A peek into the Artistic Masterpiece that is Taylor Swift’s Folklore

I remember when the Lover album came out and all I could feel was guilt. Guilt of being completely disinterested in a work released by an artist I’ve always loved so much and supported fiercely.

Why did I feel so bland towards Taylor’s Lover album? Why did I not give a damn about it? Why did I feel bored to death just checking the track-lists on YouTube? Why, without even giving any track a proper listen?

Why is it only the eponymous song, Lover, that struck me? Why did only that song bring me so much pleasure and wistful memories of when I first discovered Taylor in my teens?

It’s ironic how I loved the Lover song but found the album of the same name, jading to my soul. But it wasn’t long before I detected what the hell was wrong.

I was done with POP Taylor.

The feelings started trickling in from the dark Reputation era. Still, because I loved how vengeful and badass the era was, I didn’t want to dwell too much on those uncomfortable feelings. I chose to believe that the real Taylor would return in no time, even if she claimed the real her was dead.

I mean, “why? Oh, coz she’s dead” just had to be a sassy line aimed at the people that had crawled all over her right?

Then Lover came. And even in all its purple-pinks and blues; my brain, heart and soul couldn’t take it no more. I was done.

All I could think of while retreating to Lover (song) and relishing its lyrical and rhythmic beauty was when the picture-painting, slow-burning, buttery-voiced Taylor I fell in love with was going to reappear on me.

Then Folklore dropped. With zero warning. And with a skim through some reviews that had randomly yet flamboyantly popped on my news feed, I knew that My Taylor was HOME.

That she was BACK in full glory and honor, stunning critics, even her own fans left and right with her rare storytelling gift and emotional acuity.

The fact that it took Taylor this long to return to her roots, honestly feels even more cathartic than it would have been if she had returned any sooner. My patience and trust were finally rewarded!

Guys, what a masterpiece Folklore is. What a masterpiece, lyrically and vocally. At 30, Taylor Swift finally reached the peak of her singer-songwriter career. And what a euphoric and cathartic experience for any true swiftie who has always gushed about the special and rare talent that is Taylor.

Folklore is the album of a completely wise and self-aware woman who has fully come into her own in the calmest way. It is filled with melancholic, nostalgic, wistful, painful, vulnerable yet fiery, brazen and cheeky narratives all intricately woven into brilliant and hauntingly gorgeous metaphors.

According to Taylor, it features stories of her own, that of people she has never met and those she wishes she never met. But like she said, the lines between these real and imaginative stories truly blur.

More often than not, I get a feeling that even when Taylor is singing about something that didn’t particularly occur in her life, certain personal sentiments and resentments are projecting.

Well guys, It’s time to take a deeper dive into Taylor’s mind blowing body of work. Let’s goooo! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s going to be a long ride, but one that you’ll find yourself lost in and immersed with. Taylor’s stories are crazy addictive guys. Crazy addictive!

The 1

This opening track is just the perfect intro into the reflective and soothing nature of Folklore. The instrumentals are refreshing and springy. And the vocals are translucent, breezy and invigorating to the ears. I love it. It was an immediate standout for me. It’s the only remotely pop track as well.

Here, Taylor looks upon a past relationship that didn’t work out. And with lyrics like:

“You know the greatest love of all times are over now”

“We were something don’t you think so”

“If my wishes came true then it would have been you”

“It would have been fun
If you would’ve been the one…”

“If one thing had been different, would everything be different?”

I couldn’t help but be scared and worried, wondering who Taylor was referring to. Surely, she and beau Joe Alwyn weren’t over right? (I legit would be broken if this ever happened, my girl has been through hell and back!) So who is she singing about?

I saw some comments saying it refers to her broken relationship with former record label boss Scott Borchetta of 14 years, who sold her masters to Scooter Braun, someone she publicly and privately did not like.

Scooter is a famous manager of artists like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. He bought Big Machine Label – the record label Taylor had been signed under since she was 15 – and in the process acquired her masters that she had begged to buy back all to no avail.

If this really is about her relationship with Borchetta, then it’s so sad to see that she still misses their relationship despite how sour things turned between them in the public eye. I mean, 15 years isn’t nothing little right? So sad.

