2020 (and also 2021) was a shit show.
I don’t think that’s a controversial statement to make. Inequality, intolerance, and
injustice, all problems that have been getting worse in recent years, and all converging
with the advent of a fucking plague. Watching the world burn, it feels trivial to
complain about being stuck inside for a year. Wait… it’s been over a year
already? (two years now) IT’S MAY?! Well as of writing and recording
this it’s May. What? God… But it’s no surprise we all feel helpless and
alone right now. The pandemic is still wreaking havoc now in 2021 (and 2022 lol kill me), and
though things may not be as dire as they have been (oop), it still feels like we’re limping
towards the finish line. It’s enough to drive anyone mad. Now more than ever, people need an
escape from it all to distract them from the fact that the world is spinning out of control, and the
wheel is out of our hands. Or anyone’s hands. Yo, is anyone actually driving the bus?!
And right on cue, in drops folklore, Taylor Swift’s 8th studio album. Now you’re
probably thinking, “Taylor Swift? As in pop-star-who-writes-about-breakups Taylor
Swift? What’s she gonna do, make me cry over how much I love my nonexistent Lover while I
poison my ex’s champagne with mineral oil?” To which I say… yeah, probably? But folklore is
actually a massive departure from her usual style. Swift’s work is far more musically diverse than
most give it credit for, especially given she’s one of the rare cases of an artist who actually
writes her own songs, albeit with the help of one or two co-writers for most tracks. But that’s
for another time. Folklore itself is unique in the fact that it isn’t a pop album at all. Instead
of relying on earworm hooks and catchy choruses, folklore takes inspiration from, as the name
suggests, indie folk music with an emphasis on dark, reflective lyrics. Rather than make you
wanna dance, folklore looks you in the eye, tells you there’s no such thing as love and life
is shit, and then leaves you to lie awake staring at the ceiling and crying about how pointless
everything is until 3 a.m. No? Just me? Okay then. “There’s something about the complete and
total uncertainty about life that causes endless anxiety, but there’s another part that
causes sort of a release of the pressures that you used to feel. Because if we’re going to have
to recalibrate everything, we should start with what we love the most. And I think that’s what we
were sort of unconsciously doing with this. And I was so glad that we did, because it turned out
that everyone needed a good cry, as well as us.” Lyrical storytelling has always been a
strength of Swift from her early days, and folklore is proof of how much she’s
excelled in her craft. From stories of wild widows diving into champagne-filled pools,
to haunting someone who betrayed you and had the gall to turn up to your funeral, to even
describing the nightmare doctors and nurses have been living through over the last [two years]
trying to save as many lives as they can, the stories of folklore are raw, honest, and soulful.
The inclusion of Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner as co-producers definitely helped as well.
Jack is a music producer and songwriter, and he’s been with Taylor ever since 1989, helping
produce classics such as “Out of the Woods,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Getaway
Car,” “Cruel Summer,” and many more. Aaron’s also a producer, with this being
the first album he’s worked with Taylor on. And from my understanding, Aaron actually creates
the instrumental tracks for the song he’s part of, or some of them, and then Taylor writes
the lyrics based on what she hears. I’m not sure which songs were written to track,
but I do find that process interesting of how a song comes together no matter where you start.
“When [Taylor] reached out, I had this large folder of ideas that were pretty well on their
way. She was very clear that she didn’t want me to edit any of my ideas; she wanted to
hear everything that was interesting to me at this moment, including really odd, experimental
noise. So I made a folder of stuff, including some pretty out-there sketches. A few hours later, she
sent “cardigan,” fully written in a voice memo. That’s when I realized that this was unusual—just
the focus and clarity of her ideas. It was pretty astonishing. Over the next couple months, this
would just happen; all of a sudden, I’d get a voice memo. And then another. Eventually, it was
so inspiring that I wrote more ideas that were specifically in response to what she was writing.”
I know this album has definitely helped me through some tough times over the last few months. I
actually wasn’t able to listen to any of Taylor’s music for a long time following a particularly
painful breakup, and thankfully, my friend Maxwell helped reintroduce me to Taylor’s music and even
get me into folklore. Though it was initially shadow dropped in July of 2020, I didn’t listen to
the full thing until late November… weirdly right before evermore dropped. If that ain’t a sign
of some invisible string, I don’t know what is. But I immediately fell in love with the album.
Instantly, these stories of lost love, grief, betrayal, and hope in the midst of despair
resonated with me. I found myself taken to another world, simultaneously lost in
lush pastures stretching towards infinity, and rocky cliff sides screaming into the deafening
waves crashing far below. I was made to confront every disappointment, every heartbreak, and
every failure, and reflect on the steps that had brought me there. And I was left to wonder
how I could use the pains and missteps along my journey to do better, for myself and for others.
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I describe folklore as a spiritual experience. I listen to
this album almost every day, keeping it on loop on Spotify, and obsessing over the gorgeous lyric
videos. The small, minimalist text against the stock footage of rolling tides and gathering storm
clouds? Chef’s kiss, every single one. This album has done so much for me, and I’d imagine it’s done
a lot for others, so today, I wanna talk about why. And if you haven’t listened to folklore cuz
you’re convinced Taylor Swift isn’t your style, maybe you’ll give me a chance to make my
case for her. I mean, she doesn’t need me to, but I’m doing this cuz I love her music. And I
know it’s very different from my usual content, but I’d appreciate it if you stuck through this.
If you find you enjoy this video all the way to the end, I highly recommend the long pond sessions
on Disney + so you get to hear insight from the creators themselves about their masterpiece
firsthand. I’ll also be using piano covers of the folklore songs by Minnz Piano when
discussing each track. They’re beautiful, highly suggest y’all go listen to them, so good.
In any case, we’ll be exploring each track and talking about each story in depth. Now I
wanna preface this by saying I am in no way a musical expert. My field of expertise is in
writing and storytelling, and though I’m still a (formerly) aspiring author (we published, woo),
and I’m still learning my craft, I wanna share why exactly I appreciate the masterful
storytelling of folklore, primarily through its lyrics. I’ll occasionally try to bring up some
of the more obvious bits of the production that add to some of the tracks’ atmospheres, but
for the most part, I’m staying in my lane. Now before we dive in, let’s set the stage a bit
and talk about what folk music is. By taking a look at its roots, we’ll be able to understand
how folklore was able to exemplify the genre, and use that to break into our hearts and
leave us hunched over, crying in pain. Do you remember how in school they
taught us about oral storytelling? How back in ye olden days before we could ask
Google how to file our taxes or why we’re even here, people would pass down stories from
one generation to the next by word of mouth. Which like, how in the fuck did people memorize
something like the iliad from beginning to end, when I can’t even remember what
I ate for breakfast last Tuesday? That’s essentially how folk music operates.
There’s no concrete definition or set of criteria that objectively makes something a folk song.
Rather, it’s all about stories told through music within a community, often passed
down from one person to the next. Every culture has its own folk music precisely
because it is the music of the people. That’s what the word “folk” literally means, thank you German.
“Better people than me have tried to say. I’m no scholar. I’m no authority. All I can
say is some people think folk music has to be 300 years old; good and moldy, like a cheese.
Other people say it’s anything that folks sing. I usually think it’s a quality that some songs
have got more of, and other songs have less of.” That guy in particular sang a pretty underrated
bop you probably haven’t heard of. Ya know, a lil “Skip to my Lou”? Yeah. That guy. I say “sang”
rather than “wrote” because “Skip to my Lou” actually goes all the way back to a game
Honest Abe liked to play about stealing your friend’s girlfriend… okay.
Most folk songs are like that, with roots in games or stories within a community
that often have unknown creators, or have been done over so many times that it doesn’t even
really matter who made it in the first place. It’s less about owning that story and more about
putting your own spin on it. Folk songs are deceptively simple, usually about my land being
your land, or your boyfriend leaving you with your unborn child before you jump off a bridge.
“And here’s where I’ll end it: on the bridge.” Someone check on Dolly Parton, is she okay? I’ll link some videos in the cards and description
you can check out to learn more about folk music, but from what I’ve learned, its philosophy is
one folklore, the album, fully embraces. Up until this point, Swift’s songs for the most part
are autobiographical; stories about or inspired primarily by events from her real life. But with
folklore, she decided to remove that limitation and create entirely fictional stories about the
people living in the woods of her mind, with some light sprinkling of her own experiences here and
there for seasoning. She has, in effect, done the thing that drives most authors to writer’s tears,
but instead of wailing about it like a banshee, she sang like a goddamn angel.
And also instead of a book, she made an album. Though I’m pretty sure
she could write a book if she wanted. I would read the shit out of that book.
She tells stories about someone having-- SIR, I am talking about the Great Taylor
Swift! Fuck you and your engine! I don’t know if the mic picked any of that, but I
find that rude. How am I supposed to convey the illusion that I’m out in the wilderness
recording this in complete, unnatural silence when your engine IS LOUD AS FUCK?! Ahem!
She talks about someone having an affair who demands to be respected and loved even
while they’re kept a secret by their lover; stories about the magic of childhood and how it
dwindles with age; and stories about how boys are stupid, and men, quite frankly, ain’t shit. “I’m
only 17. I don’t know anything, but I know I miss you.” Oh my god, just shut up James, just shut up.
Funnily enough, Taylor even went as far as to craft a love triangle across 3 tracks of the
album: “cardigan,” “august,” and “betty.” We’ll get into that story of teenage cheating
and melodrama shortly, but suffice to say, Taylor Swift is the only person allowed to do
a love triangle now. I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them. Unless it’s a gay love
triangle, in which case… okay, I’ll allow it. Folklore also indulges in cottagecore aesthetic.
Given most of us have been trapped indoors, and have to wear masks and socially distance
ourselves whenever we venture outside, we can’t exactly enjoy the outdoors the way we could
pre-COVID. And I think that’s made a lot of us realize how much we took for granted when we could
go quite literally anywhere we wanted. Taylor describes this need to escape into nature, not
only to escape from the chaos that the pandemic has brought, but also to escape all the drama and
invasion of privacy that her fame has brought her. As such, it makes perfect sense that folklore
relies so heavily on imagery like trees, flowers, pastures, lakes, and so on. In a time where we
can’t go camping or even take a walk without our masks, we can at least let folklore
help us imagine ourselves out in nature, basking in the sweeping vistas and showing us
the wisteria. And so, the stories she's created have taken on a new life in all of us, and the
experiences we bring to the album when we listen further paint our interpretations. It even
keeps up the relaxing cottagecore vibe with the fact the album’s title,
along with all the track titles, are all lowercase. It’s just an extra touch
that I really appreciate aesthetically. With that all setup, it’s time to
delve into each song, beginning with… Have you ever had that moment where everything is
going well, and then inexplicably, your mind takes you back a few years to that person you used to
be in love with? Maybe it was an ex or a crush, or maybe it’s not even romantic, but it’s
someone who used to be a part of your life. You start wondering how they’re
doing, and before you know it you’ve made a whole-ass PowerPoint presentation
catching them up on how your life has gone. Um, just figuratively I mean, um…
That’s “the 1.” It sets up themes of reflection, loss, and eventual acceptance that the rest of
the album will continue to explore in-depth. And as the opener, it keeps things simple.
