Febuary 2024

The Folklore Love Triangle Explained

By Victoria Munoz

Most people can say with certainty that they have listened to a Taylor Swift song, after all, she is the number one artist in the world. But not many people know about the love triangle written in her album “Folklore”. She briefly mentioned it in Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions. It is a tale of betrayal and adolescent mistake. There are three main songs Betty, August, and Cardigan each told from a different perspective. However many believe that some of the other songs either in the album tell a different version or are another piece of the story.

Cardigan is the first song from the trilogy. It’s told from the perspective of Betty. Though it is the first song on the album it seems to take place last on the timeline. In this song, Betty is reminiscing on a relationship from her youth. At the beginning of the song, she describes feeling insecure and unworthy. She describes her love as someone who made her feel worthy and cared for again. “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan/Under someone's bed/ You put me on and said I was your favorite.”

She tells the story of how their budding romance was destroyed by a twist in fate when James cheated on her. “Chase two girls, lose the one / When you are young, they assume you know nothing.” She goes on to reminisce about how she knew that James would come back to her. ``miss me once the thrill expired.”. This is exactly what happens as Betty recounts the time when James showed up unannounced at her doorstep.” And you'd be standing' in my front porch light/ And I knew you'd come back to me”

Next in the trilogy is “August” told from the perspective of August or Augusta as Taylor calls her. This name is a cute little play on words because August and James ended their romance in August. In this story, August plays the role of “the other woman. From her perspective, she seems to be inexperienced in love and ends up getting caught up in this romance where he never really held any true feelings for her and was never really hers. “Cause you were never mine”.

While she knew that they would never last she had hoped that they would be a real couple and that it was enough “To Live for the hope of it all”. Eventually, their romance ends along with summer “August slipped away into a moment in time” She seems to be aware of the fact they were only temporary throughout the song but finally comes to terms with it towards the end accepting her fate "You weren’t mine to lose”.

The final song is told from James' perspective (aka the liar, cheater, dirtbag, and so on). In this song, James desperately tries to redeem himself and get Betty back but makes no effort to apologize to August for the way he hurt her. The song starts with him apologizing to Betty and taking accountability for hurting her. "The worst thing that I ever did/Was what I did to you”. But then he goes on to make excuses and blames his age as to why he “doesn't know anything". "I'm only 17, I don't know anything/But I know I miss you”.

 As the song continues James describes where it all went wrong. It starts at a school dance where he sees Betty dancing with another boy so in a fit of rage he storms out. As he's walking home August pulls up. "I was walking home on broken cobblestones/Just thinking of you when she pulled up like/A figment of my worst intentions" He downplays his relationship with August by saying he was only thinking of her when he was with August."Slept next to her, but/I dreamt of you all summer long"

He then shows up at her doorstep in hopes of rekindling their relationship. ``Yeah, I showed up at your party/Will you have me?" “Will it patch your broken wings?”. The song ends with the possibility of them getting back together.``Standing in your cardigan/Kissin'in my car again/Stopped at a streetlight/You know I miss you".

In the Long Pond studio sessions, Taylor confirms that Betty and James end up together. Most of the songs are told in the past tense, meaning that it is most likely them reflecting on their youth and the mistakes that they made. Though nobody knows what happened to August there are many theories. For example, songs like Illicit Affairs and Mad Woman are also told from her perspective. The story ends on a slight cliffhanger so ultimately it's your ending to choose.🐾