A year and a day ago from today, Taylor Swift casually announced on her Instagram that she would be releasing a full studio album to the world. WHAT?! I’m not on Instagram all that often, but last July 23rd was one of the nights that I checked my DMs after my Thursday night online class. I see a message from my friend John, another Swiftie, referencing her post. WOW! Only 3 hours in the future, Taylor will drop her 8th studio album!!
The surprise release was a very out of left field move by the woman who always has long build-ups to merchandise her new albums as much as possible the initial release day. In hindsight now, it was the perfect business move to drop the album right away as many other artists pushed back their music due to the pandemic. The public craved for some new entertainment after Netflix slowed down on new releases and the NBA bubble had yet to begin. Say what you want about Taylor’s music, but she clearly has one of the brightest business minds in the music industry. She had the music ready, and the fans were ready to hear.
Even though I had to get up somewhat early the next day, I stayed until midnight to listen to the first 4 songs on the album: “the 1”, “cardigan”, “the last great american dynasty”, and “exile”. I immediately noticed the lack of capitalization, which is a very “indie” trend in music and a middle finger to all of the high school English teachers. My sister has not used capitalization in her texting since 2018 as she does not want to be “bounded by the established rules of grammar” (or something like that). Idk. The lack of capitalization signaled that Taylor, much like a Pokemon, has evolved into a new form. The fact that Taylor was experimenting with a new sound was clear to me after the first 4 songs.
Immediate vibes of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago came to my head after listening to the full album the next day. She collaborated with Bon Iver on the song “exile” as well as giving Justin Vernon a writing credit for the album. The album covers for both folklore and For Emma Forever have a grey melancholy appearance featuring lots of trees. Also, the fact that Justin Vernon wrote the entirety of For Emma, Forever Ago while locked solo in a Wisconsin backwoods cabin in the middle of the winter some 14 years ago. The writing process of being trapped inside in a quarantine (Justin self-quarantined for different reasons) led to that connection between the two albums. As I continued to listen to folklore throughout the last year, the album connection with Bon Iver loses its strength. For Emma has a consistent melancholy sad break-up depression feeling throughout the album.
While folklore has those moments of sadness, it is more a roller coaster of emotions. One minute, we are sad, then happy the next, then a little bitter, then chill the next. That’s why this album came out at the perfect time because the middle of 2020 was ever-changing emotionally relating to the events in our world with the pandemic, protests, the upcoming election, and the gradual reopening of normal life. It’s all too much to process! And folklore allowed us to escape to this world of childhood summers of “peaking at seven feet in the swing over the creek”, “meeting behind the mall”, and “kissing on the porch in front of all your stupid friends”. But in that escape, she reminds us of the importance of mental health and vulnerability especially on songs like “mad woman”, “this is me trying”, “epiphany”, and “mirrorball”.
It’s so difficult to rank the best songs from the album because 1. they are all good and 2. songs hit stronger at different times of the day or year and in different environments. With that being said, I’ll list out some of my favorite songs from folklore and why I love them.
- “the last great american dynasty”: I can’t say this song was one of my favorites when first listening to the album. It’s one of those songs that grows with age because of the quality of storytelling. Taylor poetically shares the non-fictional story of a billionaire widow from the early 20th century who faces the critics of her lifestyle in managing her late husband’s empire. I love the way she is able to fit a biographical account of this woman’s life, who she never met, into a 4 minute song. And in classic Taylor fashion, she ties the story back to her as she is the current owner of this widow’s home.
- “mirrorball” : I already discussed this song in my last post, so I will not go into too much detail here. Taylor beautifully incorporates the musical elements of the shoegaze/dream pop genre of bands like the Cocteau Twins and Alvvays.
- “seven”: So much throw-back nostalgia on this track. It takes me back to the late summers and falls as a child playing football in the yard or rolling around in the fallen leaves. The age of 7 really was the peak of this outdoor fun because you were old enough to be able to travel across the yards to the neighbors to play. However, you were young enough to still have fun with everyone and anyone. This is the age before you where you did not care about anyone’s background or backstory. You just wanted to have fun and be carefree. This song is really a reminder about the importance of that childhood innocence.