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 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.” These lyrics 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 and became miserable. It just
means life went on a bit differently than planned. Some other lines I really enjoy are in the chorus.
“Roarin’ 20s, tossin’ pennies in the pool.” Taylor’s imagery is always vivid and fits the vibe
perfectly. This is a reference to the Roaring 20s, a time of economic wealth, luxuriance
and indulgence in American culture, ending with the start of the Great Depression
where that facade collapsed in on itself. It 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 refer to 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 in her imagery. 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. Though it also could be
that she always uses gold to describe true, final love, whereas copper is less valuable but still
charming to the eye in the right light. That’s probably just me reaching, but hey, it’s my video.
Out of all the songs, “the 1” makes me feel most comfy. I know for most people that’s “cardigan,”
but I don’t know what to tell you. (changed my mind, I am now a cozy “cardigan” stan)
The entire album feels that way for me given the cottagecore vibes, but “the
1” (now “cardigan” lol) 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.
Also, can we just appreciate that Taylor knows exactly how to open and close her album every
single time? And the fact Track 1 is literally called “the 1”? And it uses the numerical one
instead of spelling it out? Superior aesthetics. 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 experiences will always inform the stories you tell in some way, consciously
or subconsciously. That’s just what humans do. We share our stories, and when we hear
someone else’s story, we try to relate them to our own. But “cardigan” is a bit special.
Technically it wasn’t the lead single of the album (because the album had no singles), but in
effect it was thanks to the stunning music video. And it’s also the first in a trilogy of
songs dedicated to a fictional love triangle. 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. We’ll go with Augustine to differentiate
between the song and the character. Each song is from a different perspective: “august” is of
course for Augustine; “betty” is for James, singing to Betty; 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 one-dimensional caricatures.
So “cardigan,” according to that narrative, is from Betty’s perspective when she’s an adult.
She’s looking back on the hardship of her love with James when he cheated on her. But now he’s
gotten his shit together, and ultimately he was… “the 1.” Goddammit, Barb! No. I’m not sorry.
However, there’s 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 art 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. Hello, “seven” foreshadowing!
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’s terrifying to think of how the world may scrutinize it, and by proxy,
how it may scrutinize you. 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 on YouTube. 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. Authortuber Alexa Donne talks about this in a
video about Author as Brand. She posits that, at least in the traditional publishing
world, 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. Now you’re expected to have your face all over
social media, you’re meant to be accessible. You yourself are your own brand. And your
books, your creations, anything you make, is secondary to that. I mean, I even knew this
before I made my YouTube channel, because the whole reason I created it was because I was
working on a book, and I had a blog at the time that didn’t get much traction, and I knew that I
would need some kind of author platform to extend my reach and make people care. Cuz who’s gonna buy
the book if no one cares about the author, right? And I’m happy I made my YouTube channel; it’s
one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s helped me grow as a person, it’s helped
me meet so many wonderful people, but it’s also come with a lot of hardships. And in a lot of
ways, it changed how I viewed myself and others, and how I acted… usually not for the better.
I mention all of this because to live that way is exhausting. 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, when maybe all you wanted to do was create something others could enjoy
while still having your own private life away from prying eyes. That’s certainly something
Taylor experienced in the fallout following her 1989 era leading into Reputation,
where she basically went off, then ran away to enjoy her privacy and own her music.
And that’s not even touching on all the ways being a public figure makes you very vulnerable
to public skepticism and canceling if you do one thing wrong. Again, referencing ContraPoints’
Canceling video, and Lindsay Ellis’ Mask Off. A lot of the time when you talk about Taylor’s
music, the discussion will veer into her 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. When I got into Taylor’s music, especially
folklore, I never realized just how intricate her storytelling was. Because of my own perceptions
of her, mostly given to me by cultural osmosis, I just alway assumed it was very shallow music
about breakups, boys, money, all that stuff. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
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 their 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. “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.
Or fan works! God I love Taylor Swift covers. 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 process their own feelings, but
also 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 difficulties honestly in how they can hurt, it’s still a net positive. If the bond
between creator and audience 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 our personal fulfillment,
for the enjoyment of others, and nothing more. Funnily enough, Taylor actually references
her older eras in the first few lyrics. The vintage tee, brand new phone, and high
heels apply to the vintage aesthetic of 1989, the height of her fame. The sequin smile
and black lipstick, meanwhile, refer to the darker vibe of reputation. And sensual politics
refers to Lover’s themes of romance, intimacy, and being unafraid to speak on political issues
for fear of backlash. All rise for the national anthem: “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.”
And on a tangential note, can we talk about the “cardigan” music video 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 filled with nature, 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. Rebekah Harkness was a fucking icon.
A philanthropist, ballet enthusiast, 4-time divorcee (at one point scoring a guy
who was 20 years younger, goddamn girl), and literally wrote in her old scrapbook
that she “set out to do something bad.” She had literal “I Did Something Bad” energy. I
wanted to do some research on her for this video, given this song takes inspiration from her life.
Her story is covered in “Blue Blood” by Craig Unger (I hope I’m saying
that right), which goes for… $700 for a hardcover (guess it went down since I
recorded lol)?! 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 whoever Craig’s publisher is, get to
it and give us the goods. Also Unger, thank you for your service, everyone say
thank you to Craig. It’s not his fault. But “the last great american dynasty” covers
Rebekah’s story quite well. It puts you there on the ground with her as a protagonist,
marrying into wealth and extravagance, only to give up on the--
*burp* Only to belch at parties. Yes.
Only to give up on the posturing of upper class life and go, “Fuck it, I’m gonna
have some fun.” Truly, nothing is more frightening to stuffy rich people than a woman who dares to
have a good time. Lacing punch bowls at parties with mineral oil (it sounds weird, I know,
but apparently it causes constipation, so F in the chat for the rich people’s
bowels), having strippers dancing on tables, and filling an entire pool with,
you guessed it, Don Perignon. But apparently she did not steal her neighbor’s
dog and dye it green. It was, in fact, a cat. I don’t know if Taylor messed that up,
but I think it’s more likely she changed it for some reason given how specific the rest of the
details are. Maybe it’s cuz she’s a cat person, or maybe she herself once dyed one of her
nemeses’ dogs green. Who knows with this woman? Genius did have a note that maybe it was to show
how, as stories are passed on through generations, the smaller details can change, which I feel
is probably the most accurate description. But the idea of Taylor actually dying one of her
enemy’s dogs green is just too funny to give up. So I’d imagine with how many parallels there
are between Rebekah and Taylor’s lives that are just straight up uncanny, that when Taylor
bought Holiday House and did her research, her jaw crashed through the marble floor. She’d been
wanting to write a song about Rebekah for ages. And given folklore has a timeless, reflective
vibe, it makes sense a historical lookback type of song feels right at home on this album.
Ultimately, Rebekah wasn’t this horrible, mad woman that the town and press made her out to
be, as we hear in the song’s lyrics. How somehow, this one woman was able to tarnish some grand
dynasty just by being herself and having fun. All her good deeds? Conveniently
forgotten as we delve into personal drama to demonize her. You could say she was… canceled.
Even the fact she was a divorcee when she married Bill Harkness, who inherited a share of
Standard Oil from his father, makes the town curious as to how she could possibly have
married into wealth. To them, she’s damaged goods who wasn’t born into wealth like them.
Even the fact her husband was new money was enough for people to talk some shit. For those who may
not know, new and old money refers to a difference as to how certain parts of the upper class made
their money. The old money folks inherited their wealth from family; they were literally
born into power, prestige, and privilege, and tend to be more reserved in who they display
their wealth, oftentimes disconnected from the general public. Because they know if they
flaunt their money, they will be guillotined. New money, by contrast, refers to
people who initially lower class and, by whatever circumstances, built their wealth
and tend to be a bit flashier, without class. ContraPoints talks about this in her video
Opulence, which is great and you should watch it for all the pretty colors and set design.
The townsfolk also don’t seem too keen on the fact Rebekah not only parties, but is just her
own person altogether. To say she gave up on the Rhode Island set means she gave up on these games
old money likes to play in “looking the part.” She refused to conform to how society expected
her to act, and as such, she was scorned for it. She paces the rocks and stares out the midnight
sea, which honestly sounds like a whole-ass vibe and aesthetic that I can get down with. But to
them, it’s a signifier of how “weird” she is. Personally, I think it’s meant to reflect
that Rebekah, either as a historical figure or character, tends to think deeply
about life, and to the people around her, it’s considered an oddity.
“People don’t ponder in this town! People don’t admire the sights or take walks
because they feel like it! We just buy things!” Taylor really sells home the connection and
makes you realize what’s going on with that perspective change at the end of the bridge. I
love it when artists change up their choruses, and here, Taylor uses that to emphasize
the parallels between herself and Rebekah. How they’re both kickass women doing their own
thing, often upsetting people in the process who wish they’d just known their place and
do as they’re told. It’s iconic as fuck. And of course, given folklore is all about
these different stories across time that all of us can connect with, this song
shows how someone can hear the story of another person they never knew, who
died long before they were even born, and still find themselves in this other
person’s story. Damn, being a human is wild. Literally only Taylor fucking Swift can make the
story of how she bought a mansion into an iconic feminist ballad of utter relatability and fuck the
rich energy. When she herself is rich. We stan. There is perhaps no more insidious
a killer of relationships than miscommunication. Even if
you have the best of intentions, if you aren’t honest in how you feel, or even
more aware of your own feelings, your connections can very easily corrode over time until they
completely crumble. This is true for all of us, sometimes hoping not to say what we’re feeling
because we’re afraid of hurting the other person or convinced things will get better without
us having to say a word. Or maybe you want to take out your grievances on your partner, and
rather than tell them earnestly how you feel, you rely on passive aggression or more subtle methods
that can come across as mind games after the fact. This is the story of “exile.” We become so certain
of the narratives we craft in our heads, and we’re too arrogant or afraid to be vulnerable to just
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 ceaselessly into the void, all the while talking
past each other and unable to hear the other side. I mean, there’s a reason hearing, “You never gave
a warning sign,” “I gave so many signs,” leaves us all wrecks crying on the kitchen floor. Or
any floor of your home. Any floor is yours. 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. Clearly, he’s messed up somehow, but he was never told how. He was never given the
chance to make up for whatever he did. And now, he’s left bitter, still deeply in love, but
watching that love quickly turn into resentment. 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. Why she couldn’t tell
her partner outright something was wrong is left up to interpretation, but I think it’s
something a lot of people know firsthand, either because they’ve done this, they’ve been
on the receiving end of it, or perhaps they’ve been on both sides at different times.
