that we sit back and watch as misunderstandings and resentments erode our relationship until there’s nothing left.

Taylor’s vocals go beautifully with Justin Vernon’s, with Taylor playing the part of the person who ended the relationship, and Justin the one left hanging. Each one is brutally honest in their feelings, yelling into the void about their feelings, all the while talking past each other and unable to hear the other side. I mean, there’s a reason hearing him go, “You never gave a warning sign,” and hearing her go, “I gave so many signs,” leaves us all in a wreck crying on the kitchen floor.

Justin’s lyrics are rife with betrayal. He feels abandoned, tossed to the curb and easily replaced by the one he loves, and wondering what he did wrong. Taylor’s lyrics, meanwhile, are soaked in exhaustion. She gave her partner every chance to do better, tried to signal to him that something had to be done before things gave way. But nothing changed. And now the pain lingers, even with them far away from each other, but still processing all the grief and heartache.

And honestly, that’s how the end of a love feels. It feels like you’ve been exiled from your hometown, and Taylor’s had lyrics before about stolen crowns representing her power taken away. Here, the crown more signifies her partner as the most important thing in her life, only to find herself leaving out the side door, trying not to make a big show out of leaving.

I don’t know what it is about deep male country vocals Taylor’s obsessed with, but honestly girl? SAME. Justin’s vocals are powerful while sincere, able to portray the raw emotions necessary to make this song a gut punch. And Joe’s piano is mesmerizing. Sidenote: he wrote the piano and lyrics for the first verse, while Justin wrote the bridge. This song just wouldn’t work as anything but a duet. The sheer fucking glo-up of writing breakup songs about your exes, to writing breakup songs with your current partner. Like… goddamn, the power in that.

Oh, also Taylor fangirling over working with Justin is precious and relatable as hell.

MY TEARS RICOCHET (track 5 said suffer and then i thanked her):

If you’re a Swiftie, then you know that Track 5 is gonna wreck you. There’s a tradition with Taylor’s albums where Track 5 is always meant to be one of the most, if not the most, sincere, hurtful song on the album. And Folklore’s Track 5 is easily my favorite from any of her albums.

In the Long Pond doc, Taylor describes this song as being about someone who was once your most trusted person, now a bitter enemy who knows exactly how to destroy you because you shared your vulnerabilities with them. It’s a deep fear we all have, and some of us come to know it very well, and in that, this song can be incredibly potent.

For me personally, it’s a sad, but cathartic listen, perfect for when I need to get the tough emotions out. And funnily enough, this song has always felt very black and blue to me in terms of color. Blue because of the tears and water association, and black because of the imagery of the wake, and also the gorgeous black waves of the lyric video.

This song was actually the first one Taylor had written before she realized this was going to become an album, and in that, it’s even more cathartic. This reads like an autobiographical eulogy addressed to someone who hurt her, and a lot of people associate it with Scott Borchetta selling the rights to Taylor’s old albums to Scooter Braun. As such, “my tears ricochet” can be seen as a reflection on what it’s like to have someone you trusted for so long betray you.

You can hear the pain in the lyrics, with the narrator acknowledging how much they loved this person they’re addressing, and admitting their own faults, but asserting they never deserved to be hurt the way they were. And now, they’ve passed. They’re reflecting on the paradox of how people who once loved each other can also try to hurt each other. The pain each feels becomes a weapon, which perpetuates the cycle, hence the title evoking the imagery of tears ricocheting like bullets.

The bridge in particular is one of my absolute favorites. The way the song builds in intensity as the lyrics get more and more visceral. “And I still talk to you when I’m screaming at the sky, and when you can’t sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullabies.” The narrator admits they wish things had gone differently, and knows if this is still affecting them this way, then surely it must be doing the same for the person who hurt them.

Ultimately, it’s a tragedy. It’s the tale of a deep love that ended in flames, and now in the aftermath of the destruction, all that’s left is that lingering pain.

