I Don’t Make the Rules. Back in July, Taylor Swift dropped her surprise eighth studio album folklore. Some have mused that Swift was named after James Taylor, and thus James is her, and that Elizabeth is Karlie Kloss’s middle name, and thus Karlie is Betty. August. This one goes out to all the reverb lesbians — I know you’re out there. While we’re all stuck in weird, dark apartments (Swift not included), the only vacations we’re afforded are the ones where we leave our bodies and live in stories, old journals, happy memories of beaches and sun-kissed romance and getting summertime wine-drunk. You can feel Swift’s low-burbling fury leaking through her teeth when she sings, “What do you sing on your drive home? It’s getting dark out and my meat supply ran out three days ago. “my tears ricochet” is the “Delicate” of folklore. They’re no use to me now. bon iver: Do you think you’re better than Taylor? Bon Iver) Okay, what’s weird to me is that the “B” and the “I” are still capitalized in “feat. “epiphany” sounds like a choral arrangement of hexed porcelain dolls and is about witnessing trauma. “this is me trying” has swirling strings, subtle horns, and — not an instrument— but can I just say, Taylor is becoming a reverb bitch. In a year defined by fear and anxiety, these ten films managed to provide haunts and delights. Then, DJ iMarkkeyz Remixed It. The PsyOp is working — and I’m not gonna lie— being isolated in the woods without internet or any real life skills for the past 24 hours … isn’t helping either. Here’s what I care about: You know what’s gay? So, there is a theory, one that’s probably correct, that “illicit affairs” is one of three songs Swift referred to in a YouTube comment as “The Teenage Love Triangle.” All three songs are written from each person in the love triangle’s POV: “illicit affairs” being from the POV of girl who the boy cheated with, “betty” being from the POV of the boy, and “cardigan” being from the POV of Betty. Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s Relationship Timeline Read article This is what happens in The Revenant, I think — as far as folklore aesthetics go, I identify as more of a Nell bitch than a Revenant slut. IMO “peace” is about feeling like you’re simultaneously too much and never enough and wanting to be with somebody but knowing you’ll ruin their life by self-sabotaging and it’s also about romanticizing toxic and messy relationships and creating fantasies out of doom and gloom and heartbreak. Or does she mouth, ‘Fuck you forever?’” This is one of Swift’s best songs and a literal misandrist anthem, but my fear is this: remember when we found out “You Oughta Know” was about … Joey from Full House? The singer, 30, only released her seventh studio album Lover last year on August 23, 2019. The PsyOp of incepting people on the brink of madness comes to a sweeping close in “hoax,” in which Swift finally punted me off the bridge of sanity. I, however, cannot read, and thus do not have to accept this as canon (more on why, and more on “betty,” in a bit). Stone Says Her Favorite Folklore Song. 2020 Looked Bleak. This Taylor Swift ‘folklore’ song just got reimagined into a pop punk hit. In November, Swift released a documentary on Disney+ that chronicles the making of “folklore” and features her first performances with with Antonoff, Dessner and Vernon. I don’t need to remember what it was like to have my youth ripped from my throat years ago or be to nostalgic for childhood emotional wounds. Some have theorized that “the last great american dynasty,” and its mention of a woman from St. Louis, is about Swift’s former BFF and rumored ex-girlfriend, Karlie Kloss, who was raised in St. Louis. There are so many … Woods-inspired art works best when helmed by queer (or queer-coded) women (@nobody in particular @Justin Timberlake). This song is beautiful — but I’m good. Tarik really thought Hazel was going to lose her mind over a dishwasher and ignore the messy reality around her. “the 1” is a playful yet melancholic doom fantasy of what could’ve been, in which Swift muses, “it would’ve been fun, if you were the one.” Personally, I believe folklore is a PsyOp, and “the 1” is the first blow of a 16-piece psychological attack intended to break every last person who hasn’t yet been broken by quarantine. Cut to: me in a ball on my floor, emotionally mangled, happy-sobbing about how grateful I am that the Swiftian String brought me and my girlfriend together. Carey Mulligan is outrageously great as a Me Too vigilante in an unsettling first film from Emerald Fennell. Folklore really feels like the debut album of a whole new Swift — her narrative scope has opened up, with a wide-ranging cast of characters for 17 songs, without a … 1 Debut. Ed Sheeran Returns