It could have to do with the lines “I think I’ve seen this film
before, and I didn’t like the ending.” There’s been mentions of film and cinema
in other songs like “the 1,” but here, it seems to mean that both parties can foresee
where this relationship is going. Or at least, they THINK they can foresee it. Maybe they
were right, but there’s also a chance they were both wrong, and their impulse to jump ship
could’ve prevented them from talking it out and making amends before deciding this wasn’t
working. At least then there would be closure, rather than the anguish they’ve both been left in.
And now, the pain lingers. Even with them so far away from each other, they’re still processing
all the grief and heartache. They’ve lost their homeland, their crowns, and now they’re left to
wander aimlessly and alone in exile. Honestly, that’s how the end of a love can feel. Like you’ve
been exiled from your own home, and Taylor’s had lyrics about stolen crowns representing her power
or the thing she cherishes most being 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 too big a 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 the 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. Goddamn, the power in that. Oh, also Taylor fangirling over working with
Justin is precious and relatable as hell. How do you quantify pain? When someone you
once loved hurts you, what hurts worse: being completely blindsided and lost in the
sting of betrayal; or knowing that both of you fucked up to lead you both here, and
wishing you could’ve stopped it somehow? “My tears ricochet” has had a very special place
in my heart since I first listened to it. The imagery is both gorgeous and melancholic, painting
a portrait of the narrator as a ghost, watching as the person who killed them has the gall to attend
their funeral and run their mouth. How did we get here? How did the love we once had turn into this?
“It’s kind of a song about karma. It’s a song about greed. It’s a song about how somebody
could be your best friend and your companion and your most trusted person in your life, and
then they could go and become your worst enemy, who knows how to hurt you because they were once
your most trusted person. It does remind me of people going through a divorce, and having
that person they swore to be with forever, then become the person that they spend
most of their time talking shit about. There’s this beautiful moment in the beginning
of a friendship where these people have no idea that one day, they’ll hate each other,
and try to really take each other out.” This is a deep fear that we all have, and some of
us come to know it very well. For me personally, it’s a sad but cathartic listen,
perfect for when I need to get the tough emotions out. It’s an honest plaint; a
demand to the person who hurt you why they did it. The narrator doesn’t try to act like a complete
victim here, acknowledging their own missteps: “Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe,
all the hell you gave me? Cuz I loved you. I swear I loved you ‘til my dying day.”
You can hear that 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. This betrayal still hurts, lingering in the
narrator’s mind after all this time, because if a love they felt so strongly can lead to such
devastation, then who’s to say all love won’t end that way? If someone you once cared for can
hurt you so deeply and seemingly without remorse, so much so that it takes your life, then can you
ever bring yourself to fully trust someone again? Of course the answer is yes, but this
is a very real place that people go to after they’ve been hurt like this, and I’m happy
Taylor created a song that delves into that darkness without hesitation. I also adore the
lyrics in the second verse. “You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly
scene. You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me.” The narrator regrets how it all went
down, and notes how the person who turned on her bears her gifts as he carries out the deed.
That someone could hurt you this way even after all you did for them… that is a painful image.
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. It has to.
Ultimately, it’s a tragedy. It’s the tale of a deep love that ended in flames, and
now in the aftermath of that destruction, all that’s left is that lingering pain. 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. If you wanna know the full details, I highly
recommend Chats & Reacts’ video where they break down folklore in 4 parts (and also jasmine’s
video onscreen right now), but to summarize, Taylor’s first six albums, from her
debut all the way to reputation, were produced under the Big Machine Records
label, headed by Scott Borchetta. Eventually, Taylor decided she wanted to own her music, as she
believes all artists should own their work, which… yeah, yeah she’s right on that. But
Big Machine refused to let her buy the rights to her first six albums,
Scott knew that eventually the label would be sold off, along with that the masters
to Taylor’s old albums. There was apparently some negotiation where Scott would sell back
the rights to each album one by one to Taylor, but it was a trade-off situation where any new
albums that she made would have to belong to Big Machine in return, and Taylor was not about
that because that is just shifty as fuck. And eventually, Big Machine was bought
out by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, with Braun being someone that Swift
made no secret she wasn’t fond of. Now of course Taylor is re-recording her older
albums to reclaim ownership of her art, which is a Queen move. But a lot of people have interpreted
folklore as a way for her to process this feeling of betrayal and grieve the loss of her old albums,
which I definitely subscribe to, at least to some degree. It’s totally normal for artists to process
their experiences through their work, and the fact it’s just considered normal for artists not
to own what they create is reprehensible. On a lighter note, if you’re a Swiftie, then you
know that Track 5 is gonna wreck you, every time. There’s a tradition with Taylor’s albums where
Track 5 is always meant to be one of the most, if not THE most, hurtful song on the album. Very
vulnerable. And folklore’s Track 5 is easily my favorite from any of her albums. As for color, I
tend to think of this song as black and blue, not only cuz it hurts me in the soul, but also because
the blue fits the tears and water association, while black fits the imagery of the wake, and
also the gorgeous black waves of the lyric video. I swear, this woman will be the death
of me, and my ghost will thank her. Oh, my friend Max also wanted me to mention how
this song can potentially tie into The Haunting of Bly Manor. I still have to rewatch the series.
I feel like I can’t fully articulate it here, so I’m gonna let Max do it here shortly. But I will
link a video by Lady Knight the Brave all about this show, cuz she breaks down why it’s so good.
And she also did a video on Hill House, by the by. (Max) “My tears ricochet” is a song about the
demise of a very intimate relationship, and it details how we can be haunted by our past and how
the death of a relationship can literally leave ghosts that haunt us, and they can send remnants
and echoes of that relationships to torment us. It reminds me a lot of The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Bly Manor is about a lot of things, but a big theme is people being haunted by their pasts, and
we can see this in multiple couples throughout the show. The first couple I’d like to talk about
is Dani and Edmund. They were childhood friends, best friends, and they grew up and became
romantic. But Dani’s feeling uneasy about marrying him; something doesn’t feel right.
So she tells him about this. He’s very distraught, and he steps out of the car
(cuz they have this conversation in the car). He’s so distraught, he doesn’t notice a big
18-wheeler coming. He gets killed (cuz he gets hit by an 18-wheeler - as you do). And Dani really
blames herself. Spoiler art: Dani is a lesbian, so that’s why she wasn’t feeling that connection, why
she wasn’t feeling comfortable going through with it. But she really blames herself, and there are
these moments where she sees Edmund physically. She sees him in his last moments with his glasses
illuminated by the light of the headlight, and it’s so haunting, and she’s traumatized by this.
And you can interpret it in a way where they leave it ambiguous, where you don’t know if Edmund’s
ghost is real; you don’t know if he’s haunting her because he blames her. Or you don’t know if
it’s her own guilt and internalized homophobia seeping through in her psyche. And I think that
relates back to “my tears ricochet.” That’s a really interesting metaphor for how the ghosts of
our relationships and our past mistakes haunt us. Even if everything isn’t necessarily our
fault, we still blame ourselves and we still hold onto things. And I think that… I don’t
know, it just makes me think of Bly Manor. Moving onto the next couple [of folks lol]
I wanna talk about briefly. Bly Manor in the show is a physical place, and in the 17th century
it was owned by two sisters: Viola and Perdita. Their father had passed away, and they were
women living in the 17th century, so obviously they had to get married so they were able to
keep the property. Viola married this man Arthur, who was also a distant cousin (so take that as
you will), but they fall in love and have a child. But Viola becomes ill, and her illness is slowly
wasting her away. So the people around her who love her, like her sister, her husband, her
child, aren’t really allowed to interact with her in the way they want to, because she’s sick and
they don’t want to get sick too. So Viola slowly withers away and deteriorates, and she’s having a
hard time letting go. Kinda relates to the line “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace.”
She couldn’t move on, she would refuse to accept her fate. And that kind of led to her downfall
in her physical life, but also in her death. She becomes so coldhearted that the people around
her start to dislike her, to the point her sister Pedita kills her and murders her cuz she’s such a
fucking bitch, and marries her husband and becomes her daughter’s new moon. And now Viola’s a
ghost cuz her spirit is so indomitable. And she’s holding onto this vendetta and this grudge,
and she winds up getting revenge on her sister. And Viola’s waiting for this vindication that
she never really gets, and the consequence of this is her roaming the halls of Bly Manor
as a faceless ghost for all of eternity. But it really reminded me of the line “I
didn’t have it in myself to go with grace, and so the battleships will sink beneath the
waves. You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same. Cursin’ my name, wishin’ I
stayed. You turned into your worst fears.” And I think that took a literal turn in this
case, and I think the lesson is-- obviously, if you get sick, the lesson isn’t just die. But
I think the moral of the story is don’t hold onto bitterness and anger and things that don’t
serve you or fulfill a greater purpose. Because ultimately, they’ll just drag you down, and drag
literally the people around you down as well. And I think Bly Manor took that in a more literal
sense, and I thought that was really interesting. And finally, I’d like to talk about the Wingrave
family. There’s this guy Henry who has an affair with his brother’s wife, her name is Charlotte,
and they have a daughter together. And it’s this love triangle situation, and it’s interesting
because Charlotte thinks that her husband doesn’t know, but he can do math. And he does the
math. The math was not mathing. And so he’s upset about it, and obviously he hates his brother
Henry, but he decides to forgive his wife, and he decides they’re gonna fix his family.
So they go on a trip to heal their marriage, but they die in a plane accident, so Henry blames
himself for the death of his brother and his sister-in-law/lover. And he’s literally haunted
by his guilt and trauma throughout the events of the series. And I think again, it ties back to
being haunted by your mistakes in a relationship, and I think that even if something isn’t 100%
your fault, we can still get into our own heads. Again going back to that line, “You turned into
your worst fears. And you’re tossin’ out blame, drunk on this pain, crossin’ out the good years.”