- “august”: From the first verse of the “salt air and rust on your door”, I have loved this song. I never look forward to the month of August because it means the season of summer is nearing the end with the start of school. I always reflect back to all of the fun moments of that summer sometime in the middle of August. Taylor captures the fun of a summer fling so well in this song. Much like the summer, no one wants the fun to end, and it sucks when it does reach the finale. I really love the long fade on this song and the repeated guitar riff. Musically, it captures that theme of not wanting the summer fun to end, but the next song has to come. Speaking of the next song…
And then canceled my plans just in case you’d call?”
- “this is me trying”: Damn. This song hits in a very melancholy way. I’m really surprised this is not one of her signature personal 5th tracks on the album songs because this is very much a Taylor track 5. The first minute of the song with the slow tempo, the ghostly distorted echo added to her voice, and the opening stanza lyrics created this environment that anyone who has struggled with mental health can relate to. The line “pulled the car off the road to the lookout and could’ve followed my fears on the way down” is a reminder of the level of darkness our interior thoughts can reach. Man, struggling with mental health can be a mountainous challenge especially with relationships. Whether it be a romantic relationship, friendship, business relationship, we sometimes try so hard to make something work with someone else. When it fails, we take that failure to heart to the point that the failure defines us. Take Ross Gellar from Friends, who dealt with many failed marriages throughout the show. However, he forced so many of those relationships because he did not want to be defined as the “guy with all of the divorces”. It all led to a self-fulfilling prophecy by trying too hard to make a bad relationship work. We can learn from Ross and from Taylor. It sucks when things just are not working when you are trying, but it’s okay. We are all loved by someone else, and it’s not worth all of time trying with those who do not love us back.
- “betty”: What great storytelling skills Taylor possesses! This song reminds me of one of those high school coming of age movies as you follow this intriguing story of a boy who knew he messed up with a girl. I love the way she uses a first person point of view and switches that point of view to that of both the boy in “betty” and the girl in “august”. The country style (especially the added touch of the harmonica) of the song creates this imagery of a smaller town where stories like this one happen (probably) quite often.
When I passed your house
It’s like I couldn’t breathe”
- “peace”: As I have listened to the album more and more, this song really stands out. Musically, there is not much going on, which allows the song to showcase the incredible lyrics. The groovy bassline throughout the song lays the perfect backdrop for some of Taylor’s best and most personal lyrics ever. This song is very similar to “Call Me What You Want” as it is a very personal love song and the way the lyrics flow so rhythmically and poetically. “I’m a fire and I’ll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade oceans wave blues come” is so impressive the way that line flows out of her mouth. Unlike many of her earlier love songs in her career, “peace” explores mature aspects of love like growing old together and the concern of “not being enough” for the other person. I hope to hear more love songs like “peace” in the future.
Family that I chose, now that I see your brother as my brother
Is it enough?”
I never like to properly rank any album for an artist until it’s been out for at least a year. The album needs to experience all 4 seasons (if you live in the Midwest) and all of the holidays to understand how it holds up. Since folklore was released in the middle of the pandemic, the album will always be linked to that period of time and one of the best things the pandemic birthed. Taylor experiments a lot on folklore as she begins to dabble in unearthed (for her) genres of music. Of course, she excels so well in her transition to untapped genres due to her smart collaborations and strong lyrics. This album ranks right with Red for me in her discography. Both albums showcase Taylor exploring new music and perfecting the feeling of uneven emotions (in a good way). Red expresses the uneven emotions of love, while folklore expresses the up and down emotions of quarantine.
folklore is a great album to listen to on vinyl as it is more of a self-listening experience and sounds great on headphones. It captures the season of late summer and early fall very well. She shares stories that are from the recent past (like events that happened that past summer if your point of view is September). Taylor starts to take inspiration less from her personal life and more from a fictional storyteller narrator point of view, which seems like the direction her songwriting will travel in future albums. Taylor continues this similar new indie style on her 9th studio album evermore, but evermore is not at all a continuation of folklore even though they are classified as “sister albums”. More to come on that album in December.