to Strum Us Into 2021 With ‘Afterglow’. “Exile (feat. The trailer features Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Jones, and more. Fuck Marsha Blackburn! Other noted lowercase girls include Lykke Li and Ariana Grande, and Swift and folklore sit on the shoulder of such chill giants. … Featuring production from Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, Folklore eschews the upbeat pop production of Swift's previous albums for mellow ballads driven by piano and guitar. Dessner's presence is a signal that folklore represents a shift for Taylor Swift, moving her away from the glittering pop mainstream and into gloomier territory. BETTY. The Shondaland Netflix series will make you want to whisper obscene gossip, pop Champagne, and run giddily through a hedge maze. Bon Iver,” despite every other letter on the album being lowercase. “my tears ricochet” is everything. Some have noted that Swift used the names of her friend Blake Lively’s kids, James and Inez, who are both girls, for this song. As a lesbian with zero interest in Chris Evans, I felt very left out of the sweater discourse last year, and no queer woman should EVER be left out of sweater discourse. Now, after a grueling night of listening, weeping, memeing, and baring my teeth at a puma that got into my meat supply, I’m ready to discuss. A trip to the ranch with the morale-boosting Mayor of Flavortown. And confuses some Perry-obsessed aliens along the way. Bon Iver),” track four. By this point in the album, it’s clear that Swift is doing what many of has have done during pandemic: dissociating. It’s Christmas Morning for Everyone But Mom on, Michael Che Got Colin Jost to Roast Scarlett Johansson on Weekend Update, Kristen Wiig’s Pigeon Lady Turns Christmas Vigilante in, Taylor Swift Continues Her Record-Breaking Run With ‘willow’ No. Metaphorically unmasking the DJ whose viral videos soundtracked this year. A lowercase girl album, like a lowercase girl, signifies ambivalence, nonchalance, and unfortunately, a Trojan horse of emotional terrorism. Swift hauls out her old high-school-romance-songs vocal tone to reminisce about “skipping the prom/ just to piss off your mom,” very much in the vein of Folklore’s teen-love-triangle trilogy. I awakened screaming and panting, only to realize — it wasn’t a dream. The record went on to earn six Grammy nominations , including Album of the Year and Song of the Year. “cardigan” is not only the official sweater of bisexuality (they’re versatile) but the first of many queer-coded songs on folklore. © 2020 Vox Media, LLC. The wintry love song marks his first release in over a year. These texts, these films, these heirlooms? After the high-octane Kids Bop feel of Lover, it’s relieving to hear Swift return to more haunting instrumentations. In many ways, folklore is the Taylor Swift’s rawest and chillest piece of work. The result of her introspection was folklore, an album whose hushed atmosphere belies the speed of its composition and recording. There’s also this lyric, “Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever / flew in all her Bitch Pack friends from the city / filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names,” inspired by St. Louis-born debutante Rebekah Harkness, who married the heir to Standard Oil. The Best And Worst Songs On Taylor Swift's "Folklore" If "my tears ricochet" is not in your top five, you're wrong. Log in or link your magazine subscription. I’d moved permanently into the woods to stream Taylor Swift’s eighth studio album folklore where it deserved to be streamed: in the wilderness. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, regular press tours are not held. Taylor Swift Told The Stories Behind Writing The "Love Triangle" Songs From "Folklore" And It's Kinda Surprising "It would be safe to assume that 'Cardigan' would be first, but it wasn't." You’re better than all lowercase girls??? "Cardigan," "Illicit Affairs," and "Betty" are all the same story from three different perspectives. Once she started the project, Swift turned to her longtime colleague Jack Antonoff for some input, but she also contacted an unexpected new collaborator: Aaron Dessner, the driving force behind the acclaimed indie rock band the National. Sounding like it’s pulled straight … Stream songs including "the 1", "cardigan" and more. The singer’s cozy eighth studio is a far cry from her perfect h by Natalie Morin The emotional terrorism continues: “I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try, I’m still on that trapeze, I’m still trying everything to keep you looking at me, because I’m a mirrorball.” This was very hurtful to me, a mirrorball. Or sorry that happened.”