The old Taylor is back.
When Taylor Swift announced that she was going to release a surprise album, I had my doubts. Now, my doubts weren’t whether she would drop the album, because she follows through on her promises to release music, unlike other musical artists involved in the Kanye West-Taylor Swift 2009 VMAs debacle (I’m looking at you, Kanye West).
My doubts were on whether it was going to be a good album. After all, she was 0 for 2 on her last couple of releases following 2014’s 1989, which is one of the greatest things ever made. Reputation, which came out in 2017, was a garbage fire with one legitimately good song and a couple of guilty pleasure songs, including one where she declares that “the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now…because she’s dead.” Lover, released in 2019, can be considered a masterpiece only when compared to reputation. It was bland, inoffensive, and the definition of a 5/10 album.
Then, this summer out of nowhere, she drops folklore, an album she made while in quarantine. And I can say without a doubt that the old Taylor is back.
Now, this album is not for everyone. If you liked Taylor because of her country roots or how she perfected pop music or for her imperfect yet catchy bangers on reputation, this might not be for you. But if you like chill, laid-back instrumentals and great storytelling, then this might be your cup of Arizona Ice Tea.
Note: This album is largely produced by Aaron Dessner, a member of the alternative rock band The National. One of my friends said this album made him want to fall asleep. Which makes sense, since that’s the kind of music The National makes. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, I enjoy many of their songs. It’s just that their style has been known to make people sleep. One of their albums is lit’rally titled “Sleep Well Beast.”
What follows is my interpretation of each track on the album. If you’re not interested in that, just scroll down to the bottom to get my thoughts on the album as a whole. My favorite songs are marked with asterisks (*).
- the 1: How creative is this? The first song on the album is called “the 1.” The most polarizing line in this song is, “The greatest films of all time were never made.” Which is confusing, because the fact that a film is considered the greatest of all time is pretty strong evidence that it exists. Is Taylor saying she doesn’t acknowledge the existence of movies such as The Dark Knight, Shawshank Redemption or Mean Girls? Or does she think those movies weren’t made, exactly, but rather appeared out of nowhere? I don’t know. This is very confusing.
- cardigan: A cardigan is a knitted garment that has an open front. The song cardigan is the lead single for the album. Personally, if I were making a song about an item of clothing that goes on the upper part of one’s body, I’d go with the tank top. Or the sleeveless hoodie. Or the regular hoodie. Or the flannel shirt. Or the sweater vest. The cardigan is lit’rally the last top I’d write a song about.
- *the last great american dynasty: There are many great dynasties in American history. The Kennedys and plenty of other examples, I’m sure. Now, there are many theories circling around the internet as to what dynasty Taylor could be referring to, but I think the lyrics could help us solve this mystery. There’s mention of a person named Bill. Now, there are many famous Bills in history: Buffalo Bill Cody, Bill Watterson, Kill Bill, the dollar bill. But one of the most famous Bills of all time is the Clinton one. And you could argue that the Clintons were a dynasty, with powerful people such as Bill and Hillary and no other examples, I’m sure. I am confident this is who Taylor is talking about. You could read into the lyric “Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name” and take that to mean there was a Bill who was descended from an oil tycoon, which rules out Bill Clinton, but the point of music is that it’s up for interpretation. Art is in the ear of the beholder, as they say. Now, the Clinton Dynasty effectively ended in the 2016 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton lost to Trump and the electoral college. Now, I’m not saying Taylor single handedly got Trump elected, but I’m not saying she did not do that. She sings, “Who knows, if I never showed up, what could’ve been?” We’d have Hillary running for her second term, that’s what could’ve been. Also, if you’re still upset about the results of the 2016 election, just know that Taylor wants you to know that “I had a marvelous time ruining everything.” So quit blaming the Russians, racists, or the millions of voters who were pretty much ignored during the campaign because they didn’t live on the coasts. Blame Taylor Swift.
- *exile: This track is unique in that it is the only one on the album that has a feature, and thankfully it isn’t a rapper. It is Bon Iver (it’s pronounced “bony vair”), lesser known as Justin Vernon, an alternative artist and expert in making albums in solitude. His deep, beautiful voice comes out on this track in a way that isn’t really seen on any of his own recent music. Both he and Taylor, at different points in the song, sing, “I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending…so I’m leaving out the side door.” From this, we can gather that they’re using this as a metaphor. A relationship is going south once again, and instead of staying and trying to work things out, they’re choosing to sneak away. But if you dig deeper, this line can also mean that they bought tickets to a movie (remember when that was a thing?) and forgot that they’d seen it already, which doesn’t speak highly of the movie.
- *my tears ricochet: This is a sad song about crying and a hater who is obsessed with Taylor. “If I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?” she asks. Haters are interesting creatures. They spend so much time and effort directing hate towards an individual, for reasons unknown to the rest of the world.
- mirrorball: What is a mirrorball? I think it’s a disco ball, but if that’s the case, then I’m confused, because disco balls are all about dancing and being happy. But this song isn’t very happy or dancey, to be honest. In fact, it’s the opposite. But anyway, Taylor just wants the listener to know that she is, in fact, “a mirrorball” who will “show you every version of yourself tonight.”