Henry is so debilitated by this crippling guilt that he can’t even connect with his daughter
or his nephew, and he can’t really be there for the people that need him because of this. And I
just-- it’s tragic, it’s reaaaaaaallyyyyyyyy (10x) tragic. There’s another line I wanna talk about:
“We gather stones, never knowing what they’ll mean. Some to throw, some to make a diamond ring.
You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene. You wear the same
jewels that I gave you as you bury me.” That made me think of Viola and Perdita, cuz Viola
had these jewels that she left for her daughter, but her sister tried to steal them for
herself, and that’s the moment where her ghost took her revenge, and it was just oof.
It was interesting, it was a lot, but that’s kinda all I really had to say about Bly Manor. I
could make a whole video about Bly Manor and the parallels. But thank you Thomas for giving me this
little section to rant and talk about Bly Manor for a moment. (YEE)
(Me) Disco is dead, but that’s not gonna stop
Taylor from using its aesthetic to make you cry like a bitch. While also dancing.
Good luck dancing through your tears, by the by. 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 with whatever light you can catch.
“Sometimes when I’m writing to an instrumental track, I’ll push play, and I’ll immediately see a
scene set. And this is one of those cases where I just saw a lonely disco ball, twinkly lights,
neon signs, people drinking beer by the bar, a couple of stragglers on the dance floor.
Just sort of a sad, moonlit, lonely experience in the middle of a town that you’ve never been.
“And I just was thinking, ‘Okay, so we have mirror balls in the middle of a dance floor because they
reflect light. They're broken a million times, and that’s what makes them so shiny.’ We have
people like that in society too. They hang there, and every time they break, it entertains
us. And when you shine a light on them, it’s this glittering, fantastic thing, but then a
lot of the time when the spotlight isn’t on them, they’re still there, up on a
pedestal, but nobody’s watching them.” The image of mirrors being shattered to create
a disco ball captures how 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 discouraging, leaving you feeling mocked and
unwanted. 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 in the song: changing the way you act and present for
different situations and 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, specifically for
LGBT people who are like, “I would be myself, but I feel like if I were myself, you might punch
me or tell me my identity doesn’t exist and isn’t real. Which like, I have enough to deal with,
Carol, I don’t need to add this to the list.” “It was a metaphor for celebrity, but it’s also a
metaphor for so many people… Everybody feels like they have to be on for certain people. You have
to be different versions of yourself for different people. Different versions at work, different
versions around friends… different versions around family. Everybody has to be duplicitous, or feels
that they have to be in some ways duplicitous. That’s part of the human experience, but it’s
also exhausting… What does that do to us?” “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 move forward through their work. Sonically, “mirrorball” isn’t quite my jam, but
I absolutely adore the lyrics. Which does track given lyricism is folklore’s strong point. And
even then, the fact Taylor was able to create a disco lullaby that can make you both dance
AND fall asleep obviously means she’s a witch. But we will not burn her. Instead, we will let
her burn US with this fire she calls music. We all peaked at seven. Not in the sense that life
was at its best back then, or that we really knew who were were before the world ruined us all. But
don’t you miss that innocence? That simplicity? Back before we all had to grow up
and witness the horrors of the world, and just how sad life can be with all 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. Before we were taught civility. It was necessary so that we didn’t wind up in a world
where people do whatever they like at the expense of others’ wellbeing… well, in theory, wear your
goddamn masks please and get vaccinated. But it’s also sad to think of how 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, or even just in front
of some close friends, 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 say or think, 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 everyone.
“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. And how could we? It also serves as a
reinforcement of this album as folk music, saying that the love in this song will be
passed on like a folk song for generations to come. The story of these kids and their
dumb misadventures will live on and be retold. The bridge I think really
captures the spirit of the song, where the narrator is trying to comfort
their friend. “I think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad and that must be why.”
It’s hinting at these ugly realities people have to live with, and suggesting black-and-white
solutions that fit the song’s whimsical tone. Kids aren’t stupid. They know shit is fucked. They
just aren’t as fazed by it yet. They’re not quite fully jaded yet. And obviously, that solution is
that a ghost made your parents mean, and we should live in the woods together and play pirates until
the end of time. I wish I could do that, goddamn. If only we really could just pack up and
move with our friends to some magical land free of our problems, without
worrying about our responsibilities. And especially now, as we’re all hoping we’re 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, link to resources in the description. And even if you’re vaccinated,
wear a mask to avoid carrying and spreading COVID to those who aren’t or can’t get vaccinated,
and hopefully things will get better soon… and oh fuck, this is totally accidental
foreshadowing for “epiphany.” Goddammit. Oh, also appreciation that Tack 7 is literally
called “seven.” Simply superior aesthetic. And even the fact Track 8 is named for
the eighth month! Speaking of which… Love is a fickle thing. Especially when you’re
young, you can think that once you’ve fallen for someone, and maybe once you’ve both taken that
next step, that this is it. This is your soulmate. This is the person you’ll grow old with, and
the person who’ll always choose you the way you always choose them. But then, it all falls
apart. For whatever reason, it all crumbles, and you’re left to pick up the pieces and figure
out what the fuck just happened on your own, forcing you to find closure.
And then when you’re an adult, you get drunk as fuck and laugh at how stupid
it all was. How naive and foolish you were. Not through any fault of your own, but just because
you hadn’t experienced enough of life to see what was coming and know better. It can take
a long time to heal from that sort of thing, and to piece together what love even is after
you realize it was just youthful infatuation. That’s what “august” is all about. A
short-lived love that has burned out, and now the narrator is realizing just how fucked
over they were all along. They had this fantasy of a beautiful summer love that caught flame,
and could’ve been something more, only to watch that passion be smothered by disappointment and
heartbreak, and transformed into bitterness. You could say it was a “Cruel Summer,”
and now they’re in the “Getaway Car.” Send me to jail, send me to jail.
“August” is the second part of the love triangle, sung from the perspective of Augustine: the girl
James cheated on Betty with. You don’t normally get to hear the perspective of the “other girl”
in stories like these. She’s usually discarded, her perspective unvalued, considered nothing more
than a homewrecker. But I don’t think Augustine knew about Betty to begin with. She just fell
for James, got led on, and then got ditched so he could make it up to Betty. Which like, good
work there James on making Betty feel better, but leaving Augustine in the lurch was a dick move.
But he don't know that, because men ain’t shit. “‘August’ was obviously about the girl that James
had this summer with. So she seems like she’s a bad girl, but really, she’s not a bad girl.
She’s really a sensitive person who really fell for him. And she was trying to seem cool and
seem like she didn’t care because that’s what girls have to do. And she was trying to let him
think that she didn’t care, but she really did, and she thought they had something very
real. And then he goes back to Betty! “The idea that there’s some bad villain girl
in any type of situation who takes your man is actually a total myth, because that’s
not usually the case at all. Everybody has feelings and wants to be seen and loved.
And that’s all [Augustine] wanted was love.” I don’t even think you need to have been cheated
on, or have turned out to be the “other person,” to relate to this song. “August” captures how an
innocent, powerful love can easily be transformed into anger and resentment when you've
been wronged by someone you care about. I absolutely love the wordplay in the chorus. “But
I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment of time, cuz it was never
mine. And I can see us twisted in bedsheets, August sipped away like a bottle of wine, cuz it
was never mine.” Oh god, that’s fucking brilliant. How you can try to hold onto the memories of the
good times with this person, but they’ll slip from your hands like sand. How specific moments, like
sleeping together for the first time, or sharing a particular bottle of wine, can evoke these
memories in you. It reminds me a lot of “Cornelia Street,” how these places and things from the time
you were in that relationship can stick with you, for good or for ill. Hell, it’s a big part of why
it took me so long to be able to enjoy Taylor’s music again without associating them with
particular memories that would then drive me to downing an entire pint of ice cream at 2 a.m.
It captures so many vivid moments and emotions in so few words, and makes you feel everything
Augustine felt. The bridge is especially potent. “Back when were were still changing for the
better, wanting was enough. For me, it was enough to live for the hope of it all. Cancel
plans just in case you’d call, and say ‘meet me behind the mall.’ So much for summer love,
and saying ‘us’ cuz you weren’t mine to lose.” It’s that moment of realization when everything
hits you at once. You finally put the pieces together, that this was never the fairy tale
romance you thought it was. That you would’ve done anything for this person, tossed away
any plans for even a sliver of their time, because just wanting it to work out was enough for
you to keep on trying; to keep bashing your head into the wall in the hopes you’d see the stars.
But in the words of the great Lillian Kaushtupper, “Ya can’t keep runnin’ into a brick wall!”
Of course, Augustine is still processing all of this, but she’ll be okay. You always
are. It may feel like the end of the world, but with a bit of time and some good friends,
you’ll pull through. You just have to realize that all of it… was a hoax. No, I will not
apologize for my folklore jokes. No. God no. This is one of Jack Antonoff’s favorite
songs that he produced with Taylor, and I can easily see why. As I mentioned, the
bridge is absolutely legendary, and the outro does a great job capturing the righteous anger and
pain Augustine is still going through and still processing even as the song ends, as pointed out
by Chats and Reacts in their folklore breakdown. I’m still not over the fact that the outro,
where she sings, “Remember when I pulled up and said ‘Get in the car,” was written literally
while she was in her makeshift vocal booth recording the song. The audacity of this woman’s
creativity. And to think this song even started because Taylor wrote the lyric “Meet me
behind the mall” on her phone years ago, and wanted to turn it into a full song.
Unbelievable. Unbe-fucking-lievable. Life is exhausting and often thankless. Some days,
it can be hard to get out of bed, dreading what the day will throw at you next. From mundane
responsibilities to difficult conversations, and even to random disasters and tragedies, time
has a way of wearing us down. It seems no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, the
end result always falls short, and it’s never good enough for the people around you. Or more
likely, it’s not enough for what the systems in place demand of you, and thus, what they make
you reinforce to yourself and internalize. It can get to a point where
you’re so drained and overwhelmed, you’re desperate for a way to cope. And there
are all sorts of unhealthy coping mechanisms out there that people fall into. In this
mess of a world, I genuinely want to believe most people are trying their best, but even
that belief seems to be eroded sometimes by how viciously life can kick you in
the teeth when you’re already down. I think we’ve all felt this,
even before the pandemic hit. Just trying to get by under capitalism is a
bloody nightmare, and that eats away at all of us, especially those of us predisposed to
suffer from mental and chronic illnesses. “The second verse is about someone who felt
like they had a lot of potential in their life. I think there are a lot of mechanisms for us
in our school days, in high school or college, to excel and be patted on the back for
something. And then I think a lot of people get out of school, and there are less abilities
for them to get gold stars. And then you have to make all these decisions and pave your own way,
and there’s no set class course you can take. And I think a lot of people feel really swept up
in that. And so I was thinking about this person who is really lost in life, and then starts
drinking, and every second is trying not to.” Taylor attributed this song to those
who struggle 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 carries that
feeling of exhaustion. Taylor’s vocals are mixed in with the music, and the reverb effect makes
them feel heavy, similar to “epiphany,” 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,
these things chip 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 may have used to be. “They told me all of
my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential.” Oftentimes, your own mind can get
in your way more than any external circumstances. 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 takes a huge mental toll if you don’t put
proper boundaries and support systems in place. I’ve been through this 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 goddamn long? Now this upcoming quote in particular is
going to include a reference to the narrator’s thoughts of suicide. If you’d like to skip
it, please jump ahead to “illicit affairs” through the chapter headings.