MIRRORBALL (lonely disco lullaby):

She really did it. She made a disco lullaby that can make you both dance and fall asleep. Obviously she’s a witch, but we will not burn her. We will let her burn us with this fire she calls music.

Like “cardigan,” “mirrorball” is a song that’s all about the connection between a creator and their audience. Taylor uses a mirrorball as a metaphor for creatives; a disco ball hanging over the dance floor, shining ceaselessly from all angles so that everyone can have a good time. But when the party’s over, you’re left behind, still dangling there, barely glinting at whatever light you can catch.

Admittedly, I don’t know jack shit about how mirror balls are made, but Taylor describes this idea of mirrors being shattered over and over and then glued together onto the disco ball, which really captures the fact the greatest art usually comes out of a person’s pain and traumatic experiences, transforming into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Through your art, you do show people every version of themselves. Art and media make us reflect (no pun intended), and reconsider the way we look at the world and each other. And likewise, you explore different facets of yourself through the creative process, maybe some of which you didn’t even know about until you put yourself out there.

Some lyrics I really love are, “you are not like the regulars; the masquerade revelers; drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten.” When you put yourself out there, you can be misinterpreted, or maybe some people just don’t jive with your work. And that can hurt. It can be really discouraging, leaving you feeling unwanted and mocked. But there can also be people who your work really resonates with, and just knowing you affected someone that way can make the whole thing worth it retroactively. It can make you feel seen.

There’s also the aspect of code switching; changing the way you act and present for different situations, and even different people. A lot of us feel like around certain people, we have to present a certain way to be respected or accepted, and that can be exhausting, especially for LGBT people.

“Mirrorball” also has an added layer of addressing the pandemic, or more the idea of living as a creative through the pandemic. The disco has been burned down, all the clubs are closed, so no one can dance, but through the darkness, you can still catch the light of the disco ball. You can still hear the music, however faint. Even when the end is drawing near, and it feels like the world is on fire and falling to pieces, artists can still give us reason to smile and want to move forward through their work.

SEVEN (we all peaked at 7 and now we’re all crying):

We all peaked at seven. It’s just a fact. Not in the sense that life was at its best back then, or that we really knew who we were before the world ruined us all, but… don’t you miss that innocence? Back before we all had to grow up and witness the horrors of the world, and just how sad life can be with all of the complexities that come with adulthood.

Even the fact most kids by nature are selfish is beautiful in a way, because as the song puts it, it was before we were taught to watch what we say and do. It was necessary so that we didn’t wind up in a world where people are doing whatever they like at the expense of others’ wellbeing… well, in theory, but it’s also sad to think of how so many of us are afraid to let ourselves feel. We’re scared to express and even experience our emotions the way we did in our youth without a second thought. Like, the idea of crying in public is fucking mortifying.

It’s so easy to lose touch with who you are as you grow up, trying to shape yourself into what the world expects from you versus who you are and want to be. Back when we were unabashed in who we were and what we loved. When we created without fear of what others might think or say, or without the expectation of some monetary reward or career. When we said what was on our minds without wondering how that made us look to others.

“Seven” is a reflection on all of that. That wonderful time we all took for granted because we just didn’t know what was coming. If only we really could just pack up and move with our friends to some magical land free of our problems, without worry for our responsibilities. And especially now, at the tail end of the COVID pandemic, when all most of us wanna do is just enjoy the outdoors without needing to wear a mask and just hug our friends.

But that said, don’t be a clown. Get your asses vaccinated ASAP if you can, and even if you’re vaccinated, wear a mask to avoid carrying COVID and giving it to those who aren’t vaccinated or who can't get vaccinated, and hopefully things’ll be better soon… and oh fuck, this is totally accidental foreshadowing for “epiphany.” Goddammit.

Oh, also appreciation that Track 7 is literally called “seven.” Simply superior aesthetic.

AUGUST (this is now objectively the best month, it just is):

Leave it to Taylor to make Track 8 be the eighth month. This woman will be the death of me, and my ghost will thank her.

