Folklore, Taylor Swift’s eighth surprise album showed up and took a turn none of us were expecting. With new sound, new maturity, less mainstream pop, the album has already made its mark on the industry. What stayed constant was possibly the best writing Ms. Swift has ever penned.
The album opens up with The 1, which is literally a song that embodies opening up and cracking the spine of a brand new book. Such mellow production with a great lyrical introduction to what the rest of the album holds. Ms. Swift has her metaphorical paintbrush in hand and in 3 minutes and 30 seconds she has managed to flip over the painting and show us the picture she’s created.
Cardigan is what people are calling her “Lana del Rey like track”. No. This is the influence of new composers that she’s working with this on this entire album, Aaron Dessner. Anyone who knows The National knows Cardigan could easily be on High Violet and we wouldn’t think twice. Cardigan is the first of the trilogy tracks that Ms. Swift has created, she tells the story of a scorned lover: Betty. Cardigan is the track that embodies Betty’s broken spirit, broken heart. And if not for a skillful writer like Ms. Swift we wouldn’t have felt the depth of hurt Betty was experiencing. ‘Vintage tee, brand new phone, high heels on, cobblestones.’ There she is showing us the picture she painted again embraced in that melancholic mood.
The Last Great American Dynasty on my first listen was the track that I immediately wanted to put on repeat. I wanted to keep dissecting the lyrics and listen to the story. The magic created by Mr. Dessner and Ms. Swift is a gift to all of us listening out here. The writing and the slide guitar creates such a suburban rich feel. Based on a true story, the previous owner of Ms. Swift’s Rhode Island home, it’s an interesting dedication, yet appropriate? Ms. Swift has created the folklore that she aptly titled the album.
We gracefully merge into the next lane, and are embraced in the vocals of Justin Vernon with Exile. It’s hard to pay attention to the minimal production and the writing of the song when Mr. Vernon’s voice is so centre stage. His voice holds such a bold and rich tone, when he hits that note on the word ‘now’, we all felt it and went back to listen to it. It’s such a beautifully created duet that will create its quiet legacy over the years, the back and forth between the male and female perspectives is always such a treat.
Take a breath. We are in for a doozy. ‘We gather here, we line up, weeping in a sunlit room’. Ms. Swift has taken us to her funeral. The pain is audible in Ms. Swift’s voice, the song is not necessarily about an ex lover, but more so her previous label owner: Scott Borchetta. “I didnt have it in myself to go with grace”, a clear reference to the public fight she is in with her previous label. Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift are a musical match made in heaven, he speaks her language in terms of the sentiment she’s trying to create, and the build up with the drums is taking us on a journey: introduction, body, climax, a incomplete resolution that is accompanied by that beautiful fade.
We are brought back to a lighter mood with Mirrorball, kind of. The instrumentals are much lighter, but the same can’t be said for the lyrics. Ms. Swift is the disco ball, she wants to reflect everything around her, become everything everyone wants. But the opposite also happens, the ball is dropped and it wont bounce back, it will shatter with all its personalities breaking. She wants to capture the attention of her lover. Now if this song is based on true feeling or not is up in the air, but regardless it’s what Ms. Swift is known for: her extensive comprehensive metaphors.
The seventh song “Seven”, is a beautiful beautiful love letter to one of Ms. Swift’s childhood friends. The descriptives in this song, ‘love you to the Moon and to Saturn’, ‘your braids like a pattern’, such small nuances that make or break the song into what it is. The friend has a difficult childhood and Ms. Swift somehow manages as an adult to capture the perspective of a Taylor the child and describe what she witnessed in her friends home. The story she is telling us is again the total opposite of the upbeat production created by Mr. Dessner. A standout on the album. One thing Ms. Swift is not constantly praised for, her vocals, but Seven is a song where her voice shines. It’s a song made for that soft head voice she loves so much.
The second song in the trilogy ‘August’ has been tied for my favourite song on the entire album. Mr. Antonoff and Ms. Swift have again created that melodious magic they are so infamous for. The opening verse and we are sooo entranced we don’t know where to pay attention, it took me a few listens to actually pay attention to the songwriting because the composition is so beautiful. But once I listened to the lyrics, I was absolutely blown away. They made me start to tear up and bawl instantly. Ms. Swift while presently being content in her relationship somehow got into the mind frame of Betty’s man’s mistress. The longing, the hope, the ultimate concession that he’s not hers, it’s so so heartbreaking for a different reason. “Cancelled plans incase you called”. There is no justice to be done describing this song in my mediocre words, please grace yourselves and take a listen.