Anyways the 1 is gorgeously sung, written and produced. Love it!

Cardigan

Now if we are talking Taylor Swift…this is the real Taylor. This song immediately felt like home to me even before it grew on me like every other slow-burn Tay song does. And when it finally grew on me…gosh, it felt heavenly.

It’s so unhurried, snugly, vintagey, serenading, balming, sentimental and warmth-filled. It has completely aged like fine wine for me and its melody is so pretty! I could listen to it all day curled up in bed or while travelling miles and miles of an endless journey.

“When you are young, they assume you know nothing…”

I hadn’t even fully understood the meaning behind the song but that one refrain hit me hard. It felt so true to what I’m currently experiencing and everything Taylor experienced in the industry while she was younger. I immediately bonded with my heroine over that line.

Taylor says Cardigan is a fictional song written from the perspective of a teenage girl who had been cheated on by boyfriend James with a summer fling. Her other songs on the album – Betty and August journal James and the summer fling’s perspectives of the betrayal too. Crazy right? Can’t believe Taylor gave me a frickin’ teen love triangle much more interesting than certain teen dramas on a music album!

Okay back to Cardigan. On a deeper look at its lyrics, it is obvious that Taylor injects some sentiments about her past and present experiences either with music industry men, romantic relationships or friendships. These lines particularly come to mind:

“When you are young, they assume you know nothing”

“A friend to all is a friend to none”

“Chase two girls lose the one”

“But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss”

“I knew you’d haunt all of my what ifs.”

The fact that all her songs are constructed in metaphors just makes it so much more deeper, personally interpretable and relatable to anyone with similar situations or experiences.

I love Cardigan! It’s definitely grown to be one of my absolute loves from the album.

The Last Great American Dynasty

Storytelling at its finest and most masterful, is what Ma’am Taylor displays here with flair.

Taylor sings in the third person narrative about Rebekah Harkness, the previous owner of her Rhode Island mansion, who became immensely wealthy by marrying the heir to the Standard Oil name. Many despised how such a “middle class divorcee” managed to nail such a big fish. So when her husband died, it was easy to blame her.

“It must have been her fault his heart gave out….”

They became more infuriated by how Rebekah was “the most shameless woman the town has ever seen” and how “she had a marvelous time ruining everything” – for daring to party wild after her husband’s death and refusing to let their harsh criticisms suffocate her to death.

The parallel she makes between the story of this woman whose abandoned house she would buy 50 years later and her life as a woman in the public eye is genius.

“Then it was bought by me” is the climax of this story. The cheeky, brazen twist of her buying the abandoned house! Finally Taylor takes hold of the satirical story that had been hers all along and sings in the first person narrative.

She utterly relishes her story, savoring every second – “I had a marvelous time ruining everything. A marvelous time…”

I swear it is something to hear. It is so hilarious and satisfying at the same time!

Geez! Taylor has mastered the art of mocking sexism, witch-hunting and media sensationalism with badass creativity! All those criticisms she suffered in the early days of her career – about how she couldn’t sing; how her wealth and fame wasn’t rightfully earned; how she dated 100 guys a year; how her famous girl-squad was fake and how she was bad news for all her ex-boyfriends – everything flashed into my subconscious with every lyric she sang about Rebekah’s life. It’s brilliant. Taylor is brilliant, period.

Exile

This heart-breaking duet between Taylor and Bon Iver marvellously plays out like a movie before my eyes every single time I hear it. The lyrics paint a clear picture of estranged lovers who meet again – the woman with a new man’s arm around her body and the ex-man watching, indignant and bitter – only expressing themselves through their thoughts, still not understanding each other or hearing each other out on why things fell apart between them.

The man expresses his bitterness  saying:

“And it took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it”

To which the woman heart-breakingly reveals that she had been “balancing on breaking branches”, giving “second, third and hundredth chances”, that she “gave so many signs” yet he “never turned things around” or “learned to read her mind.”

How devastating and piercing is this? No one should ever feel like this in a relationship. He was her “crown“, now she is in exile seeing him out. God. My chest hurts.

