Folkmore

Taylor Swift is known for her versatility across genres and exceptional songwriting skills. She is a storyteller who uses a range of sounds to convey a variety of tales from her life using vivid imagery, alliteration, rich symbolism, zeugmas, and clever wordplay.

Folkmore is a portmanteau of Taylor’s two surprise albums, Folklore and Evermore, both of which were released in 2020 at the height of COVID-19 when everything was under lockdown. The two albums surprised everyone, even Taylor, who composed the lyrics for fun to keep herself occupied during quarantine and had no intention of turning them into actual songs.

The lyrics read like poetry with excellent use of diction and imagery, combined with soothing acoustic arrangements that flow well together. Taylor worked on the albums with producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner of The National, HAIM, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. The lovely piano melodies in the songs “Exile“ and “Evermore“ were composed by Joe Alwyn (credited under the pseudonym William Bowery), who also wrote the verse for “Betty.“ Both albums received widespread recognition and praise from critics and the general public. Folklore won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2020.

Folklore

Folklore is Taylor’s eighth studio album, released on July 24th 2020 and described by Taylor as a collection of songs and stories that flow like a stream of consciousness. William Wordsworth, one of the most well-known poets of the English Romantic era, inspired Taylor’s approach to the album. He frequently wrote about the romanticisation of life and death, two recurring themes throughout Taylor’s album. In the self-written bonus track “The Lakes“, Taylor cleverly references the poet with the lyric: “In heart-stopping waves of hurt, I’ve come too far to watch some namedropping sleaze tell me what are my words worth,“

The album is a representation of spring and summer. It explores a range of emotions, such as grief, feminine rage, emotional healing, and inferiority. The lyrics weave elements of Taylor’s personal life into the stories of the fictional characters she created and even historical figures such as American socialite Rebekah Harkness. Taylor explains: “I found myself not only writing my own stories but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met.“

The songs “Cardigan“, “August“, and “Betty“ explore the unique points of view of each character involved in the fictional love triangle at various points in their lives. “Cardigan“ portrays feelings of betrayal and resentment inflicted upon Betty after learning James had cheated on her despite the history of their relationship. “August“ is Augustine reminiscing of the summer love she hoped would last, but as days grew colder and the month of august passed, it became clear that she was nothing but a summer fling to James. “Betty“ is an apology from James to Betty in which he comes clean about his summer spent with Augustine and plans to attend Betty’s party in hopes of mending the broken relationship between them.

Evermore

Evermore was released on December 11th 2020, around five months after Folklore, making it Taylor’s ninth studio album. She describes Evermore as the freewheeling younger sibling of Folklore. The two albums resemble one another in several ways, but Folklore is primarily a folk album, whereas Evermore has some aspects of other genres. In contrast to Folklore, which has a song mentioning Wordsworth, Evermore includes the song “Ivy“, inspired by the nineteenth-century American poet Emily Dickinson and her relationship with Susan Gilbert. ”Ivy“ is regarded by many as Taylor’s most impressively written piece.

Evermore represents autumn and winter; its melodies are more melancholic than Folklore, with lyrics personal to Taylor’s life. One of the songs pays sincere homage to Taylor’s grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, and recounts the advice Taylor received from her. Taylor’s lyrics describe her sorrow for passing up the opportunity to learn more about her grandmother and wishing she had saved something to remember her by, even if it was as trivial as grocery receipts.

The song “Cowboy like me“ stands out compared to Taylor’s usual detailed storytelling because of its vague and ambiguous lyrics, which leave the story’s ending up to interpretation. The narrator is initially cautious and stubborn, unwilling to accept anything from the love interest, whom they describe as a cowboy like themselves, implying that they are both hustlers. The narrator keeps switching between what they once thought and believed when they first met the love interest and who they are now, shifting from stubbornness to acceptance. It is a bittersweet story about two misfits who fell for one another after seeing through the masks they put on for everyone else, and it is up to the listener to decide if this resulted in heartbreak or joy.