“I’d been thinking about addiction, and I’d been thinking about people who are
either suffering through mental illness or they’re suffering through addiction
or they have an everyday struggle. No one pats them on the back every day,
but every day they are actively fighting something. But there are so many days
that nobody gives them credit for that. And so, how often must somebody who’s in
that sort of internal struggle wanna say to everyone in the room, ‘You have no idea how
close I am to going back to a dark place.’ “I had this idea that the first verse would be
about someone who is in sort of a life crisis, and has just been trying and failing and trying
and failing in their relationship, has been messing things up with the people they love,
has been letting everyone down, and driven to this overlook, this cliff, and is just in the car
going, ‘I could do whatever I want in this moment, and it could affect everything forever.’
But this person backs up and drives home.” “The idea that not driving off the
cliff is an act of trying.. Which is almost the ultimate act of trying.”
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 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 bit productive. That said of course, a lot of these problems
are systemic, so unfortunately a lot of it is out of your hands as individuals. Oh god, now I’m
going down an existential nightmare rabbit hole, oh god I’m spiraling. This is actually reminding
me of a recent video essay on a Demi Lovato documentary. I recently listened to The Art
of Starting Over and I very much enjoyed it, and I was curious as to the mental health issues
and eating disorders she’d been dealing with. And I also found this incredible video essay
by The Double Take called “Demi’s Problems Are Our Problems,” where he analyzes how Demi’s
mental health issues and eating disorders are framed as an individual problem, and
that mental health problems like hers, are more common than they actually are. And
it’s used as a way to give her employers, her management, that have fed into this, along
with the systems in place for Hollywood stars and celebrities like Demi, a pass for contributing
to her issues. For putting her in a position where she as the artist is basically exploited.
It kinda reminds me of… a certain record label that Miss Swift used
to work for, that she really loved and thought believed in her, and may or may not have…
sold off the rights to her artistry under her nose to a certain piece of shit capitalist manager,
who then sold it off to another holding company. As if these rich old bastards have a right to own
work that isn’t theirs that they did not fucking create. I don’t know, it’s just interesting. It’s
just interesting the way capital works, isn’t it? So it’s no wonder artists like Taylor
and Demi are susceptible to this. They are just as much victims of these systems as
we are. I mention all this because at the end of this section of my script, I was going to
recommend that, if you have the resources, maybe you could talk about this in therapy. But
unfortunately in the west, a lack of universal healthcare means nearly 30 million Americans have
no access to affordable medical care, let alone therapy (not even counting the under-insured).
So again, unfortunately a lot of these things are out of our hands as individuals. But we can
at least try to do our best to be there for each other and show up for ourselves. But also demand
systemic reform, just throwing it out there. What would you do to keep the one you love?
What if you had to keep it hidden; you had to keep each other hidden from the other’s life? Can
love really be sustained by passionate rendezvous in hotel rooms alone, and beyond that, is it worth
it when circumstances just won’t let it take root anywhere else? Is it even the right thing to do,
and IS there even a right thing to begin with? “Illicit affairs” is self-explanatory. A story
of forbidden or secret romance, rife with all the contradictory 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 more exhilarating, but also tragic and treacherous. 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. When you
refuse to let the light in, resentment has a way of festering within dark corners.
Before performing “illicit affairs” in the long pond documentary, Taylor mentions how
with this album, she decided she doesn’t need to tell strictly stories all about her own
life in her music anymore. It’s the moment I like to consider her full writer glo-up.
“This was the first album that I’ve ever let go of that need to be 100% autobiographical.
Because I think I felt like I needed to do that, and I felt like fans needed to hear a
stripped-from-the-headlines account of my life. And actually, it ended up being
a bit confining. Because there’s so much more to writing songs than just what
you’re feeling in your singular story line. “I think it was spurred on by the fact that I
was watching movies every day, I was reading books every day, I was thinking about other people
every day. I was outside of my own personal stuff. I think that’s been my favorite thing about
this album: it’s allowed to exist on its own merit without it just being, ‘Oh, people are just
listening to this because it tells them something that they could read in a tabloid.’ It to me
feels like a completely different experience.” This song 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 just to be with this person, only to slowly realize this person would
never do the same for them. Very similar to “august,” except here there’s no pretense.
There’s no stringing someone along knowing you’re headed towards a dead end. There’s this
unspoken understanding that this is a temporary, passionate fling, and nothing more. And
even still, the heart always wants more. “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.” You have to cover your
tracks. Make sure no one can piece together that you two have been seeing each other. And
so you find special ways to remember the time you spent with them that blend into the
background for everyone else, and probably even the person you’re infatuated with.
I really appreciate both “august” and “illicit affairs” not demonizing these people
who’d normally be considered “the homewrecker.” It allows everyone to be humanized; to have
the chance to tell their side of the story. The bridge is my favorite part, because it
shows the anger this person holds boiling over. “Enough pretending that you care and then tucking
me away where no one knows I exist. Where no one knows what we have.” The narrator is putting out
there just how much this person means to them, and how far they’d be willing to go for them and this
love, but it’s 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 could also 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 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, 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 and early ‘90s, following mostly black and Latinx LGBT perspectives and ballroom culture.
Angel is a trans woman who’s had to resort to sex work to survive, and Stan is a cishet white banker
on Wallstreet who’s bored of his life and confused by his attraction to trans 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 still so upset season 3
is the last season of Pose, what the fuck? So… yeah. “Illicit affairs” is fantastic
and unexpectedly gay. We love to see it. Have you ever heard of the Red Thread of Fate?
It's a Chinese myth that later disseminated into other parts of East Asia that’s thought to connect
people with their soulmates. There are plenty of variations, but I think it applies pretty well to
this idea many of us hold onto that things happen for a reason. Now generally speaking, it’s an idea
I think most of us grow out of as we get older and realize the world is a cold, uncaring, chaotic
place where things just happen and there is no force behind it. But like… sometimes you need
to tell yourself otherwise just to stay sane. I guess what I should be asking is… do
you believe in destiny? RWBY fans take a collective traumatized sigh in 3, 2, 1… and done.
But whether real or not, it is kinda funny the way things work out sometimes. We can never predict
where our lives will go in the coming years, mainly 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. “Time, curious time, gave me no compasses, gave
me no signs. Were there clues I didn’t see?” And funnily enough, you usually can see all the
warning signs for all the disasters in retrospect. There’s a reason they say
hindsight is 2020… oh fuck. Taylor reflects on all of that here, contemplating
what she and her partner Joe have been through, and how it brought them to where they are now.
“Sometimes I just go into a rabbit hole of thinking of how things happen. And I kind of love
the romantic idea that every step you’re taking, you’re taking one step closer
to where you’re supposed to be. Guided by this little invisible string.”
Taylor expresses this idea that every step you take in life leads you to
where you’re meant to be. And yes, I know it’s silly and a bit naive, but I like
to believe in this as well. Albeit in the sense that if you’re doing what’s best for yourself,
and working on your flaws and shortcomings, 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 will essentially allow you to deal with whatever the hell the next problem is.
It’s also fun 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 want to speak to ever again, cuz life is just
too short to hold onto those petty squabbles. “I wrote it right after I sent an
ex a baby gift. And I was just like, ‘Man, life is great.’ And I just remember thinking
this is a full signifier that life is great.” 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. The 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. Through all the pain and
trauma, she found someone who helped her through it all, and in hindsight, it reads almost like the
script for a movie. Now that is just beautiful. I also appreciate the references to her previous
eras, like “Bad was the blood in the cab on your first trip to L.A.,” and “Time, wondrous time,
gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies,” as in the purple-pink aesthetic of the short-lived
Lover era. And something I definitely appreciate is when Taylor references other songs within
the same album, specifically the mention of having lunch down by the lakes. We love a good
reference to my favorite song, foreshadowing. “Peace” ain’t the most peaceful song on the
album, “invisible string” is, and I ain’t budging on that. When I listen to this, I feel like I’m in
the clouds, looking back on my life with fondness, even at the sadder more painful moments, because
it makes me happy with where I am, and excited for where I might go. And I think that’s something
a lot of us could use right now. See? Folklore ain’t all sad. Just… mostly sad, with a twinge
of hope cutting through. Or sometimes… madness. Okay, “mad woman.” This is gonna be fun. Pulling
it up for atmosphere, let’s fuckin’ do this. Have you ever had your anger turned against you?
Someone has hurt you or wronged you in some way, and then it feels as if you being
upset is suddenly a crime of its own. You’re told you’re overreacting or that you’re
oversensitive, or it’s your fault for “not getting the joke.” It’s a feeling that most
women feel, along with any marginalized person when they try to speak up for themselves.
Just in general, I think most people have felt this some way before. “What did you think
I’d say to that? Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?” You don’t blame a scorpion for
stinging you when it’s trying to defend itself, so why am I the bad guy when you’re the
one who came after me in the first place? “Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy,
what about that?” As though you weren’t the one who’d driven me to this in the first place.
This song’s a bit tricky for me to talk about given its message is primarily about sexism.
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 over the years. For clarity, I’m nonbinary, assigned male at birth.
(He/Him or They/Them, gay as hell, by the bi) But Taylor has definitely faced her fair share of
sexism over the years. There’s a fantastic video by notcorry entitled “You Don’t Have Taylor
Swift, You’re Probably Just Sexist,” where he breaks down all the popular reasons people
cite for their distaste of Taylor and her music, and debunks each one thoughtfully and earnestly.