“August” is the second part of the love triangle, sung from the perspective of the girl James cheated on Betty with. You don’t normally get to hear the perspective of the “other girls” in stories like these. She’s usually discarded, her perspective unvalued, considered nothing more than a homewrecker. But I don’t think August here knew about Betty to begin with. She just fell for James, got lead on, and then got ditched so he could make it up to Betty. Because men ain’t shit.

This song is all about a temporary love that has burned out, and now the narrator is realizing just how fucked over they were. They had this fantasy of a beautiful summer love that caught flame, and could’ve been something more, only to watch it be smothered by disappointment and heartbreak. This is one of Jack Antenoff’s favorite songs that he produced with Tawylro, and I can easily see why. The bridge is absolutely legendary, and the outro does a great job capturing the righteous anger and pain August is going through and still processing, even once the song ends, as pointed out by Chats and Reacts in their folklore breakdown.

I absolutely love the wordplay in the chorus. “But I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment in time, cuz it was never mine. And I can see us twisting in bedsheets, August sipped away like a bottle of wine, cuz you were never mine.” OH GOD, THAT’S JUST BRILLIANT. It captures so many vivid moments and emotions in so few words, and makes you feel everything August has felt.

The bridge really deserves more love, though. For August, she’s realized that she thought this could work just because she wanted it to. She was head over heels for James, and believed that they could make it work, like this was a fairy tale romance. I’m not over, “To live for the hope of it all, cancel plans just in case you’d call. So much for summer love and saying ‘us’ cuz you weren’t mine to lose.” That painful realization she bent over backwards for this boy, and thought they were endgame (heh), only for it all to be a hoax… I regret none of my jokes.

And to think this all started because Taylor wrote the lyric “Meet me behind the mall” on her phone years ago, and wanted to write it into a full song.. The audacity of this woman.

THIS IS ME TRYING:

Yes, I know. This title can seem sarcastic at first. But when you actually give it a full listen, you’ll find it to be one of the most vulnerable songs on the album.

Taylor attributed this song to those who are struggling with mental health issues, or any kind of obstacles that make daily life harder for someone compared to everyone else. Personally, I like to call it the “I’m out of spoons, but I still care” song. For those unaware, spoons is a mental health term used to describe how much energy a person has in a day. Each activity they do, however seemingly mundane or small, takes a certain number of spoons, and once that person is out of spoons, they’re left with no energy and have to recharge.

The production of this song really helps to carry that feeling of exhaustion. Taylor’s vocals are mixed in with the music, and the reverb effect makes them feel heavy, as though it’s taking all her strength just to voice how she feels. Whether you’re dealing with mental illness, chronic illness, or something else, life has a way of chipping away at your strength over time, and eventually it can make you feel burnt out and unsure of how to proceed.

Especially when these problems are invisible, onlookers may feel as though you’re making a mountain out of a molehill. That you’re making excuses and half-assing what you’re doing. But you never know what a person is dealing with behind closed doors, and for all you know, that person really is trying their best. It may be difficult to see things that way, but take a moment to let yourself believe someone who’s frustrating you really is doing all they can.

This is easily one of my favorite songs off the album for its mental health angle, especially with lyrics such as, “I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting. I didn’t know if you’d care if I came back, I have a lot of regrets about that.” Cuz sometimes, you wonder if people would actually miss you if something happened to you, or you feel like you’re not as interesting or productive as you used to be.

Specifically as a creator, it can feel like you constantly have to reinvent the wheel, and reinvent yourself, to keep your audience interested, and that can take a huge mental toll if you don’t put proper boundaries in place. I’ve been in this place before, and even recently, especially with lines like, “And my words shoot to kill when I’m mad, I have a lot of regrets about that.” My god, who let me be an angry shithead with a Twitter addiction for so long?

