Reflections on Taylor Swift's folklore – 'something subtler'

By Rachel Tavaler

This year, Taylor Swift had to reschedule her Summer 2020 tour (which was to be in the innovative form of a series of ‘festivals’ called ‘Lover fest’) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Rather than missing out on the chance to connect with fans, Taylor instead dropped a surprise album called ‘folklore’ – just eleven months after the release of her previous studio album, ‘Lover’.

‘folklore’ is the album we need right now. Whilst there is little doubt that ‘Lover’ is also a good album, it isn’t exactly universally relatable - no matter how catchy the songs are, anyone who isn’t deeply in love with a boy from London can only relate to about a third of the songs. ‘folklore’, meanwhile, is at times heartbreakingly introspective, dealing with themes of loss and nostalgia – something most of us can no doubt relate to in this time of uncertainty – but Taylor gives us comforting hints of hope and pockets of contentment, too.

There is a misleadingly soft and almost relaxing sound to the whole album which is at odds with the hard-hitting lyrics. An unfortunate consequence is that some diversity of sound is sacrificed to achieve this mellowness. At least for the first few listens, most of the songs on ‘folklore’ sound very similar to each other. There are no standout bops – you won’t find another ‘Shake it Off’ or ‘Cruel Summer’ here. However, ‘folklore’ offers something subtler – what Taylor lacks in melody she makes up for in meaning through her outstanding lyrics. As the album’s title suggests, ‘folklore’ showcases Taylor’s talent for storytelling. Unlike her other albums, ‘folklore’ keeps the autobiographical lyrics to a minimum. Instead, what Taylor gives us is a collection of semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional, interconnected short stories.

As usual, Swift’s quirkily specific lyrics feel as if she’s reading our minds, or at least our diaries, reminding us, in this time of isolation, that we are not alone.

Top 3 songs (and standout lyrics) 

cardigan

‘cardigan’ is one of three interconnected songs that tell the story of what Taylor herself has dubbed the ‘Teenage Love Triangle’ (the other two songs are ‘betty’ and ‘august’). Storytelling itself becomes a theme of the album – several songs question the inevitability of endings that have already been written, and we think cardigan deserves a spot as one of our top three songs for these lyrics alone: “tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy”.

epiphany

‘epiphany’ is one of the first songs we’ve heard that directly addresses the Covid-19 pandemic and the complex feelings surrounding it. epiphany compares the pandemic to a war, telling snippets of parallel stories about a soldier and a healthcare worker. Taylor also beautifully captures the difficulty of meaningful human connection whilst physical distancing measures are in place in a single line: “hold your hand through plastic now”. 

my tears ricochet

The sometimes paradoxical and shifting power dynamics of a relationship is a theme that Taylor often explores, but we think it is expertly captured in ‘my tears ricochet’. The narrator is at once defeated and yet still holds a kind of smug power in her defiant one-sided argument with her former lover: “if I’m dead to you why are you at the wake screaming my name wishing I’d stayed”. It’s no “he looks up grinning like a devil”, but we’ll take it!