We are now in the second half of the album, and have flown to a song we can alll relate to. This Is Me Trying, is everyone trying to grow up. Ms. Swift discovering all her flaws is usually at least on one track on all her albums, this specific song is a little more loud and blatant about it. She has been publicly criticized of never admitting she’s in the wrong and this is her letter to a relationship, the world, that she’s human. She’s trying. She’s evolving. She’s growing. She’s not idle.
Illicit Affairs. If nothing else is proof that Taylor Swift’s writing has matured, this song should do that. Her views on infidelity are much more sympathetic than most of us have, it’s a different perspective on what is considered immoral. There is nothing to say about this song, it speaks for itself. The composition is very very soft in the background, Ms. Swift’s words are front and centre. This almost feels like another song in the view of Betty’s man’s mistress. She has completely forsaken herself for the hope of a relationship with a taken man, and she knows it’s wrong, but she also cannot stop. It’s absolutely beautifully scripted.
Invisible String is being acclaimed as the best song Ms. Swift has ever penned and for good reason. It’s a love letter to her current Lover, and it is such a MATURE take on her previous relationships. She’s not the scorned lover anymore, she’s now grateful for that invisible thread that pulled her away from the previous relationships and threw her into the right one. There is many many parallels in this specific song that correlate with her previous album ‘Lover’, just a more refined word usage and minimal instrumentals.
Mad Woman starts as a soft harmony, I initially thought this sounds like its going to be a mellow song to vibe to. No. The production may be mellow, but Ms. Swift shows her fury at societal norms that censor women. So of course Ms. Swift totally uncensored herself by using language women are deemed using as ‘crude’. Everything in this song cannot be deemed an opinion, it’s all, like the kids say, ‘spitting facts’. The constant piano chords in the background accompany the variation of Ms. Swift’s vocal ups and downs, with of course that undertone of her seething anger.
Continuing with this alternative moody music we are introduced to an organ in Epiphany. The calm peaceful organ takes a turn into eery with each layer pulled back to reveal the next. The song is everything that is 2020. Maybe it’ll be a memory we’ll all reminisce about in the distant future, but currently all of our wounds are so fresh with everything happening in the world, we cannot help but feel the weight of the world with this song. The highlight despite the heavy subject at hand, is definitely Ms. Swift’s vocals once again, the song has been almost entirely been sung in her head voice.
The third song in the trilogy, Betty, takes us to that escape we so crave after Epiphany. This is the song told in the point of view of the man in between Betty and the mistress. The way this song is written, sung with that slight twang, composition, the harmonica, it’s reminiscent of Ms. Swift’s earlier pieces of work. Told in the perspective of James, a very unisex name, it’s a tail of remorseful young love infidelity. He/She regrets his summer affair and is considering begging for Betty back. Almost seeming manipulative it seems as if Betty is thriving without James. James doesn’t take accountability for anything, if anything he/she says that they couldn’t resist the temptation. ‘Slept next to her, but I dreamt of you all summer long’, how apt, how cliched, how many of us women have heard that line before? The key change in the final bridge is so upbeat and makes you so invested in the story, it’s beautiful how Ms. Swift ties in all three trilogy songs together in that final verse. The mind it takes to constantly put pieces of the puzzle together like that, it’s why she deserves all the acclaim and more.
Peace incorporates Ms. Swifts synthesizers, and again it’s a song with very similar themes to This Is Me Trying. This is more of direct conversation to her lover, showing all her flaws and all the baggage that comes with her. She’s almost convincing him that she will love him with everything she has, but that doesn’t mean her life doesn’t come with drama. Its all drama that she doesn’t have control over with her fame and notoriety, it comes with the job she loves oh so much. She’s almost apologetic for the kind of the love she has to offer, its not the most flawless form of it, but its what she has to offer.
The album comes to a close with Hoax, what an interesting word. Melancholy takes over with the sharp piano melody and soft heavy voice of Ms. Swift. Ms. Swift took herself, her emotions and put them to the side, while she stepped into the shoes of someone like Betty. She embodied every single emotion of someone being broken, someone being ripped apart, someone so hurt yet wanting someone that causes every single one of those pains. The manipulation, the playing games, it’s all accepted if that person is still in her life. Its absolutely soul bearing, yet the soul of someone else. How is that not art personified? Hoax is such a perfect closure for such a masterpiece of an album.
Anyone saying this isn’t Ms. Swifts strongest work up to date, saying this isn’t a masterpiece, saying it requires ‘pruning’, has not understood the concept of the album. They have not researched, they have not actually listened to the stories she’s telling, they are not appreciating let alone experiencing the art that has been created. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Ms. Swift for giving us this gift of an album. The influences of Joni Mitchell, The National, Bon Iver are insanely prevalent on the Folklore, and it’s a beautiful ode to her fans. Yes. This is the album fans have been begging for years, and Ms. Swift never fails to disappoint.
About Author