So, I guess my point is… take care of yourself. Your mental health is more important than whatever it is you may be sacrificing it for, be it productivity, appealing to others, or anything else. Your value is not determined by how much work you can do, or how many people may appreciate it. You are worthy, and you belong, and nothing can take that from you, and it’s okay to need time to yourself to recharge and reflect on things without being even a little productive.

ILLICIT AFFAIRS (the song about affairs without actually having an affair):

Taylor mentioned how with this album, she decided she doesn’t need to be 100% autobiographical in her music anymore, and “illicit affairs” is proof she can pull that approach off wonderfully.

The title makes it pretty obvious what this is about. Any kind of forbidden or secret romance, and all the mixed emotions that come along with it. It’s not even necessarily about cheating, but more broad in this idea that love can be something you have to hide for any number of reasons, and how that tension can make the experience but exhilarating, and tragic. Forbidden romance is a thing a lot of people idealize and fawn over, rooting for it to work out in the end through all the trials and tribulations, but it can also have adverse effects. Resentment has a way of festering very quickly if you’re not careful.

This song specifically gives me the vibe of someone who’s head over heels for this love interest, willing to bend over backwards and live in the shadows to be with this person, only to slowly realize over time this person wouldn’t do the same for them. “Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him, so you leave no trace behind, like you don’t even exist.” To this person, it’s likely nothing more than an inconvenient fling, and you can be tossed away at a moment’s notice despite however you may feel; however much work you’ve put in.

The bridge is my favorite part of the song, because it shows the anger and resentment this person holds boiling over. “Enough pretending that you care and then tucking me away where no one knows what we have.” The narrator is putting out there how much this person means to them, and how far they’d be willing to go for them and this love, but it’s being shown in a way where it’s clear how much they’re hurting, and that they likely won’t be putting up with it for much longer.

It also could work for an LGBT perspective, especially given how many LGBT people have to hide their relationships to protect themselves. I think a lot of trans folks specifically can relate to this, knowing that someone is attracted to them and loves them, but that love can be tossed away or even turned violent when the person they’re seeing prioritizes how society might disapprove.

It’s a very real experience for most trans women, sadly, especially trans women of color; a topic which ContraPoints discusses in her fantastic video: “Are Traps Gay?” Fellow transes, I promise you it’s just to lure in the cishets to get them to listen. It can even happen to gay and bi trans people, with cis gays claiming that the biological sex you were assigned at birth is all that matters and refusing to understand where trans people are coming from.

I know when I listen to this song, one of the things that comes to mind is the relationship between Angel and Stan in season 1 of Pose. Spoilers for Pose ahead, Pose takes place in New York City during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, following mostly black and Latinx LGBT perspectives and ballroom culture. Angel is a trans woman who’s has to resort to sex work to survive, and Stan is a cishet banker on Wallstreet who’s bored of his life and confused by his attraction to women like Angel.

A lot of that stems from how cisgender people often question whether trans people are in fact the gender they identify as (spoilers, they are), but the way Pose explores it ends with Angel deciding she’s not going to let herself be so desperate for love from someone who sees her as something to experiment his attractions with and then toss away for his normal life. She wants to be loved for who she is and proudly displayed alongside her lover, and YOU BET YOUR ASS SHE AND PAPI ARE THE REAL OTP. Oh my god I’m not ready for this show to be over after season 3.

So… yeah. “Illicit affairs” is fantastic and unexpectedly gay. We love to see it.

INVISIBLE STRING (and all the pieces fall right into place):

“Do you believe in destiny?” Okay RWBY fans, I’m not gonna further traumatize y’all (assuming y’all are here? hello?). But this song is all about the idea of fate; that there are invisible strings quietly leading us to where we’re meant to be in life.

Taylor expresses this idea that every step you take in life leads to where you’re meant to be. And yes, I know it’s silly, but I like to believe in this as well, albeit in the sense that if you’re doing what’s best for yourself, and actually working on your shit, things will ideally begin to work in your favor, or you’ll at least be able to handle your problems in a way where you can make them work to your advantage.

