Taylor Swift's pandemic albums, folklore and evermore, took fans by surprise as they were released with no warning in 2020 with a gap of only five months. The surprise was not only the unexpected drop, but the genre change. Taylor Swift, known as an autobiographical songwriter, also explored writing fictional stories through these albums.

She weaved intricate tales through the songs on both albums that captured the hearts of millions. One such story spans three songs on folklore, the first pandemic album, also known as the older sibling of the duo.

The Love Triangle

The trilogy of songs on folklore, namely august, betty, and cardigan follows the story of three characters: Betty, August, and James. The song “august” is from August's perspective, “betty” is from James' perspective, and “cardigan” is from Betty's perspective. The trio of songs covers a high-school love story between James and Betty, which becomes endangered when James goes away for the summer and spends time with August, who falls in love with him.

However, deep down she knows that James doesn't love her back, and he goes back to Betty, begging for forgiveness. The story also briefly mentions Inez, a character who spreads gossip, which is how Betty finds out about James and August. Ultimately, August is left heartbroken while James and Betty end up together.

Breaking Down the Trilogy

cardigan

This is the first song of the trilogy, narrated by Betty. It sounds like an older version of Betty is looking back at the experience and talking about it. The very first verse of the song says “when you are young they assume you know nothing” and this line is constantly repeated throughout the song, suggesting that she is reminiscing instead of talking about her story in real-time.

She refers to herself as “a cardigan under someone's bed” and claims that James “put me on and said I was your favorite”. She goes through different memories such as “high heels on cobblestones”, “drunk under a streetlight” and “playing hide and seek and giving me your weekends”.

At the same time, the second verse of the song says:

a friend to all is a friend to none / chase two girls, lose the one

This suggests that Betty was aware of James' infidelity and in that moment might have been thinking of not forgiving him. The tone of the lyrics changes in the bridge when she makes references to feelings of abandonment and betrayal through lines like “you drew stars around my scars and now I'm bleeding”, “Peter losing Wendy”, and “leaving like a father, running like water”.

Towards the end, she talks about how she would have wondered what could have been if she had left him, but she also knew that he would get bored of whatever he was doing away from her and would return to her, “standing in my front porch light”.

Photo by Ronald Woan from Redmond, WA, USA on Wikimedia Commons

Overall, it looks like she is looking back on the turbulent relationship but is content with choosing to stay in it despite the pain it caused her. Betty's character is portrayed as extremely wise, loving, and hopeful.

august

The next song of the triangle seems to be an anthem of the summer for many. It is told from the perspective of August who is a hopeless romantic lost in her own world. She also appears to be reminiscing about the summer she spent with James.

August recounts an exciting summer when she met James and fell in love with him but deep down knew that “but you were never mine”. Despite knowing that James loved someone else, she was extremely hopeful of her love, with lyrics like “will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinking I had you”.

The bridge is absolutely gut-wrenching, talking about how much August hoped for James to call to meet her, so much so that she would cancel her plans waiting for him. At the same time, she recognizes that the feelings will not be reciprocated:

so much for summer love and saying "us" / ‘cause you weren't mine to lose

Photo by Paolo V on Wikimedia Commons

She talks about how the summer slipped away so fast as she got entangled with him. She would pick him up in her car and continue to hope for a future with him because of one fateful summer. August's story unfortunately ends in heartbreak as James never pursues her and goes back to Betty. August has been depicted as a sweet, naive young girl who gets her heart broken by her summer love.

betty

The final song of the trilogy, betty, is from James' perspective. James talks about how Betty had started to distance herself from him because “you heard the rumors from Inez, you can't believe a word she says most times but this time it was true”. Betty had heard of how James had cheated on her, and James asks for forgiveness through the song. There is a certain immaturity in his character as he makes excuses for his behavior, claiming “I'm only seventeen, I don't know anything but I know I miss you”.

He goes on to talk about how if he showed up to Betty's party, she would either tell him to go away or would lead him in and forgive him once he told her the fling didn't mean anything and he loved her. The second verse seems to talk about prom night, where James doesn't show up, with the excuse of not liking crowds, which leads to Betty dancing with someone else.

Photo by Mikxth on Wikimedia Commons

In the bridge, he describes his point of view of how he met August, calling her “a figment of my worst intentions” when she came to pick him up in her car. The following lines are extremely heartbreaking as he talks about how the summer slipped away in no time, similar to how August felt, but as he slept with August he only dreamt of Betty.

Towards the end of the song, Taylor winds up the story as we finally witness the climax: James actually going to Betty's party to apologize.

He then asks if kissing him would “patch her broken wings”, which once again brings out his immaturity. The song ends with him in her cardigan, kissing in his car parked under a streetlight, telling us that she takes him back.

How it Comes Together

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We can see many references across all three songs that connect the three to form a perfect, cohesive story, despite the songs not being consecutive on the tracklist. We can note that in “cardigan”, Betty refers to a cobblestone path and a streetlight. She also predicts that James will be in her front porch light, saying sorry.

This comes together in “betty” as James mentions walking on broken cobblestones thinking of her, is now wearing her cardigan, shows up at her front porch, and ends with kissing under a streetlight. These connections are subtle but are very cleverly done.

The scene of August picking James up in her car is also shown from different perspectives. For August, she did so out of love and hope which was never reciprocated. Betty described the entire ordeal as a ‘thrill’ that would ‘expire’. James talks about the scene as something that made him behave wrongly, betraying Betty in the process.

Photo by Luis fragar on Wikimedia Commons

Taylor talks about the story in detail in the folklore long pond studio sessions along with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antanoff, available on Disney+. She also briefly discusses the trilogy and plays all three songs at her Eras Tour concerts!