- seven: how original, naming the seventh song on the album “seven.” This is about a childhood friend of Taylor’s who had braids and drank sweet tea when they were 7 years old. This friend is going through some troubles at home (specifically her dad is always angry), so Taylor tells her to pack her dolls and a sweater and they will move to India forever. This is way out of left field. When people talk about a change of scenery, India usually isn’t the first, second or even 10th option (no offense to India).
- *august: August is the eighth month of the year, and “august” is the eighth song on this album. Clever. “August slipped away like a bottle of wine,” she sings. Wine does have that pesky habit of sneaking off when you’re not paying attention. Similarly, August often comes and goes and before you know it, it’s already September and time for school and pumpkin spice lattes.
- *this is me trying: Ms. Swift is completely honest with the listener here. Folklore is literally her trying to make a great album. Just in case you had any doubts about her dedication to making music. The haters can’t accuse Taylor of phoning it in on this album. And the result of her trying is a legitimately great album, unlike her last two records. Who knew? Her critics apparently told her all her cages were mental, so she “got wasted like all her potential.” She was so ahead of the curve that the curve became a sphere, which is pretty impressive considering a curve is one-dimensional while a sphere is 3-D.
- illicit affairs: Yeah, this song is about a fair. That’s all I have to say on that.
- invisible string: Here, Taylor attempts to explain string theory, a theory in which everything in the universe is connected by strings that we cannot see with our human eyes. An interesting topic to address on any album, but props to Taylor for trying to tackle it. She mentions that a waitress told her that she looked like an American singer. I wonder which singer? My guess would either be Post Malone or Lady Gaga.
- mad woman: This song is about Taylor herself when she found out that her last album, Lover, wasn’t nominated for any important Grammy awards. I mean, sure, it got three nominations, including for Song of the Year, but for an artist who’s won 10 Grammys, including Album of the Year twice, that’s nothing. Anyway, when Taylor found out Lover didn’t get any big noms, she was a “mad woman.” Hence the title of this track, which has some of the best imagery on the album. “Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?” I don’t know. I’ve never been in a fight with a scorpion, unfortunately. Is it a rhetorical question? Is Taylor comparing herself to a scorpion? Because mommy scorpions carry their babies on their back. Maybe she’s saying she’s the mother of pop music and she’s carrying the genre and all of its artists on her back? Which, if she is saying that, she’s not completely wrong. “Now I breathe flames each time I talk, my cannons all firing at your yacht.” There’s a lot to unpack here. So she was a scorpion, but she turned into a dragon that shoots out flames when she talks, but she also has cannons aimed at some guy’s yacht? Whose yacht? I googled “Does Kanye have a yacht” and the results were inconclusive. Yeah, so this song is just confusing and I’m going to stop analyzing it.
- epiphany: According to a dictionary, an epiphany is a moment of sudden revelation or insight. After seeing Lover get shut out of important Grammys and not selling many copies by her incredibly high standards, Taylor had a revelation (an epiphany, if you will) that Lover was just a “meh” album, and she set out to follow it up with a great album. And she did just that.
- betty: Betty is an old person’s name, like Edith, Margo, or Agnes. One thing all musicians know is that you must throw a bone, so to speak, to the older generation, since they’re the ones who still buy physical copies of albums. “You heard the rumors from Inez, you can’t believe a word she says.” I don’t know who Inez is or what rumors she said about Taylor, but now I can’t trust anyone named Inez, just in case she is the Inez in this song. Thanks a lot, Taylor.
- peace: Oh yes, peace, one of those things that would be nice to have but is rarely attained. There hasn’t been much peace between Taylor and Kanye recently, and this is the only song on the album that addresses this, with the line, “There’s robbers to the east, clowns to the west.” The East-dwelling robbers is her former label manager Scooter Braun. Now, everything else aside, I can’t take a grown man seriously if he goes by the name Scooter. Plus, he’s responsible for releasing the plague of Justin Bieber on the world. As for the clowns to the west, well, it doesn’t take a detective to figure that one out. Kanye, whose last name is West, now lives in Wyoming, which is in the west, and he is currently married to a woman named Kim, whose last name coincidentally is also West. He has engaged in behavior some would call “clownish,” but this is not the place to get into that.
- hoax: This is not a song about conspiracy theories, unfortunately. Taylor comes out and says she doesn’t believe in stuff like that, and “Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in.”
- the lakes – bonus track: This is a bonus track on which Taylor ranks the Great Lakes from worst to best based on their merit alone. Spoiler alert: Lake Erie is not high on her list (sorry, Ohio people).
All joking aside, this is easily Taylor Swift’s best work since 2014’s 1989, and I’d even go so far as saying it’s her second best album.
Remember the song “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” when Taylor talks about her ex listening to “some indie record that’s much cooler than” hers? Well, this is that indie record. But not really. This is, however, as indie as I think we’re going to hear Taylor get.
She tried being the villain on reputation, and it didn’t work because everyone was used to her being the good girl. Folklore sees Taylor unconcerned with be cool and hip with the youngsters. She’s telling stories with her songs like a modern-day Kendrick Lamar (sorry, Kendrick. It’s been three and a half years since you dropped an album), and the acoustic instrumentals create this feeling that you’re walking through a black and white forest while listening to her voice.
So check out folklore. It will probably win Album of the Year at the Grammys, so you can say you listened to folklore before it became not cool. But don’t listen to it because of that. Listen to it because it’s a genuinely good album. And if it puts you to sleep, at least you got to take a nap. And naps are cool.
Of Rice and Me 