It’s kinda funny, the way things work out. We can never predict where our lives will go in the coming years, mainly just cuz life is so fucking complicated. The people you meet, the people you lose, who you’ll become, it’s all a bit of a crapshoot as you try to survive whatever the world chucks at you. Taylor reflects on that here, contemplating how what she and her partner Joe have been through, and how it brought them to where they are now.

It’s also kinda funny seeing how time can make us laugh at the pain we used to feel. “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart; now I send their babies presents.” Now that is just precious, seeing how over time, we can laugh at the things that used to hurt us, and make amends with people we thought we’d never wanna speak to ever again.

I also love the line, “Time, mystical time, cutting me open, then healing me fine.” Again, the things that challenge us can make us into better, stronger people if we know how to tackle them.  We can use our mistakes and fuck-ups to learn about ourselves, and strive to do better.

This bridge is one of the best. “Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. Chains around my demons, wool to brave the seasons. One single thread of gold tied me to you.” Again, she uses gold for true love, and through all the pain and trauma, she found someone who helped her through it. Now that is just beautiful.

“Peace” ain’t the most peaceful song on the album, “invisible string” is, and I ain’t moving on that. When I listen to this, I feel like I’m in the clouds, looking back on my life in fondness, even at the sadder, more painful moments, because it makes me happy with where I am, and excited at where I’m going. And I think that’s something a lot of us feel listening to this one. See? Folklore ain’t all sad.

MAD WOMAN (i did something bad but make it classier):

Now this song is gonna be a bit tricky to talk about. Women often have their emotions used against them, told they can’t be rational and that they’re overly aggressive when they simply assert themselves. “A man reacts, a woman overreacts.” And yes, I know my voice suggests someone more feminine, y’all have made that assumption abundantly clear. For clarity, I’m nonbinary, assigned male at birth. (He/Him or They/Them, gay as all hell, by the by)

That said, I think any marginalized person can know how this feels in some flavor. We’re considered overly emotional whenever we talk about important issues that affect us, and told we’re making things political simply by existing, or by acknowledging the fact the world treats us differently because of who we are. The more marginalized you are, the more true this is likely to resonate for you. Or maybe not, we all got different experiences, but who we are, what we look like, and who we love will always inevitably paint that experience a certain way.

It’s infuriating having your righteous anger be used against you. Told that even if you’re wronged, you must express that outrage in a “morally acceptable” way, and often having your reaction be treated as the original offense. When you live in a world where you’re often assumed to be the bad guy, what do you expect someone’s reaction to look like?

And even beyond that sentiment, this song encapsulates what it’s like to feel like someone has hurt you, to bottle it up and let it fester over time, and when you stand up for yourself, suddenly you’re just as bad.

Apparently Aaron came up with the piano, and Taylor immediately identified the sound as that of female rage, and I’m gonna take her word for it. I certainly picture a calm but powerful fire underneath the strings.

EPIPHANY:

If I had to say which song from folklore is most underrated, my answer would have to be “epiphany.” It’s probably the heaviest on the album given what it’s pulling from, and the most different from the others in terms of production.

“Epiphany” takes the experiences of Taylor’s grandfather, and others who went through the hardships of war, and uses that as a frame of reference for what healthcare workers have been enduring since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s still hard to believe it’s been over a year since this all started, and while the vaccine is here, I don’t think life is ever going to go back to how it was before. We’ve seen how our government knew this was coming, and failed to act to protect us. We’ve seen our private healthcare system fail to keep us all covered and make it easier for people to seek help in the midst of this crisis. We’ve seen people forced back to work to continue doing the work that keeps our economy going, barely getting the help they need to get by as they risk their lives, all the while corporations receive aid no question to keep up their profits.

The healthcare workers, the doctors and nurses, who’ve had to work themselves to the bone to keep people safe, all the while realizing that they were in no way prepared for something like this… I don’t think the kind of trauma they’ve experienced from this can be put into words. The lyrics making the scene of losing a patient and having to hold onto their mother’s hand through plastic to protect each other from infection, along with the production sounding reminiscent of a heart monitor, really sell the tragedy of it all.