But here comes the crazy thing. The man maintains a tactlessness and deafness that is just as sad and devastating. I mean the woman keeps lamenting: “I gave so many signs”

Yet he kept saying: “I couldn’t turn things around coz you never gave any warning sign”

What???!

This man truly has no idea about his woman’s heart or her pain! He seriously didn’t know what was happening! Despite her being his “town” and “homeland”, he never knew how bad she was hurting, and now he is in exile too, seeing her out.

Lord I want to crrrrrry! I can’t express my frustration right now. It hurts! It hurts! Because till the very end, they didn’t know each other’s hearts and didn’t take the time to! Especially the guy, with every lyric he seemed to be wrapped up in his own ignorant thoughts, deaf to the laments of his woman! Miscommunication is the root of all evil here guys. Root of all evil. The song shows what lack of communication can cause till the very end – a kind of pain that might never be healed or demystified. Damn it!

It is noteworthy to point out that the man mentions that: “All this time, we always walked a very thin line, you didn’t even hear me out…”

I believe the only reason he might feel like the woman didn’t hear him out was because he didn’t hear her out first – her who seemed to have been hurting for the longest time. For God sake, he admits they have always walked on a very thin line, so why didn’t he ever think to ask what was wrong? Urggh! I’m frustrated! You were her crown man, you were supposed to protect her and notice every damn thing!

Now can we give a standing ovation to Taylor for this lyrical masterpiece? I mean, look at the use of the words “town” “crown” and “homeland” and their juxtaposition against “exile” to represent a broken relationship. Who could have ever thought of it for a breakup song? It’s insane. The metaphor and imagery invoked is pure brilliance.

The vocal delivery is no less stunning. Taylor voiced hurt and resignation with soft vocals and Bon Iver voiced confusion and resentment with woodsy grit. I’m speechless at reflection of disparity even in the vocal deliveries. Speechless guys.

Tears Ricochet

This song made me stand in the middle of our kitchen for minutes, zoned out. I had heard it like two or three times before, but for some reason, I was washing plates in the kitchen that day, listening to it and I stood shaken to the core – mind blown – nearly teary eyed at the profoundness and intensity of its dark poetry and rousing theatrical performance.

It should be a crime to describe the words of this songs as mere lyrics. Because it is pure, masterful poetry that should be framed and hung only on the walls of sacred halls. Every line of this song is heart-stabbing poetry performed in motion.

Taylor invokes strong, disturbing images of a funeral. In her exact words upon release of the album, she describes the song as “an embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object.” How perfectly described.

“I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace…”

This first time I heard this line, my being immediately sensed that it had to do with the public drama that had ensued between her and ex boss Scott Borchetta. And it broke my heart so bad.

“If I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I had stayed, look at how my tears ricochet,” Taylor impassions heartbreakingly.

She had trusted this man since she was 15. She has had many historic moments and monumental wins with him. She grew his label and gave it a huge spotlight. Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine he would betray her and sell out her masters – her personally penned songs, her golden diary, her blood, tears and sweat – to someone he knew damn well her spirits repulsed.

“You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you but what a ghostly scene
You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me,” she recited.

The vulnerability Taylor peels off on this track is ripping to the soul. She asks: “Even on my worst day, did I deserve babe, all the hell you gave me? Cause I loved you, I swear I loved you till my dying day.”

Taylor broke my heart into smithereens with the painful confession of her new reality:

“And I could go anywhere I want, anywhere I want, just not home.”

Guys! I’m choking up! Look at those haunting words! Is there anything more painful than the reality of knowing you can have everything you want in this world but still feel like everything has been taken away from you? It’s got to be the saddest feeling ever. I never want to experience it.

And then Taylor finally crushed me with:

“And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves
You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same
Cursing my name
Wishing I stayed
You turned into your worst fears
And you’re tossing out blame
Drunk on this pain
Cursing out the good years”

Urgh! Gosh! Enough with the tears. I need us to take a good look at all the lyrics, sorry, poetry verses I’ve highlighted.