Don’t worry, boys, the title is just to draw y’all in so you’ll give it a listen. I know you
will, because you’re all about rationality. Taylor’s work is often reduced to “Oh, she
writes about her exes cuz she’s petty,” when it’s perfectly normal for all artists to write
about their experiences, including romantic ones. No one’s out here calling male artists bitter when
they write about women who broke their hearts. Moreover, there was that whole craze about
calling her a “serial dater” in the 1989 era, a concept which she parodied in the
iconic “Blank Space” music video. Even minor misunderstandings and conflicts with
other artists, particularly female artists, were amplified by the media and reported as full-scale
feuds. Simply by being a prominent female artist, this is how the world treats her and sees her.
All she did was write about being a sad girl in love and date like a normal
human being. What a crime. Especially through all of the slights and
betrayals from Kanye West (we will not forget the leaked full phone call, oh my god), from running
onstage while she’s accepting an award to take her moment away, to having his wife edit a phone call
to twist the truth and turn the world against her, and even recently with Scott Borchetta refusing
to let Taylor buy back her old albums and selling them off to Scooter Braun. All these things had to
be devastating to go through. And all the while, a not insignificant number of people’s response was,
“Get over it and stop adding fuel to the fire.” As though Taylor’s done something to deserve
these things? Or anyone deserves these things? It frustrates me so deeply when people call
Taylor a brat and that she’s just lashing out because of the Scooter Braun stuff with her losing
her masters. All she’s saying is that artists should own their work, which I agree with. I don’t
think that’s a controversial statement to make. Sidenote: Beyonce taking the time to chew
Kanye out and graciously give up her own time accepting an award so Taylor could get hers back?
Amazing. Iconic. We stan queens sticking together, oh my god. As Taylor says in “You Need
To Calm Down,” “We all got crowns.” No need to compare when each of us are royalty.
“The most rage-provoking element of being a female is the gaslighting that happens when for
centuries we’ve been expected to absorb male behavior silently… Oftentimes when we,
in our enlightened and emboldened state, respond to bad male behavior, or somebody doing
something that was absolutely out of line, and that response is treated like the offense itself.
“There’s been situations recently with somebody who’s very guilty of this in my life,
and it’s a person who makes me feel, or tries to make me feel, like I’m the offender
by having any kind of defense to his offenses.” That all said, I think any marginalized
person knows 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 all
inevitably paint that experience a certain way. It’s infuriating having your righteous
anger be used against you. Told that even if you’ve been wronged, you must express
that courage in a “morally acceptable” way, and often having your reaction 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, if not worse.
And the people who hurt you often know this. They’ll go after you relentlessly, and the moment
you snap back, the trap springs, and now suddenly the story is how you attacked without provocation.
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. I don’t think we’re acutely aware just how fragile
life is until either it’s nearly taken from us, or we see it taken from someone close to us.
Maybe not even someone we love. A relative, a friend, a coworker, or maybe even a celebrity
that we admire. It doesn’t even have to have been a positive relationship to leave you at a
loss for words. Especially when we’re younger, we feel invincible, like we have the rest of time
to do whatever we like. To pursue our dreams, or just to get drunk with our friends and take
a shot every time America embarrasses itself. But we don’t have forever.
We’re lucky we were even born, able to experience even a sliver
of what the universe has to offer before we’re gone. And hopefully most of our lives
are relatively peaceful, with only minor scrapes and bruises gathered along the way. But for
those who got through unspeakable traumas, like war, famine, or plague, seeing just how easily
life can slip away can change you completely. “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 frontline healthcare workers have been enduring since the
start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I had been doing a lot of research on my
grandfather who fought in World War II at Guadalcanal, which was an extremely bloody battle.
And he never talked about it. Not with his sons, not with his wife. Nobody got to hear about
what happened there. And so my dad had to do a lot of research, and he and his brothers did a
lot of digging, and found out that my granddad was exposed to some of the worst situations
you could ever imagine as a human being. “And so I tried to imagine what would happen
in order to make you never able to speak about something. When I was thinking about that,
I realized that there are people right now taking a 20 minute break in-between shifts
at a hospital, who are having this kind of trauma happen to them right now, that they
will probably never want to speak about.” It’s hard to believe it’s been over
[two years] since this all started. And while the vaccine is here… even though people
are scared to take it for whatever reason. I don’t know why. I got fully vaccinated and I feel great.
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 systems 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 keep the economy going, just so that they can afford
to barely survive and feed their families, 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 alive, 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 set the scene of a patient being lost, while the doctor
holds onto their mother’s hand through plastic to protect each other from infection, but to also
show they’re here for each other as human beings, and the production sounds reminiscent of a heart
monitor beeping before ultimately fading out. “Something med school did not cover.”
“Epiphany” tells the story of people in the middle of a horrific 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.
That this is all part of some divine plan. Some kind of promise that things may eventually
get better, if you just hold on tight enough. There’s also this recognition of how sometimes,
your power over your own life is taken away. 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”
in that regard, except recognizing the nastier parts of life that seem to happen without rhyme
or reason. And I appreciate that recognition, and the peace that comes with accepting that
not everything is in your control. I think that’s easier to deal with when you realize that
even while we’re socially distancing ourselves (or we should be), each of us can do our part
to try and make things a tad more bearable. “With you I serve, with you I fall down.”
If I had to say which folklore song is most underrated, my answer would probably be
“epiphany.” It’s the heaviest given what it’s pulling from, and the most different
from the others in terms of production. It’s ethereal. Beautiful and tragic all at once.
But on a real note, the pandemic is far from over. 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. Show how you got vaccinated and you feel great, and now you have a
bit more freedom to move about. Sometimes that’s enough for people, seeing someone they know and
trust, and seeing they’re okay, for them to go, “Okay. I feel comfortable getting it too.”
The more people we can get vaccinated, the sooner we can get through this. Right
here imma plug the Last Week Tonight episode all about the COVID-19 vaccines.
And even when you’re vaccinated, make sure you still wear your mask when you’re
out in public. If you can, of course, by which I mean you might have some chronic illness or
medical reason for not being able to wear your mask at all times, which cool. But if you can
wear your mask, make sure you do it in public. Even if you can’t get sick, the virus can still
use you to travel, spreading even further and increasing the risks of mutation (kill me).
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 your Uncle Jimmy scream
on Facebook about how masks are oppressive. Stay safe, get vaccinated, and I love all
y’all, we’ll get through this together. Oh, also for any anti-vaxxers you know,
recommend Hbomberguy’s videos about vaccines, because he delves into the origins of the
anti-vaxx movement, and it’s a fucking mess. If that video can’t convince an anti-vaxxer what
they’re doing is insane, I don’t know what will. Has anyone else ever caught themselves wondering
what it would look like if someone who hurt you were to randomly appear out of the blue and try
to make things up to you? What they might say, what they might do, how they’d just pour
out their heart and put it in your hands for you to judge whether they’re worthy of
forgiveness? No… just me again? Huh, tough crowd. But seriously, this song perfectly captures
the thoughts of a dumb cishet teenage boy who doesn’t know no better. His worldview is so
simple. He fucked up, he hurt his girlfriend, and he’s now trying to explain himself and
make things up to Betty. “I’m only 17. I don’t know anything, but I know I miss you.”
This song concludes the love triangle. Here, James is 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 heads at this dumb, dumb boi. Like oh my god, James, you dense son of a bitch.
The cadence of Taylor’s vocals sounds exactly how I’d expect your average guy to be spouting all
this. “You heard the rumors from Ines. You can’t believe a word she says! Most times… but THIS time
it was true.” And even the fact he thinks this is the worst thing he’s ever done in his 17 years
of life thus far is hurting Betty is so precious, capturing his earnesty (earnestness? eh). We
even feel his anxiety as we hit the bridge, where he references the broken cobblestone
from “cardigan,” as well as Augustine riding up to “tempt him.” Augustine fuckin’
slander, I will not tolerate this. That swells in the final chorus, where he puts
his plan into motion and he’s indeed shown up at the party and asking Betty what she’ll do next. He
wants her back, and he wants to patch her broken wings and see her fly again. The line, “Will you
kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?” fucking SENT me. I also adore so many of
the covers of this song from Betty’s perspective, so I’ll be sure to link those below as well.
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, especially right after “mad woman” and “epiphany.”
But what certainly tracks with James’ nonchalance, typical for his gender and age, is the way
he writes off Augustine as a simple mistake. Something, not even someone, that tempted
him, but even when he was with her, his heart was still with Betty. Because
men. Ain’t. Shit. Men ain’t shit! I will not tolerate Augustine mistreatment in my house,
no sir! 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
ending of this love triangle storyline before we dive into the album’s last few tracks
that apply a bit more directly to Taylor, and return to that reflective, pensive vibe. Also, Joe
apparently sang the whole chorus of this? Like, the full finished chorus. Because he is perfect.
Also… THAT HARMONICA. Harmonica rights. Ooo, “peace.” Gotta make sure I
have enough anxiety for this one. Joy is terrifying. When you’re so used to
things going wrong, to life going off the rails, things going well for a change brings its own
kind of fear. You get into this place where you’re convinced the other shoe is gonna drop.
That the universe is messing with you, letting you get comfortable before it rips everything
away from you and leaves you broken again. But the weather never stays the same.
When it’s clear out, you’re ideally not wondering when it’s gonna rain again. No. You’re
outside, enjoying the sunshine and the breeze (at least, as best you can in a post-COVID world).
And when it rains, you know eventually the clouds will part and the sun will be back. Treating
life like it’s all a calm before the storm isn’t gonna do you any good. It’s not gonna
change that the storm will be here at some point. That’s something I’ve been trying to reinforce
to myself for a long time now. That it’s not helpful nor healthy to wait for something to
go wrong. Cuz honestly, it will. And that’s not to say life is terrible or constantly
miserable, but that you can’t control when life raises you up on the highest peak, nor
when it dumps you into the deepest valley. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where
you’re wallowing in your own gloom, and it’s so easy to get stuck there and never get out.
Ironically, this is the least peaceful song on the album for me. I know a lot of people, Taylor
included, think otherwise, and I can see why with that beautiful guitar. But the lyric video’s
visuals, along with the production of the song (especially the lead-in to the second verse),
makes me feel like I’m in the middle of a wide-open plain, with nothing to see for miles,
all while dark storm clouds are rolling in, thunder is shaking the ground beneath my feet,
and the rain and lightning are about to fly. And 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 free of problems, 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 the person you love can handle? “This is a song that’s extremely personal to
me, because there are times when I feel like, with everything that’s in my control, I can make
myself seem like someone who doesn’t have an abnormal life. And I try that every day. Every day
it’s like, ‘How do I make myself, among my friends and family and my loved ones, not see this big
elephant that’s in the room for a normal life?’ Because I don’t want the elephant in the room.