“Epiphany” tells the story of people in the middle of a horrible crisis, witnessing unspeakable traumas that will haunt them for the rest of their lives, and praying for some kind of relief in the brief moments of rest they can barely scrounge together. Some kind of promise that things may eventually get better, if you just hold on. And it captures that kind of horror beautifully.

There’s also this recognition of how sometimes, your power over your life is taken away from you. Taylor mentions how, through reflection on writing this album, how interesting it was how things in her life came undone, only to come back together, as though life was reorganizing everything on her behalf. It’s kinda like “invisible string,” except recognizing the nastier parts of life that happen without rhyme or reason. And I just appreciate that recognition, and the peace that comes with accepting that not everything is in your control.

But on a real note, the pandemic’s far from over, fam. I know we wish we could go back to normal, but safety comes first. If you can, get your ass vaccinated, and encourage people who can get vaccinated to get theirs to. The more people we can get vaccinated, the sooner we can get through this. And even when you’re vaccinated, make sure you still wear your mask when you’re in public, because even if you can’t get sick, the virus can still use you to travel. And for the love of god, if someone you know is saying COVID is a hoax, please slap the shit out of them. We did not lose over half a million people to this to have some random relative on Facebook scream about masks being oppressive while spreading the virus everywhere he goes.

BETTY (he was a fool, as all boys are, but they’re also cute so what can we do?):

Men. Ain’t. Shit.

But seriously, this song perfectly captures the thoughts of a dumb cishet teenage boy who don’t know no better. His worldview is so simple. He fucked up, hurt his girlfriend, and is now trying to explain himself and make things up to Betty. The line, “Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?” fucking SENT me.

In a way, this song is how we wish someone would act after they hurt us. The dream of how they’d actually reflect on why they did what they did, own up to it, and make a big dumb show out of making it up to us. It’s super cute, simple, and uplifting, something that is desperately needed on an album so rife with darker emotions, and a great way to finish off the love triangle.

I just love the fact we’re hearing James talking to Betty in his head, trying to figure out what to say and how she might react. He’s actually putting in the work to figure out how what he did hurt her, and it makes us wanna root for him, even if we may be shaking our head at this dumb, dumb boi. Like oh my god james, you fucking dense son of a bitch.

And what certainly tracks with James’ nonchalance is the way he just writes August off as a simple mistake. Something that tempted him, but even when he was with her, his heart was still with Betty. Because men. Ain’t. Shit. I will not tolerate August mistreatment in my house. James, get the fuck out and think about what you did, probably drunk under a streetlight.

Funnily enough, Taylor made “cardigan” with Aaron, then made “august” with Jack, and then made “betty” with the both of them, which adds to how this feels like the natural endpoint of the love triangle’s storyline. Also, Joe apparently sang the whole chorus of this? Like, the full finished chorus. Because he is perfect.

Also… THAT HARMONICA THO. Harmonica rights.

PEACE (ironically the least peaceful song):

Ironically, this is the least peaceful song on the album for me. I know a lot of people, Taylor included, think otherwise, and with that beautiful guitar I can see why. But that beat at the very beginning makes me think of a heartbeat when you’re high on anxiety, and then I start feeling anxious, and then the lyrics make me more anxious, and it’s a very fun spiral from there.

Which, honestly, works with the message of the song. This acute fear where you love someone, and you’re willing to rake yourself across the coals for them, but the one thing you can never give them is peace. You can’t give them a quiet, relaxing life where there are no problems to deal with, because something in your own life, or something intrinsic to you, means new problems will always be just around the bend; it’s only a matter of time. The question is, does that make you unlovable? Is it something that the person you love can handle?