Look at the stunning craftsmanship of words, at the horrific imagery invoked, at the soul-crushing depiction of betrayal, hurt and the helpless destruction that persists in spite of it. I can’t wrap my head around all its genius. One of Taylor’s best songwriting for sure. And to think that this was the first song she penned down for the album, all on her own to boot. Just. Wow. It’ll go down in history. Anyone can take something from this – anyone experiencing anything remote to the feelings Taylor encapsulated in that song.

And. Guys…

Can we have a moment of silence for Taylor’s most wrenching, stirring and emotional vocal performances of all time? It’s intensity and weightiness still give me chills! How did she record this?

It’s going to be impossible for any cover to come close to her delivery. Freaking impossible. Everyone is hung up on Taylor’s songwriting genius on Folklore but I actually think her vocal deliveries are just as flooring, mesmerizing and out of reach!

Anyway, go listen to Tears Ricochet guys. It’s literally EPIC. And thread carefully. It could rip out your heart with its wrenchful poetry and performance when you least expect it to. Coz man, this snuck up on me and hit me hard!

Totally one of my BIGGEST favorites! What a striking gem!

Mirrorball

Vulnerability courses through the whole of this quiet shimmery disco ball song. Taylor sings in delicate vocals of how she constantly has to reinvent her art for critics and fit into different molds and images to remain relevant in the industry that does away with women the moment they start to age.

“Hush…
I know they said the end is near, but I’m still on my tallest tiptoes
Spinning in my highest heels love
Shining for you…
Because I’m a mirrorball, I’ll show you every version of yourself tonight.”

Taylor compares herself to a mirrorball that shines different rays of light in everyone’s direction.

And then she makes my heart break by saying even though she constantly reinvents her image to keep people pleased and entertained; she is as fragile as a mirrorball and shatters into bits when broken.

“I can change everything about me to fit in…
And when I break it’s in a million pieces.”

There are lots of lines on this song that make my heart ache for Taylor.

“Drunk as they watch my shattered edges glisten”

Here, she acutely details how even in her broken state, people still find themselves amused and entertained as they watch her tiny shards glitter.

Wow. Isn’t Taylor’s creative mind just mind-boggling?

Urrgh! Let’s leave that first and come back to her feelings.

The fact that she has to keep changing herself, entertaining people and pleasing people without anyone even minding or knowing of her fragility and sensitivity on the inside is really heartbreaking. Any people pleaser can relate to this, whether celeb or not. I know I can relate to this feeling of trying so hard to make people like me and not abandon me. It’s a common struggle and Taylor articulates it beautifully with the imagery of a fragile clown “still on that tightrope”, “still on that trapeze” still grappling even after high orders have “called off the circus” and “burned the disco down”; trying her hardest to please her audience in her ridiculous outfits and gesticulations.

It’s a mesmerising comparison. I would love to have Taylor’s mind when I’m reborn. It’s wildly brilliant, I can’t even say anything again. It’s just mind-bogglingly brilliant. How does she think of these concepts that are perfectly commensurate with everyday feelings?

Seven

This melodic song screams nostalgia. Taylor reflects on the freedom and innocence she enjoyed in the breezy days of age 7, when she could “scream ferociously” – anytime she wanted – before she learned “civility“.

Gosh, who doesn’t miss those days where things were either black or white; where you needn’t be unnecessarily polite or fearful of not being liked for unabashedly being your real, true self? I know I miss those days, even if I can’t remember them. Hahaha.

Taylor also reminisces on the innocent friendship she had when she was 7. She can’t recall this girl’s face, but she still has love for her and remembers how she used to worry about her.

“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 you can be pirates
Then you won’t have to cry
Or hide in the closet“

Seven is a beautiful song and it shows just how much Taylor misses her past liberated, innocent and simple-minded self.

August

First let me say, this song has the best bridge and hook on Folklore. It’s not one of my favourite songs, but it sure has my best bridge and hook. Actually, Folklore contains all of the best constructed, most delicious, genius bridges I’ve heard in…well, forever!

Make no mistake, just because this song is not a favourite doesn’t mean I don’t like it, because I love it actually. There’s just too much competition on this album.

