W A Y T O O C L O S E R E A D S  

JULY 24, 2020

What Is Every Song on Taylor

Swift’s folklore Actually About?
“the 1”
We open with an emotionally devastating blast to the face. “the 1” is a playful
yet melancholic doom fantasy of what could’ve been, in which Swift muses, “it
would’ve been fun, if you were the one.” Personally, I believe folklore is a
PsyOp, and “the 1” is the first blow of a 16-piece psychological attack intended
to break every last person who hasn’t yet been broken by quarantine. “the 1” is
just oiling you up for your own annihilation.

“cardigan”
Released with a music video at midnight Friday, “cardigan” is adorable, and
yet, again, hurtful to specifically me: “And when I felt like I was an old
cardigan, under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.”
Here’s what I believe: I believe that “cardigan” is not just about hurting me
personally but is also a lesbian answer to Chris Evans’s cable-knit
sweater in Knives Out. As a lesbian with zero interest in Chris Evans, I felt
very left out of the sweater discourse last year, and no queer woman should
EVER be left out of sweater discourse. “cardigan” is not only the official
sweater of bisexuality (they’re versatile) but the first of many queer-coded
songs on folklore.

“the last great american dynasty”

Some have theorized that “the last great american dynasty,” and its mention of
a woman from St. Louis, is about Swift’s former BFF and rumored ex-
girlfriend, Karlie Kloss, who was raised in St. Louis. There’s also this lyric,
“Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever / flew in all her Bitch Pack
friends from the city / filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big
names,” inspired by St. Louis-born debutante Rebekah Harkness, who
married the heir to Standard Oil. But you might remember this lyric from
Swift’s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” which was also rumored to
be about her “friendship” breakup with Kloss: “It was so nice throwing big
parties / Jump into the pool from the balcony / Everyone swimming in a
champagne sea.” A connection?? Possibly. But for me, the most interesting
thing about this song is Swift’s refusal to capitalize “american” in the title,
which is explicit proof that Taylor Swift is a communist. Fuck Marsha
Blackburn! ACAB, comrade!!

“exile” (feat. Bon Iver)

Okay, what’s weird to me is that the “B” and the “I” are still capitalized in “feat.
Bon Iver,” despite every other letter on the album being lowercase. As a
lowercase swiftie, this is displeasing to me. bon iver: Do you think you’re
better than Taylor? You’re better than her album theme, her artistic vision, her
ten Grammys? You’re better than all lowercase girls??? “exile” is weepy and
cinematic in all the right ways, but the presence of a man on any Taylor Swift
album is jarring enough. The added blow of bon iver’s blatant disrespect for
lowercaseists (also known as anti-capitalists) is enough to push me over the
edge.

“my tears ricochet”

“my tears ricochet” is everything. “my tears ricochet” is my personality, my
religion, my scripture. “my tears ricochet” is the “Delicate” of folklore. It’s
what “All Too Well” is to Red. When Taylor said, “And if I’m dead to you, why
are you at the wake?” I threw my copy of The Bell Jar in the trash. When
Taylor said, “You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly
scene,” I wrote a scathing review of The Poltergeist on Amazon. When Taylor
said, “You wear the same jewels that I gave you, as you bury me,” I launched
my great-great-grandmother’s jewels into the sea. These texts, these films,
these heirlooms? They’re no use to me now. There is just “my tears ricochet.”

“mirrorball”
The emotional terrorism continues: “I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try,
try, try, I’m still on that trapeze, I’m still trying everything to keep you looking
at me, because I’m a mirrorball.” This was very hurtful to me, a mirrorball.
Yes, this song is likely about Swift feeling like she needs to mirror every
version of herself that the public wants her to be, but it’s more likely about my
own personal insecurities, my impostor syndrome, and my insatiable need for
approval. The PsyOp is working — and I’m not gonna lie— being isolated in
the woods without internet or any real life skills for the past 24 hours … isn’t
helping either.
“seven”
You know what I didn’t need to stew about in my self-isolation echo chamber
of trauma? The scars of my youth. “seven” is about the pureness of childhood
friendship: “I think your house is haunted / your dad is always mad and that
must be why / and I think you should come live with me / and we can be
pirates, / then you won’t have to cry / or hide in the closet.” Like, I don’t need
this right now. I don’t need to remember what it was like to have my youth
ripped from my throat years ago or be to nostalgic for childhood emotional
wounds. I’m good. This song is beautiful — but I’m good.

“august”
In a note to her fans, the inventor of forests wrote that folklore is a storytelling
album for which she allowed her imagination to run wild while in isolation. By
this point in the album, it’s clear that Swift is doing what many of has have
done during pandemic: dissociating. While we’re all stuck in weird, dark
apartments (Swift not included), the only vacations we’re afforded are the
ones where we leave our bodies and live in stories, old journals, happy
memories of beaches and sun-kissed romance and getting summertime wine-
drunk. “august” is that fugue state: It’s beautiful, evocative, a successful astral
projection.

“this is me trying”
After the high-octane Kids Bop feel of Lover, it’s relieving to hear Swift return
to more haunting instrumentations. “this is me trying” has swirling strings,
subtle horns, and — not an instrument— but can I just say, Taylor is becoming
a reverb bitch. Both “this is me trying” and “The Archer” from Lover sound
like they were recorded in a musty locker room. This one goes out to all the
reverb lesbians — I know you’re out there.

“illicit affairs”
So, there is a theory, one that’s probably correct, that “illicit affairs” is one of
three songs Swift referred to in a YouTube comment as “The Teenage Love
Triangle.” All three songs are written from each person in the love triangle’s
POV: “illicit affairs” being from the POV of girl who the boy cheated with,
“betty” being from the POV of the boy, and “cardigan” being from the POV of
Betty. I, however, cannot read, and thus do not have to accept this as canon
(more on why, and more on “betty,” in a bit). Anyway, “illicit affairs” is about
how having an affair and lying kills you “a million little times.” But as the
meme goes, “I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for u tho. Or sorry that
happened.”