Aaron talked about his own struggles with depression, and it’s clear he and Taylor used that as a bit of a springboard, along with her own fears of losing lovers to how much media attention she receives, and the fact she can’t even leave her home without having to disguise herself. In both cases, it’s something that just comes with who they are, and they fear that it’s something that will make maintaining love unattainable, or at the very least, make it potentially tiresome.

It’s a very real fear most people have in relation to their mental health, chronic illness, or just whatever their insecurities may be, however small. None of us are perfect. We’re all works in progress, and sometimes that means your problems are gonna fuck up your relationships. But it’s also important to realize this isn’t just the case for you—it’s true for everyone. Love isn’t about putting your partner on a pedestal and thinking they’re flawless; it’s seeing them as perfect and loving them… not even despite their flaws, but putting them into perspective.

“You paint dreamscapes on the wall, I talk shit with my friends; it’s like I’m wasting your honor.” Trust me, there’s no honor to be wasted. So long as you put the work into bettering yourself, you will find the love you deserve, but it first has to come from yourself. The people who matter, friends and romantic partners alike, will help you when you need it. They’ll call you out as needed. They’ll catch you when you fall, and you them. That’s where the true peace comes from. Not from some picturesque ideal in your head that could never be, but from knowing you have someone who’s got your back no matter what.

Oh, also love the line, “Give you the silence that only comes when two people understand each other.” Now that is one of the most peaceful things that is to be cherished.

HOAX (my tears ricochet but make it sadder):

“Hoax” is a beautiful word. Taylor even says so herself. Aesthetically, it’s short, sweet, and mysterious thanks to the little ‘x’ at the end. Unassuming, but dangerous. And in the context of folklore, it’s a powerful ending to the album.

The “hoax” can refer to a number of things simultaneously. It can be laughing at how the people you loved turning on you or leaving you behind, like “my tears ricochet,” but it can also be you wondering why other people are still sticking around even in your lowest moments. Both the beauty and terror in the fact that love can give meaning to life, but it can also bring harm when it turns sour or dies.

This song is actually a lot like ‘my tears ricochet.’ To me, their visuals share a connection to water, probably thanks to the lyric videos, along with the lyrics referring to tears, waves, and literally the color blue. But on a lyrical level, “hoax” is in a way more devastating. “My tears ricochet” is the emotional reaction to the betrayal, screaming at the other person, demanding to know why they did what they did. “Hoax,” by contrast, sits in that pain, and in a way, looks back fondly on everything that led up to it.

If a love ends tragically, does that mean it wasn’t worth it? Does the pain and trauma erase the joy it once brought? Was the connection itself a “hoax” to the bitter end? Funnily enough, this theme does get explored further in evermore, but “hoax” isn’t quite at the conclusion of, say, “happiness.” “Hoax” is still processing the pain, and she’s taking her time figuring out how she feels about all of this.

Taylor describes love as, “Who would you be sad with? Who would you deal with when they were sad?” And likewise, who would be willing to sit there in your saddest moments? And I think that’s a beautiful way to describe love. Being willing to be there for someone in their lowest moments, and have them be willing to do the same for you in yours. You balance each other out, and that can be platonic or romantic. Love is so much more complicated and messy than we often think it is.

The song also works as Taylor speaking to several people at once. To her old label after they sold her art out from under her. To her partner, who’s been her rock through it all. And to the fans, who even after all these years, all these albums and all these highs and lows, are still here. Are still listening.

“Hoax” is the perfect way to end the standard album. After reflecting on all these different stories, these folk tales, it can leave you in a dark place. Leave you wondering why we bother carrying on. When people can leave, or be taken from us, when life can be so chaotic and cruel, why bother getting out of bed? Why bother waking up when you could just go back to sleep, listening to the rain outside.

But then… the rain stops, the clouds part, and the sun breaks through.

THE LAKES (if a tree falls in a forest and no one tweets about it, did it really fall?):

“The lakes” is my favorite Taylor Swift song, probably my favorite song of all time right now, and has been since I first listened to it. There’s just something about this song, in its lyrics, production, and story, that transports me to another world, and makes me feel completely at peace with the world and my life.