So remember James who cheated on Betty with a summer fling? Well, this is the summer fling’s perspective on the illicit relationship and it is so poignant. You just can’t help but feel so sad for her. She was hopelessly and helplessly in love with player boy James!

“Your back beneath the sun, wishing I could write my name on it…”

She was hopeless guys. I tell you.

“Back when we were still changing for the better
Wanting was enough
For me, it was enough
To live for the hope of it all
Cancel plans just in case you’d call
And say “Meet me behind the mall”
So much for summer love, and saying “Us”
‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose”

What’s more pitiful than this? You can’t help but put yourself in this discarded summer fling’s shoes and sympathize with her.

Taylor conveys her pain so affectively, especially on the bridge, you’d think Taylor herself is currently experiencing such heartbreak. But then again, the line between fiction and reality blur here. Taylor is finally putting herself in the shoes of just a “summer fling” that her heartbroken teenage self may not have cared to empathise with. It’s amazing guys. Taylor is all grown up! She now knows that life really isn’t black or white. No one can be blamed entirely all the time. She now knows that sometimes people are just slaves to their helpless feelings.

That aside, the production on this song is just impeccable. The whole song smells of summer, autumn and rust. It’s beautiful.

This is me trying

“I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting…”

This song is another deeply vulnerable track on the album.

Taylor admits that she regrets some of her past mistakes, her impulsiveness and recklessness with her words and actions.

“And my words shoot to kill when I’m mad, I have a lot of regrets about that…”

She lets us know that early fame and stardom froze her age and left her deserted.

“I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere
Fell behind of all my classmates and ended up here”

But regardless of everything, she wants us to know that she is at least trying to right her wrongs.

“And it’s hard to be at a party
When I feel like an open wound
It’s hard to be anywhere these days
When all I want is you
You’re a flashback in a film reel
On the one screen in my town”

These lines really make my heart ache for Taylor. I don’t know what exactly in her memory haunts her. Is it her past self or the people she had in her life when she was much younger and innocent? I don’t know but I hope she finds peace and doesn’t hurt from her regrets anymore.

Illicit Affairs

This song was an instant favourite of mine because of its vivid imagery and absorbing movie-esque quality.

The imagery Taylor conjures in the opening lines are immediately immaculate:

“Take the road less traveled by, tell yourself you can always stop…”

What started in beautiful rooms, ends with meetings in parking lots…”

Mind-blown.

In this song, Taylor once again reveals her outstanding emotional intelligence and growth in understanding the pain and side of the story no one would even take care to understand. It’s a song that is close to the sentiments of August.

In the third person narrative, Taylor details the helplessness of being in an adulterous love and ruining one’s self over and over for a love that you know is not supposed to be, for a love that you try very hard to salvage but know very well, is messed up and changing you for the worse.

The most chilling part is where she dramatizes the emotional turbulence you experience in an affair you didn’t set out to partake in but find yourself enveloped and incapacitated by:

“And you wanna scream
Don’t call me kid
Don’t call me baby
Look at this idiotic fool that you made me
You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else
And you know damn well
For you I would ruin myself
a million little times…”

Urrghh. No words to describe Taylor’s mind and talent. No words! Definitely one of her best songwriting highlights on the album.

Invisible String

First off, the plucky guitar strings on this song give me tingly butterflies! They stand out to me so much and contribute greatly in making this song a BIG LOVE for me. I love Invisible String! It’s the perfect song for a hopeless romantic like me as it is filled with hope, fate, dreaminess, golden strings and all things love! I’m obsessed!

This is the song that also reassured me that Taylor was still deep, dreamy-eyed and happy in love with Joe Alwyn.

Its lyrics have got to be one of the most creative romantic lyrics ever! Taylor looks back on her past in wonder and awe – with charming, sonorous wordplay – at how certain events, places, and even her own song, connected her to Joe. She wonders if they were other clues she missed out on all those times and can’t help but sing:

“Isn’t just so pretty to think
All along there was some
Invisible string
Tying you to me?”

Dying of Butterflies!