“If you’re gonna be in my life, I feel like there’s a certain amount that comes
with it that I can’t stop from happening. I can’t stop you from getting a call in the morning that
says ‘The tabloids are writing this today.’ I can’t help it if there’s a guy with a long lens
camera two miles away with a telescope lens taking pictures of you. I can’t stop those things
from happening. And so this song was basically, ‘Is it enough? Is the stuff that I can control
enough to block out the things that I can’t?’” “But I’m a fire and I’ll keep your brittle heart
warm. If you cascade, ocean wave blues come. All these people think love’s for show, but I would
die for you in secret.” You’re willing to do all you can for the person you love. To make
them feel safe and happy. But you always wonder, “Will it be enough? Would I be enough
if I could never give you peace?” In the documentary, Aarron talks a bit
about his struggles with depression, and it’s clear he and Taylor used that as a
bit of springboard, along with her own fears of losing lovers to how much media attention she
receives, and the fact she can’t even leave home without having to disguise herself. May I direct
you back to the bold waitress from “invisible string” who recognized her down by the lakes, who
said she “looked like an American singer”? Girl if that were me, I would run for the fucking hills.
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 tiresome. And
that’s a theme explored heavily on Reputation, second best album she’s ever made,
don’t @ me. Yeah, I’m a Rep stan, what’re you gonna do? What’re you gonna do?
Taylor’s take reminds me of “Clean” from 1989. That song was all about getting over a
particularly toxic past relationship, but it also resonated with so many people
who were struggling with addiction, and Taylor welcomed that interpretation. It just
goes to show the power these stories hold. That their complexities, all these layers, can hold
so many different meanings to different people, and how we each interpret media differently
given our own experiences. The human experience is truly a kaleidoscope of beauty
and trauma. A rainbow mirrorball, if you will. “It makes me really emotional to hear this
song, and to know that a lot of people related to it who aren’t talking about
the same things that I’m talking about. They’re talking about human complexity.”
“I have in my life suffered from depression, and I’m a hard person to be in a relationship
with or be married to because I go up and down. And I can’t help it. It’s a chemical thing
that happens sometimes, and music is a way of dealing with that for me. And somehow [‘peace’]
captures the fragility of what that’s like; to be in a relationship with someone
who may or may not have peace.” It’s a very real fear most people have
in relation to their mental health, chronic illness, or 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 they are, flaws and
all, and loving them not even despite their flaws, but by putting their flaws into perspective.
“Your integrity makes me seem small. 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 true peace comes from.
Not from some picturesque ideal in your head that could never be, but from knowing you have
people who’ve got your back no matter what. I also appreciate the line, “The devil’s in the
details, but you got a friend in me.” It’s an acknowledgment that trying to make it all work
is gonna feel like hell, but damn if an honest effort won’t be made. You could say that this is
me trying, because it’s nice to have a friend… y’all need to put some goddamn respect on “It’s
Nice to Have a Friend’s” name, because that song captures the fact that the best
loves are born from deep friendships. That song deserved better. That song deserved so
much better. Also “The Archer.” Admittedly I used to be very mean to “The Archer,” I’m sorry.
Especially as a Sagittarius. The disrespect… the disrespect! Maybe it’s cuz it dragged
me across the coals, and subconsciously at the time I was like “Plz don’t do that.”
Whereas now I’m like “DRAG ME. DRAG ME, YES.” “I’d give you my sunshine, give you my best, but
the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.” And when you find the right people,
that’s not gonna make them run for the hills. It’s not gonna make them blame you for the awful
weather. Instead, they’ll know to bring along some raincoats, galoshes, and a very large umbrella.
Ideally one that’s also a gun. Yes I just inserted a RWBY reference in here because I can.
Swifties, if you haven’t seen RWBY… um, it’s… very bad. It’s very
bad, um… I don’t know what my point was going to be. It’s… wow, alright.
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 in the world, and if you ever find that
with someone, don’t be afraid of it. Cherish it. “Hoax.” Okay, it’s time for
some more sad bitch hours. If love ends, was it all for naught?
If someone you came to love hurt you, used everything they treasured with you to try
and destroy you, was that love ever real? All the late night conversations, all the words
of affection, and all the broken promises. What do you do with them? Do you toss those
memories out, or do you lock them away in the attic, hidden from sunlight to collect dust for
however many years until your heart stops hurting? The “hoax” can refer to a number of things
simultaneously. It can be laughing at how the people you loved turned on you or left
you behind, like “my tears ricochet.” But it can also be you wondering why other
people still bother sticking around even in your lowest moments. Both the beauty and terror
in the fact that love brings meaning to life, but it can also bring harm when it sours or dies.
Honestly, after you go through something so soul-shattering, so devastating, you might
actually find yourself believing there’s something inherently unlovable about yourself. That the
people who stick by you are only there out of pity. That it’s only a matter of time until they
leave, and it’ll be all your fault. But maybe, just maybe, you decide to humor them. You decide
to give their promises the benefit of the doubt, against whatever your fear or past
experiences might be telling you. “Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in.”
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 themselves referring
to tears, waves, and the color blue. “My tears ricochet” is the emotional reaction to the
betrayal, screaming at the other person, demanding to know why they did what they did, and why they
refuse to leave well enough alone as you tried to. “Hoax,” by stark contrast, sits in that pain,
and in a way, looks back fondly on everything that led up to it. It’s peak gallows humor.
If a love ends tragically, does that mean it wasn’t worth it? Does the pain and
trauma erase all the joy it once brought? Was the connection itself a “hoax”
until 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 her
pain, and she’s taking her time figuring out how she feels about all this, let
alone how she’ll move through it. Lyrically, this song is actually one of the
simplest, but the bridge is what elevates it. “You know I left a part of me back in New York.
You knew the hero died, so what’s the movie for? You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
from when they pulled me apart. You knew the password so I let you in the door. You knew
you won, so what’s the point of keeping score? You knew it still hurts underneath my
scars from when they pulled me apart, but what you did was just as dark. Darling, this
was just as hard as when they pulled me apart.” The narrator reflects on this betrayal. They’ve
had Cupid’s arrow shot directly through their heart and out the other side. They’ve trusted,
only to be pushed off the cliff when they weren’t looking. They’ve been scarred, left shaken
by all the ways life can hurt you on its own and wear you down, but this was the last place
they expected to be hurt. Their guard was down for just a moment, and they were left wide open.
“My only one. My kingdom come undone. My broken drum. You have beaten my heart.” Of course, this
relates to Taylor’s albums being taken from her, hence the heart being a drum that’s about to cave
in at the slightest hit. The bridge even refers to how she disappeared from the public following her
2016 drama before she returned with Reputation. And this… losing her masters, having Scott do this
to her after all they’d been through together. This hurt just as much as the world hating
her, ready to burn her like a witch. I’ve heard this album described as poetry turned
into music, and those folks ain’t wrong. Most, if not all of the lyrics, read like well-crafted
prose, and Taylor’s always made sure that her diction is pleasing to the ear, ebbing and flowing
along with the emotions behind the words. Part of that involves focusing not only on what the words
you choose mean, but also how they sound when strung together. I agree with Taylor that “hoax”
is a beautiful word. 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 word ‘hoax’ is another word that I love. Cuz
I love that it has an ‘x,’ and I love the way it looks, and I love the way that it sounds. I think
with this song being the last song on the album, it embodied all the things this album was
thematically: confessions, incorporating nature, emotional volatility and ambiguity at the same
time. Sort of love that isn’t just easy. And it’s the most symbolic, poetic thing, listing
all these things that this person is to you. “I remember I asked [Aaron] for advice on
this one. I think I said, ‘What if not all these feelings are about the same person?
What if I’m writing about several different, very fractured situations? One is about love, and
one is about a business thing that really hurt, and one is about a sort of relationship that
I consider to be family but that really hurt. “That line about, ‘You know it still hurts
underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart.’ Anyone in my life knows what
I’m singing about there, but everybody has that situation in their life where you
let someone in, and they get to know you, and they know exactly what buttons
to push to hurt you the most. That thing where the scar healed over, but it’s
still painful. They still have phantom pain. “I think the part that sounds like love to
me is, ‘Don’t want no other shade of blue but you. No other sadness in the world would do.’ To
me, that sounds like what love really is. Like, ‘Who would you be sad with? And who would
you deal with when they were sad? Gray skies every day for months, would you still stay?’”
That description of love is utterly beautiful. Being willing to sit with someone in their
darkest moments, and know they’d 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 so
much messier than we often think it is. For Taylor, it works as her speaking to her old
label after they sold her art out from under her. To Joe, who’s been her rock through it all.
To the fans, who even after all these years, all these albums, all these highs
and lows, all these genre changes, are still here. Still listening. And
still obsessing over every Easter egg. “Hoax” is the perfect way to end the standard
album. After reflecting on all these different stories, these disparate folk tales of scattered
scars, it can leave you in a dark place, or make you realize this journey has been far more tragic
than you might’ve initially thought. 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. You peek out from the
covers and look through the window. And you think to yourself how nice it might be to cry atop
those Windermere peaks just over the horizon? Never before the age of social media has the world
felt so small. You can connect with people across the globe, creating wonderful friendships
that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Especially during a pandemic, you’d think the
fact we all have Wi-Fi would be a blessing, keeping us all in touch with each other. But
in a lot of ways, it’s done the exact opposite. As we’ve thoroughly established, the world’s a bit
of a shit show right now. No matter where you go, whether you’re watching TV or on your phone,
you’re constantly bombarded with even more bad news, even more vitriol, and you’re left to
wonder when the fuck that pizza guy is gonna leave the food on your doorstep via contactless
delivery so you can eat your feelings in cheese. I mean peace. Peace and cheese. Peace Cheese.
CHEESE SHALL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD. Or lactose intolerance, I’m not sure. THIS IS WHAT
HAPPENS WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR MIND OVER THE COURSE OF SEVERAL YEARS. This is why you shouldn’t
be a YouTuber, don’t do it. Don’t do it, bitch. DON’T BE A WRITER. Actually no, if you
are insane it probably is best to be a writer, because the only other option would be…
I ain’t even going there. WHAT THE HELL, what was this, I veered so far off script.
So much of folklore is about solitude. Being okay with being alone, working through your
feelings and reflecting on your experiences, and using that to grow. Along with that, folklore’s
emphasis on stories from different perspectives encourages compassion. You’re meant to empathize
with literally anyone and see the world through their eyes. And in that, this album seems a more
transformative, comforting outlet of both escapism and growth than doom scrolling on Twitter.
