The only Taylor Swift song I was obsessed with was Love Story. Prior to writing this post, I was convinced I was in high school when that song came out, but nope, it was released in September 2008, when I had just started medical school. Swift was 18 when she wrote that song, and it does have a very high school teenager vibe to it, so perhaps that’s why I misremembered; or I was likely in desperate need of some escapism at the time. The song had a sweeping, soaring melody, with an irresistible hook and a 3-min tale about Romeo and Juliet, except in this case (spoiler alert!) they got a happy ending. The accompanying video was lavish and charming and tapped into my penchant for Jane Austen melodrama.
But I subsequently never really connected to her music. I was aware of the hits of course, but they always seemed too anthemic and over-produced, and just a bit too enthusiastic for my curmudgeonly tastes. Two songs did stand out, however: Style, which was released in 2015, and Delicate, released in 2018. Both feature my preferred Swift aesthetic; slightly ethereal vocals, a synth-pop, somewhat techno dance beat, and hooks that don’t quit. I can only remember the lyrics to the chorus for either song, but they are a jam. Which finally brings me to Folklore and how it has suddenly bundled up the things I love about Swift’s music into one perfect package.
Written during quarantine, this album was not designed with stadium crowds and screaming fans in mind. Instead, The National’s Aaron Dessner co-wrote and produced eleven tracks on this album and that man knows exactly how to employ lush instrumentation and impeccable production value to bring out what Swift does best. As a bonus, there’s the song Exile, a collaboration with Bon Iver, which adds to this album's For Emma, Forever Ago feel of “I recorded this in a cabin in the woods.” But of course, Swift is no Justin Vernon, and this is a carefully produced masterpiece that elides the fact that Swift isn’t a great singer, and instead places the focus on her greatest strength: songwriting.
Remember how I loved Love Story? I thought it was so clever and fun that a song would actually tell you a whole story instead of being an arbitrary collection of sentences where the band’s focus was more on a guitar solo or dropping a great beat. Well, with Folklore, you have sixteen stories to choose from, each a precious gem that you might not quite appreciate on the first go-around, but will later come back to and be awed by as you obsessively stream this album for the hundredth time. When I first read the track listing, I immediately fixated on Mad Woman - that title alone sounded like it would be my jam. And it was. I hummed that shit for two days straight, wrote angry posts about abortion and Indian Matchmaking, and lived my best Wellesley woman life. But as I looped through the album again, I found myself captivated by Illicit Affairs, then by Betty (who is Betty, what is the worst thing that you ever did, Taylor?!). The Last Great American Dynasty has led me down a rabbit hole to learn about Rebekah Harkness; Epiphany hearkened back to my med school days as well as reflecting the current nightmare besieging our hospitals today.
But the song currently blowing my mind is Invisible String. Essentially a story about her current romance with Joe Alwyn, it is the perfect Taylor Swift song. It has this marvelous syncopated rhythm and melody that burrows its way into your head and just won’t let go. And once I got over that and started paying attention to the lyrics, I realized this was Love Story all over again. The greatest moment in the song comes when she says, “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind / For the boys who broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents.” I mean, come on. Within those few lines, you have the entire trajectory of this woman’s life. Infamous for her relationships and subsequent breakup songs, she has now gotten to the point where she can forgive and send her ex-Romeos presents for their kids. It’s not the fairytale of Love Story but the viewpoint of a mature songwriter, a woman who is older and wiser, and still knows how to craft the hell out of a song.
Folklore is a joy, and much of its joy comes from the fact that your relationship to it constantly evolves. I have been listening to it for less than a week and have already cycled through a slew of revelations and favorites, and who knows where I will be a week from now? I just re-listened to Exile, and given how much I love Bon Iver, I’m wondering how this hasn’t leapfrogged to the #1 spot in my brain yet, but just give it time. Or maybe with my birthday coming up, August will take precedence. It’s a wild ride, and I am grateful for it in a year that has offered very few pleasures. So give it a listen; this time, the hype is real.
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