One of my best lines off this song have got to be:

“Time
Mystical time
Cutting me open, then healing me fine…”

“Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven…”

They are so so beautiful and magical. Taylor went through those hellish times but in the end, all her miseries were dissolved on meeting this one person.

My prince charming! Where are you oo?! Is there still some invisible string tying you to me?!😅😅

Taylor flexed her songwriting prowess even more and weakened me with these beautifully worded and delicately sung bridge:

“A string that pulled me
Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar
Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire
Chains around my demons
Wool to brave the seasons
One single thread of gold tied me to you”

Guys! I’m hopelessly in love with this one! Hopelessly!

Mad Woman

Who has seen Acrimony? That Tyler Perry’s movie? Holy crap. This song reminds me so much of Taraji in that rageful role and the madness that consumed her, albeit to no one’s entire understanding.

It’s a song that I immediately held dear to heart and still fiercely hold dear to heart because it pertains to women and how they are pushed to the very edge till the monsters within them lash out and then everyone still foolishly wonders what went wrong.

“Every time you call me crazy
I get more crazy
What about that?
And when you say I seem angry, I get more angry…”

Taylor is scary on this track. She is livid, scathing, almost psychotic. But that’s not the most frightening part. It’s the eerie calmness, the slowness, the psycho-casual attitude with which she delivers this song that is unnerving and spine-chilling.

The instrumental is flaming, brewing and boiling underneath, much like Taylor is on this track and it is the most intimidating and terrifying thing I’ve felt in a long time.

“What did you think I’d say to that?
Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?
They strike to kill and you know I will
You know I will”

Taylor spits fire at all her detractors and enemies – Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun – with brazenness and reassured fury:

“Now I breathe flames each time I talk
My cannons all firing at your yacht
They say “move on”
But you know I won’t”

Taylor seethes with anger saying:

“And you poke that bear till her claws come out and you find something to wrap your noose around”

She also calls out women haunting other women; doing the “dirtiest work” for their husband (Hi Kimmy!) and ignoring their husband’s cheating because “no one likes a mad woman”.

I just love how Taylor is able to depict her anger and bare sharp fangs that she makes clear will disappear no time soon, so long as she keeps being messed with.

She has been crawled over for the longest time in the music industry and her biting and stinging in this unstressed yet fiery way feels so satisfying to my soul. I imagine her haters trembling while listening to this track and it just gives me so much pleasure!

Mad props to Mad Woman. It’s honestly a song that any woman who has been consistently mistreated, gaslighted or taken advantage of, will solidly get behind.

Epiphany

Epiphany is such a sad song. It is a heroic song that Taylor cinematically dedicates to the front line workers – who she likens to soldiers – fighting the disastrous and traumatic battle that is Coronavirus. She was inspired by her grandfather, Dean landing at Guadalcanal in 1942. He was a soldier fighting the World War II, so she made some comparisons of what he and his men faced with what frontline medical workers are currently facing. The lyrics are gutting and vivid with scenes of death, wounds, last breaths, blood, hopelessness, wide-eyed disbelief, exhaustion and desperation for relief.

It’s the perfect soundtrack to any heart-wrenching war movie. Hats off to Taylor for again, being the most empathic storyteller.

Betty

Finally James the cheater is back, apologising to Betty, the Cardigan girl he cheated on. Honestly, I don’t empathise with James. He says:

“I’m only 17, I don’t know anything but I know I’ll miss you.”

Errm, James…you knew damn well what you were doing to both Betty and that Summer fling.

Guys, did you catch the shade in the lyrics? Remember in Cardigan, Betty croons; “When you are young they assume you know nothing.”

Of course James knew what he was doing, now he is here begging at Betty’s doorstep, telling her that he misses her just like Betty had sang that he would.

Whatever James. I hope Betty never forgives you even though I know she would. Urggh!

Anyway guys, enough with getting angry with a fictional story, hahaha! Well, that’s the power of Taylor!

It blows my mind that Taylor makes a lot of accurate lyrical connections with this song , Cardigan and August. She had the whole triangle planned out, down to even the time certain phrases were mentioned. Freaking awesome! You need to check how all the lyrics and their timing correlate! It’s freakishly superb I swear!