So much of folklore has been about looking back at the past and using that to learn how to cope with the present and plan for the future, and with this song in particular, Taylor reflects on all the poets and writers who lived in the Lake District, escaping into nature to enjoy their craft away from the pressures and judgments of the rest of the world. It’s pure cottagecore energy, but with extra artsy flair.

Taylor has expressed a desire to escape from the public eye, going off into her own little bubble, making her art, and enjoying her peace, something that she’s been doing since her Reputation era, prioritizing her privacy. It’s a dream that novelists refer to as the “hermit author,” a creative who publishes their work, but doesn’t have to put themselves personally out there to be successful and can enjoy their privacy. And generally speaking, that ideal is now considered dead in publishing, and honestly in every other creative field as well.

Which is so sad. Because we’ve discussed in other songs like “cardigan” and “mirrorball” how having to be different versions of yourself, all entertaining, scintillating, yet acceptable, all at once for every single person, is not only exhausting, but incredibly damaging to people. It’s no wonder these creatives just wanted to say “fuck it” and run off into the woods to forget it all. And honestly… same. I haven’t even published my first book yet and I’m already sold. (sidenote: anybody know any good real estate agents who specialize in gay cottagecore?)

Even as I write this, I’m up at like 1:30 a.m. when I should be in bed, all alone listening to folklore and just sitting with my emotions, completely detached from the rest of the world, and it’s so hard to be able to maintain that solitude when your job requires you to care about other people’s opinions. It’s hard to be vulnerable knowing you’ve got so many eyes watching.

But I also saved this song for last because it’s the true ending to the album. It is sad, yes, how the narrator has been driven from the public eye, and is grieving all they’ve been through. That the pain is still there, burrowing under their skin, when whatever caused it is long gone. But it’s also happy. It’s excitement at the thought of escaping into nature with the ones you love, shutting out the rest of the world, and just being happy and creating for creativity’s sake.

My personal favorite lines are “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground with no one around to Tweet it.” I’ve probably mentioned it before, but Twitter was a terrible crutch for me for a long time. I became obsessed with the platform, using it to seek out external validation, and letting it turn me into a combative, unhappy person, and since I’ve left it, I’ve been so much happier, enjoying my newfound privacy. Part of that also involves things I’d rather not discuss, but suffice to say I feel I’ve reached a place where… I’m okay.

Everything I’ve been through, it was meant to teach me about myself, and force me to grow. I had to fuck up and stumble, had to be hurt, in order to become the person I am now, and that growth will continue evermore… eyyyyyy. And I think that way of looking at your life and what you’ve been through… maybe it might not work for you, for whatever reason, but I think it’s worth considering.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

Folklore is a stunning album. It’s Taylor’s best work to date, showing her writing and storytelling capabilities in their full glory. I actually hadn’t listened to this album until last November, after my friend Max helped me get back into Taylor’s music, and I’m so grateful he helped with that. So much of Taylor’s story, and especially the stories of folklore, resonated with me, and helped me reflect on what I’ve been through and who I wanna be, and I hope I’ve communicated that well while also providing an entertaining video.

If you wanna know more about Folklore, I highly recommend Chats and Reacts' video series on analyzing Folklore track-by-track, as well as the Long Pond documentary on Disney+. Oh, and I’d also like to recommend an album that’s very similar to folklore that my friend Chris introduced me to a long while back (hi Chris). Give Me A Minute by Lizzy McAlpine has a similar chill, rustic vibe to folklore, with soft, gorgeous vocals, albeit more focused on losing a love and finding a new one, but if you loved folklore, I think you’ll absolutely love Give Me A Minute.

Anyways, if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more content like this from me, then be sure to not only check out my other videos, but also to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. Also please consider, if you’re willing and able, pledging your support of myself and the channel over on Patreon.

I’m the Unicorn of War, and take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die.