“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. It whisks me away to the lakes up in the mountains,
sitting among the roses and wisteria, and watching the clouds roll by in complete, true peace.
When I was writing the first draft of this script, I was up at 1:30 a.m. when I should’ve been in
bed, all alone listening to folklore and 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, you know when you do videos and
your book’s to soon be released. Knowing other people will hear or read what you
say and judge it. It’s hard to be vulnerable knowing you’ve got so many eyes watching.
This is 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 gone 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 one you love, shutting out the rest of the world, and
creating for creativity’s sake, and no one else’s. Taylor discusses in the documentary how this
is actually about the Lake District in England, so I think I’ll let her explain.
“‘The lakes’ sounds like a testament of what I’ve wanted to escape from and where I saw
myself escaping. We’d gone to the Lake District in England a couple years ago. In the 19th century,
you had a lot of poets like William Wordsworth and John Keats who would spend a lot of time there.
There was a poet district. These artists that moved there were heckled and made fun of for
it as being these eccentrics and odd artists who decided they just wanted to live there.
“And I remembered when we went, I thought… ‘Man, I could see this. You live in a cottage, and
you’ve got wisteria growing up the outside of it.' Of course they escaped like that. Of
course they would do that. And they had their own community of other artists who had done the
same thing. In my career, since I was about 20, I’ve written about this sort of cottage backup
plan. I’ve been writing about it forever. “So ‘the lakes’ is about relating to people who
hundreds of years ago had the same exit plan and did it. I went to William Wordsworth’s grave and
just sat there, and I was like, ‘Wow. You went and did it. You just went away, and you kept writing,
but you didn’t subscribe to the things that were killing you.’ And that’s really the overarching
thing that I felt when I was writing folklore. I may not be able to go to the Lakes right now,
or to go anywhere, but I’m going there in my head “I thought it would be the perfect way to slot
the last puzzle piece in right when people least expected it. Because ‘hoax’ as the ending song
for the record I thought was interesting for a couple weeks, but then I wanted to actually
come in with the real last song of the record, which shows you the overarching theme
of the whole album. Of trying to escape, having something you wanna protect, trying to
protect your own sanity, and saying, ‘Look, they did this hundreds of years ago.’ I’m
not the first person who’s felt this way.” “It’s a really potent statement right now. I
think the idea of getting away and figuring out how to remove the things that are not
working in one’s life is the story of this time. If you’re not thinking about that,
I don’t know what you’re thinking about.” Taylor has expressed this desire to escape
from the public eye many times before, going off into her own little bubble, making her
art, and enjoying her peace. Something she’s been trying to do more since the Reputation era. Fuck,
even before then, with RED and “The Lucky One.” All about prioritizing her privacy.
Even back in “Call It What You Want,” she asks her lover (*cough* Joe) if he’d
run away with her, and now it seems they’ve indeed run off. They’ve run off to the lakes.
It’s a dream that novelists refer to as the “hermit author”: a creative who publishes their
work and has a dedicated fanbase, but doesn’t have to put themselves personally out there to
be successful and can enjoy their own 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. It’s no
wonder that creatives historically have just wanted to say “fuck it” and run off into
the woods to forget it all. And honestly… same. I haven’t even published yet and I’m
already sold (oops). Sidenote: anybody know any good real estate agents who specialize
in gay cottagecore? Please? Anyone, anyone? Taylor also starts the song off by posing to you,
“Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?” An elegy is a poem written for the dead, and
to eulogize someone is to write about someone as to celebrate them and their achievements
usually after death. So right here Taylor is acknowledging that all of her elegies, all
the songs she’s written about love, heartbreak, loss, and reflection, eulogize her, without her
having even realized it over the years. Her work will live on, and be listened to even when she’s
gone, as is the art of all the greats of history. They won’t be talking about
the details of her life… unless they want to be Taylor Swift experts, in
which case I encourage that. But they’ll just be talking about the work’s merits. Kinda like how we
talk about “The Great Gatsby” without needing to know all the details about Fitzgerald’s hobbies.
But her question is… is that a good thing? “Romantic” can have to do with love, but
it can also have to do with romanticism: an idealized, often unrealistic portrait of life
that’s more meant to make you feel comfortable than actually make you confront the uglier
parts of reality. Does the act of creating itself carry with it this romantic notion we
conjure up in our heads of the elusive artist, and what does that even mean?
I especially adore the lines, “I bathe in cliffside pools with my
calamitous love and insurmountable grief.” Not only does it paint this beautiful picture
of enjoying solitude in these sweeping vistas, but it also captures the depth of human emotion
that we’re often afraid to let ourselves explore. Our grief? Steeper than Everest. Our love?
Could end the world quicker than Yellowstone. “Don’t blame me, love made me crazy. If it
doesn’t you ain’t doing it right.” God bless. 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 external validation, and letting it turn me into a combative, unhappy person, mainly
back when I made more RWBY-centric content in the Volumes 6 and 7 eras, and was more involved in
the RWBY fandom. Looking back, I’m disappointed in the person I allowed myself to become.
Since I’ve left that behind, and I’ve left Twitter, and I’ve been focusing on myself more
and maintaining boundaries and my privacy, I’ve been so much happier, enjoying my newfound
privacy. Part of that also involves some private matters I’d rather not discuss, but
suffice to say I feel I’ve reached a place where… I think I’m gonna be okay.
Everything I’ve been through… I have to believe 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 to continue growing into the person I’m meant to be. That I want to be. And that growth
shall continue… EVERMORE, AY. I should be shot. And I think that way of looking at your life
and what you’ve been through… maybe it won’t work for you. Maybe it’s too naive, or maybe it’s
not acknowledging how the chaotic way the world operates affects us. But to me, it’s more about
accepting that so much of what happens in life is out of my hands, and making peace with that.
That I’m just gonna keep trying to do my best, and roll with the punches and do what I can.
I’m honestly not sure what to say about folklore now that we’ve gone through all the songs.
There’s so much ground we’ve covered, but even so, it still feels like there’s more to go.
There are more stories beneath the surface, waiting to be seen by people bringing
completely different perspectives to the table. So many other experiences in the world that can
be discussed, mayhaps in a certain sister album? But this album means the
world to me. And in a way, I’m happy I didn’t listen to it when it first
came out. I think I had to go through certain experiences at the end of [2020] to fully
appreciate what folklore had to offer; for it to really hit and make me open my
eyes about so many things in my own life. And I suspect that’s something most
people who love this album can relate to. For Taylor, this is easily her best work to date.
She’s always been praised for her storytelling, and in a time when we’re all feeling more isolated
than ever before, she used her skill to weave intricate stories to entertain us and
make us feel seen. And she didn’t have to. Lover already came out in the summer of 2019, and
she could’ve waited a long time before needing to release anything else to bring in the dough.
But in quarantine, she did what she always does: she made music about how she feels. She just wrote
“my tears ricochet,” and then other stories began to take shape. Betty and James’ turbulent love,
Augustine’s passion and sorrow, and the dreams of long-dead poets to tell the vultures in the press
to go fuck themselves. NOT MY CARCASS. YOU AIN’T FEEDING ON MY CARCASS TODAY. NO, GET BACK, BIRD.
Folklore is exactly the kind of creative project that all creatives aspire to. Telling stories
that are truly timeless, making hearts ache and sing with joy all at once, and
all because… it was fun. It was just a neat way to express yourself, and now it’s
taken on a completely new life of its own. “[‘Mirrorball’] is the first time, and one of the
only times, that the time we’re living through is actually lyrically addressed. The pandemic and
lockdown run through this album like a thread because it’s an album that allows you to feel
your feelings, and it’s a product of isolation. It’s a product of all this rumination on what we
are as humans… I wrote [‘mirrorball’] right after I found out all my shows were cancelled. And it’s
like I’m still on that tightrope. I’m still trying everything to keep you [looking], to get you
laughing at me. So I realize, here I am writing all this music, still trying, and I know I have an
excuse to sit back and not do something, but I’m not and I can’t, and I don’t know why that is.”
A lot of people may think folklore is too dark for their tastes or too slow. Too sad and somber,
too busy wallowing in the mud for them to enjoy. But I think it’s the opposite. It’s honest about
how sad life can be, yes, how tragedy is ordinary in our world, but so is happiness. If the world
is a labyrinth of sadness, anger, and loss, then art is the golden thread that leads us out to
somewhere better. You just gotta have the patience to follow it, and trust that you’ll reach the
lakes soon. And you won’t be alone. Along the way you’ll meet some people; some friends, some
enemies, some friends who turn into enemies, and maybe some enemies who become
friends. But ultimately, you’ll be okay. “There have been times in my life where things
have fallen apart so methodically, and I couldn’t control how things were going wrong, and nothing
I did stopped it. I felt like I’d just been pushed out of a plane scratching at the air on the way
down. Like the universe is just doing its thing. It’s just dismantling my life, and there’s nothing
I can do. And this is a weird situation where ever since I started making music with [Aaron], I felt
like that was the universe forcing things to fall into place perfectly, and there was nothing
I could do. It’s one of those weird things that makes you think about life a lot. Where this
lockdown could’ve been a time where I absolutely lost my mind, and instead I think [folklore]
was a real floatation device for both of us.” “One of the reasons why [folklore]
resonates with me so much is because, in the dismantling of all our systems of
life that we’ve known in the pandemic, you’re left with two options: you either cling
to it and try to make it work, or just say, ‘Well, I guess I’m just gonna chart a new
path,’ and kinda get a frontier mentality. And I think it was such a thrilling use
of quarantine to say, ‘Well everything’s a blur, so I’m just gonna rewrite it.”
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+. Hey Disney, if you wanna give me that sponsorship money, feel free. You’re
a corporate monster but I gotta pay bills. There’s also a video by professional literature
nerd Jack Edwards in which he discusses all the literary references in both folklore and evermore.
Folklevermore? Folkmore? Everlore? Ooo, I like Everlore, let’s go with Everlore! If you want
Everlore, you gotta Folkmore… oh that’s terrible. And if you wanna check out Taylor’s other albums,
or just know more about her, you’ll definitely love The Carefully Crafted Narrative of Taylor
Swift by Quality Culture, along with A Guide to the Taylor Swift Cinematic Universe by The Take.
Oh, and I’d also like to recommend an album that’s very similar to folklore that
my friend Chris introduced to me a long while back (hi Chris). Give Me A Minute
by Lizzy McAlpine has a similarly 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. I just now noticed Cynzi left me a note in here (the
script)… of course they did, DAMMIT CYNZI.