Now what makes this song special even though I could care less about James’ pathetic excuses is that it is a country song! The exact kind of song Teen Taylor started with! Her natural sound! She even sounds like her 18 year old self on this track, honestly, it’s so cool considering the fact that she is now 30. Wild, how times flies mehn! But there’s banjos, guitars and fiddles and country melodies! Really cool.

Peace

Peace is both beautiful and wretched at the same time. I can’t explain it. First off, the instrumentals, I’m eternally in love with it. It makes me feel like I’m falling in love for the first time with the most beautiful human being on earth, anytime it comes on. It gives me intractable hope and immense butterflies. My heart leaps in excitement every single time I hear it.

But the lyrics, oh my gosh, they sober you up with their wretchedness and then again excite you with their grave sweetness.

Taylor sings about the witch hunting that she might forever be a victim of, about the trouble that will always follow her as a celebrity and the chaos that her famous detractors will always make of her. So she sings vulnerably to Joe Alwyn:

“But I’m a fire and I’ll keep your brittle heart warm
If your cascade, ocean wave blues come
All these people think love’s for show
But I would die for you in secret
The devil’s in the details, but you got a friend in me
Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?”

Now, “I would die for you in secret” are the most beautiful words I’ve heard in years and “Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” are also the most wrenching subsequent words I’ve heard in years.

There is no way your heart wouldn’t ache for Taylor here. She has battled with anxiety and uncertainty all her romantic life under the intruding eyes of the frenzied media. Now that she’s found someone she loves to death and never wants to lose, she is still plagued with anxiety because certain egoistic and greedy people just won’t leave her alone.

“But there’s robbers to the east and clowns to the West
I’d give give you my sunshine, give you my best, but the rain is always gonna come if you’re standing with me.”

Let’s take a minutes to laugh our asses out at that first line up there. I’m sorry. As pitiful as this song is, I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into hysteric laughter when I saw how Taylor relegated Kanye West to the real clown that he is and referred to Scooter and Scott as robbers! That line is HILARIOUS AND GENIUS.

Geez! Back to business. I feel so bad and sad for Taylor anytime I listen to this song. But I’m always relieved by the fact that you never really pose such deeply vulnerable, scary question – “Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” to your partner except there’s a level of trust and security you have with them. I believe Joe will continue to stand by her during the rainy and stormy days just like he has for the past 4 years.

Peace is one of my ABSOLUTE favourites from this whole album. It speaks to every hopeless romantic bone in me and fills me up with so much hope and sweetness despite its traumatic and depressive tints.

And this line – “Give you my wild, give you a child…” gave me goosebumps. The delicateness, intimacy and vulnerability of this line from Taylor, I will never forget. What a devastatingly beautiful song.

Hoax

Okay, this dark song gives me serious anxiety and it’s the last song on the album. Hence, the anxiety it gives me is tripled.

“Your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in
Don’t want no other shade of blue but you.
No other sadness in the world would do”

I remember hearing the word “blue” from this song that is rife with darkness, hopelessness and toxic love and it felt like my chest was on fire. I was confused, scared and lost.

Every Taylor Swift fan knows that any reference to blue on a Taylor song refers to Joe Alwyn. His favourite colour is blue and his eyes are also the famous blue Taylor is head over heels with. So her attaching blue to such a melancholic, painful, dark song like hoax is definitely deliberate. She knows we would be confused, that we would wonder if her relationship with Joe is on the rocks.

And with her baring lines like these:

“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
From when they pulled me apart
But what you did was just as dark
Darling, this was just as hard
As when they pulled me apart”

It just scares the shit out of me. Even knowing that she just sang the most romantic Invisible String and Peace still doesn’t put my mind to rest.

Who is Taylor referring to here? Is it her broken relationship with ex boss Borchetta who knew how she was still hurting from Kanye and Kim tearing her apart before he betrayed her too or it it her fear that something similar might happen in her relationship with Joe? Is this all a clash between reality and unrealised fear? Urghhh. I don’t know. But everything is worsened by the fact that she chose to end this album with hoax, the saddest, darkest, most hopeless song on the album. The worst of all, she used the word  – blue!

