Folklore - Taylor Swift
Track List:
The 1
Cardigan
The Last Great American Dynasty
Exile (feat. Bon Iver)
My Tears Ricochet
Mirrorball
Seven
August
This Is Me Trying
Illicit Affairs
Invisible String
Mad Woman
Epiphany
Betty
Peace
Hoax
I don’t think that I’ve heard any of this
I’ve heard Taylor Swift before, I’ve listened to 1989. I don’t think I’ve listened to any albums before. I have heard some songs here and there but couldn’t even start to tell anyone what they are about. This is also album #100 for the year for me. It really doesn’t feel like it. I know I haven’t put a post here for each album I’ve listened to so far. Anyhoo I am excited about this. I’ve been curious to hear a Taylor Swift album for a bit and one of my co-workers suggested this one after I said not 1989.
The 1
She is singing about a former lover. No idea who but she doesn’t seem to be fully over the relationship. The soundscape is nice. A minimal drum beat, clean piano, violin, and Taylor.
Cardigan
Seems to tell a story of a love triangle between 2 women and a man. One of the women is the narrator. She is aware of the “competition” and while I don’t think she is fully resolved to the relationship she feels some contentment.
The Last Great American Dynasty
I think she is telling us about a house she purchased. Apparently it was owned by an oil baron heir who passed away young after marriage. The widow partied the money away. Now Taylor owns their house.
Exile (feat. Bon Iver)
A duet about ex-lovers and awkwardness when they see each other after they break up. They reflect upon their relationship and the 2 voices both show their own perspectives and misunderstandings of each other and the relationship.
My Tears Ricochet
One of my fears from listening to a Taylor Swift album is that every song is going to be about relationships ending. That’s actually a pretty big theme for a lot of music it seems. Well this is another song that seems to be about.
Mirrorball
Disco ball? The song doesn’t have a disco beat. So it’s about her being the disco ball in a relationship. It’s a weird metaphor, the song is really pretty.
Seven
This one is about a childhood friendship with someone who doesn’t have a pleasant homelife.
August
A song about an ill fated relationship with someone over the summer that fades as the season. I enjoy the switching between her more poppy sounding voice and the lower monotone voice in the chorus. It’s not a break up song, rather a remembrance of a relationship.
This Is Me Trying
I like the intro and the soundstage. This is the second time I remember that she uses the idea of rust to convey the passage of time and decay of a relationship.
Illicit Affairs
A song about being in an affair where the singer is the side piece, it sounds like she is singing from experience and her frustrations with the relationship in retrospect.
Invisible String
This seems to be an idea of a connection between people in a relationship being connected by an unknown force? I find the lines “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart. Now I send their babies presents” amazingly petty and hilarious.
Mad Woman
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Taylor has been scorned.
Epiphany
A song about medical personnel? The first verse seems to be talking about a combat medic however as the song goes on it seems to be describing the medical field over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her singing is really impressive.
Betty
I really like the way this one starts. The song is about a person apologizing to an ex for cheating on them. This seems to be the guy who was involved in the song August as the narrator. With the reference I suspect that Betty is also the singer of Cardigan in this story.
Peace
A song about being exposed due to fame and how it affects her and any partner.
Hoax
A song about keeping yourself in a relationship that you know isn’t working out.
That was good
Like really good. I guess that shouldn’t surprise me, she is one of the most successful artists at the moment. There were a lot of themes of ending relationships and infidelity from many perspectives. I am sure there is much deeper lore to explore, perhaps a full story about a love triangle and how everyone feels miserable when people betray one another in relationships.
