Taylor Swift just created that “indie record that’s much cooler than [hers].”
The country-sweetheart-turned-pop-princess has now dipped her toes into the waters of alternative rock with “Folklore,” her eighth studio album announced just 24 hours before its July 24 release.
“Folklore” came as a surprise even to Swift herself. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of her summer tour LoverFest and a grueling period of isolation, during which she turned to her music.
“In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result,” Swift said in an Instagram post. “Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history and memory.”
Exemplified perfectly by the album’s opening line, “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit,” “Folklore” is a complete departure from the saccharine-sweet pop of “Lover” and the brazen, synthesized EDM of “Reputation.” Swift is at her most raw and stripped-down, trading her catchy hooks for somber melodies and her deeply personal songwriting for fictional storytelling.
The album’s lead single, “cardigan,” sets an imaginary teenage love triangle in motion, full of the wide-eyed innocence and nostalgia that characterized Swift’s early albums. In “cardigan,” a girl reflects on a relationship shattered by infidelity, clinging to her sweater as she relives every painful memory. The other woman is humanized in “august,” a time capsule of a summer fling that was never meant to be. The storyline comes full circle in “betty,” with the unfaithful boy begging for forgiveness on his true love’s front porch.
Swift’s penchant for storytelling is further spotlighted on “the last great american dynasty,” which profiles the previous owner of Swift’s Rhode Island mansion. Middle-class divorcee Rebekah Harkness was thrust into the world of the rich when she married the heir to Standard Oil, but she repeatedly disrupted upper-class social order with her free spirit and playful antics. “She had a marvelous time ruining everything,” as Swift so poetically says in the song. Being an outspoken woman crusading for gender equality and fair payout for musicians, Swift draws a parallel between herself and the rebellious Rebekah in the song’s bridge. The biography becomes an autobiography, with the lyrics changing to “I had a marvelous time ruining everything.”
Swift’s 2012 album “Red” was previously considered to be her magnum opus. The album’s standout “All Too Well” featured an emotional intricacy never otherwise explored by Swift— until “Folklore.” Eight years later, in “exile” and “illicit affairs,” Swift accesses that same vulnerability, but with added maturity. While “All Too Well” depicts a heartbroken Swift asking herself what she did wrong, Folklore’s ballads show her newfound self-assuredness and empowerment.
“Invisible string” is a breath of fresh air on a darker, more poignant album. The lighthearted track flows like a poem, painting vibrant pictures of changing seasons and romantic escapes in the listener’s mind. Swift’s maturity is once again clear as she sings, “cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart / now I send their babies presents.” Swift employs the same self-mockery exhibited on hit “Blank Space,” yet demonstrates how she has outgrown her unhinged, boy-crazy reputation.
“Folklore” directly refutes the criticism of Swift’s music as immature, superficial and nonexperimental. The album might not lend itself to radio and big-tent arenas as did her previous albums, but it instead emphasizes her masterful lyricism and self-actualization as an artist. With “Folklore,” Swift has proven herself to possess a songwriting prowess that transcends genre, earning the respect of even her toughest critics.