It’s very scary and spirit dampening. I wish she didn’t end on this note. But as a writer myself, I have a feeling that this was just to show that she was still unsure about life and the road that it was leading her down, so she is preparing, preparing not to be caught off guard, trying hard not to end on an excited or happy note. She painted her own defeated end with the help of the dark experiences she has had, before any other fresh one smacked her in the face – the one she feels she might never recover from (a breakup with Joe Alwyn).

I feel so so sad for my Taylor. So so sad. May her fears never be realised. May her story not end on a bleak, defeated note.

And it’s a wrap. Whoo! We’ve come to the end of Taylor’s storytelling masterpiece and emotional roller-coaster.

RATING

I don’t even need to say this. It’s an A++++++

Taylor has finally made that album she was born to make. I cannot rave enough about the cohesiveness, conceptuality, creativity, brilliance, wisdom, acuity and genius of this rare album. I feel so blessed to be able to listen to this album, let alone talk about it. My review doesn’t do this album any justice. You really need to listen to the performances, experience the production and most of all, behold the entire lyrics, line by line to appreciate their boggling and depthful genius.

Taylor lets each of her stories shine. Each song is fully in its own element and home. Actually, each of the songs feel like distinct high-production movies with genius cinematography, genius scripting, genius acting and genius editing.

The intricacy and empathy of production is amazing. The vocal effects, studio effects, beat compositions and vocal performances- every imagery, scenery and emotion were just perfectly invoked to touch hearts and rip hearts alike.

Gosh, I’m talking too much but damn it! Taylor’s ingenuity really was unmatched with each lyric, melody, bridge, rhyme, rhythm and emotive delivery. I mean, even from the few lyrics I highlighted, you can see some brilliant alliteration, assonance and wordplay. And they are just the tip of the iceberg! Damn it!

Her growth and intelligence is beyond impressive. Like I said earlier, if I’m reborn, I really want to be reborn with Taylor’s mind. No jokes. It’s a mind-boggling treasure.

Also, did I mention how many times I had to open my dictionary to understand the meaning of certain words? Ricochet, gauche, mercurial – I clearly remember having to check up the meaning of these words. Crazy right? But that’s what Taylor does to you on this album. She doesn’t just entertain you and increase your emotional intelligence by miles, she also purposely widens your vocabulary. Phenomenal woman.

Now that all’s been said and done, I wonder what Taylor is going to come out next with. Will she swerve back to pop? Will she go country again? Or will she stick with this folksy melancholy? I have not the slightest clue. I have never been this blank about what next I feel Taylor will come up with. I can only imagine the anxiety Taylor must also be scourged with right now. Folklore is doing exceptionally well like it should be on the charts and sales front. Something I don’t really think she expected. So she must be crippled with the question, “What comes next? What do I do next?”

This is not a life I envy. Not even being able to fully live in the moment without stressing out about what you are going to do next. Taylor has reinvented her sound a thousand times. I wonder what she would do next. A combination of it all or what?

Whatever it is, I hope Taylor is able to fully live in the moment, relish every good thing in her life right now and understand that she has reached her peak. Of course, there is a strong tendency to blow our minds further as she experiences new folds of life. I mean she has shown us beyond doubt that her writing and conceptual talent is fathomless. But for now, I honestly want her to just relax and be proud of her stunning achievements that only few geniuses in this whole wide world can ever dream of attaining.

Alright Grammys! My legs are patiently crossed and my eyes are damn set on you. You are cursed for life if Taylor does not bag her 3rd “Album of the year” with Folklore. Cursed for life.

Here are my ABSOLUTE (5) FAVOURITES from FOLKLORE –

The 1
Cardigan
Tears Ricochet
Invisible String
Mad Woman
Peace

Go listen to all the songs. There are absolutely no skips. At least, not when they’ve all grown on you. Thanks for reading! This was a long ass ride right? But one I bet you enjoyed right? Hahaha.

Till next time! Stream Folklore! Hard!

EDIT: Guys! August is now one of my favourites off the album!🥳