. Already a subscriber? Rachael Dowd - December 15, 2020 [Photo via Spotify] Why Are Megan Thee Stallion, City Girls, and Asian Doll Fighting? Swift is known for always placing her most emotional song as the fifth track on her albums — including "All Too Well," which many fans consider one of … Now, one TikTok user may have just proved Swift could make another genre-switch in the future. Four months before Evermore, Swift unexpectedly released Folklore in July to rave reviews. This is just as shimmery and shiny as a mirrorball itself. Taylor Swift’s ‘betty’ Is Queer Canon. Released with a music video at midnight Friday, “cardigan” is adorable, and yet, again, hurtful to specifically me: “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan, under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite.” Here’s what I believe: I believe that “cardigan” is not just about hurting me personally but is also a lesbian answer to Chris Evans’s cable-knit sweater in Knives Out. Or, at least, it’s her most gothic record. Sweetness has ripened into bittersweet beauty, regret has mellowed into a wistful sigh, the melodies don't clamor for attention but seep their way into the subconscious. Folklore (stylized in all lowercase) is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Knowing that, let’s talk about every song on folklore. If “my tears ricochet” is to folklore what “Delicate” was to reputation, then “epiphany” is to folklore what “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” was to Lover, in that it’s the haunted doll hiding in your closet of the album. “my tears ricochet” is my personality, my religion, my scripture. This was the standout on the first listen and it’s still up the top of the list. Last night I dreamt I was dashing through thorny brush in a black forest, bloodying my legs in desperate search of a clearing in the trees. *Sorry, there was a problem signing you up. Listen to folklore by Taylor Swift on Apple Music. Also: The most Christmas songs in the top ten ever! When Taylor said, “You know I didn’t want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene,” I wrote a scathing review of The Poltergeist on Amazon. A Timeline of Ariana Grande’s Expedited Relationship With Dalton Gomez, Step Forward and Watch This Sneak Peak of, Peter Jackson unveiled five minutes of cheery footage, giving us a sense of “the spirit of the film.”. Everything You Need to Know About the Heiress Who Inspired a Taylor Swift Song, Taylor Swift and Bon Iver Find Perfect Harmony on ‘exile’, How to Gird Your Loins for Taylor Swift’s. Or something. ً … I’m happy for u tho. “exile” (feat. (Cue the plaintive harmonica.) For my full thoughts on “betty” please check out my book “betty” which will be released in 70 volumes over the course of the next 40 years. Critics mostly describe the album as indie folk, alternative rock, and electro-folk, while a few classify it as pop. Taylor Swift isn't the type to really talk at all about her boyfriend of four years, Joe Alwyn, but she opened up to Zane Lowe about her experience writing songs for folklore … Still, the vibe of the album is notably different. https://www.republicworld.com/.../taylor-swifts-folklore-explained.html But first, some housekeeping: It must be noted that each song on folklore and the album title are stylized in lowercase letters. Guy Fieri Is America’s Most Misunderstood Chef. Thursday morning, July 23, Swift announced a surprise album and music video were set to drop that Friday at midnight. You know what I didn’t need to stew about in my self-isolation echo chamber of trauma? In a note to her fans, the inventor of forests wrote that folklore is a storytelling album for which she allowed her imagination to run wild while in isolation. Taylor Swift gave us all a brief pandemic reprieve when she surprise-released 'Folklore,' marking a new creative direction for the pop star — and providing her with a much-needed escape. Here is our humble, preliminary opinion on the best songs on Taylor Swift’s Folklore-- all 16 tracks, plus the bonus track, “The Lakes.” 17. All of this is true, if perhaps a bit overstated. The 16 songs on folklore are recognizably her work, bearing telltale melodic phrases and a reliance on finely honed narratives that turn on exquisitely rendered lyrical details. There is just “my tears ricochet.”. You’re better than her album theme, her artistic vision, her ten Grammys? Taylor Swift has also debunked those 'woodvale' rumors. The National’s Dessner lends a significant amount of indie music … By. The scars of my youth. But you might remember this lyric from Swift’s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” which was also rumored to be about her “friendship” breakup with Kloss: “It was so nice throwing big parties / Jump into the pool from the balcony / Everyone swimming in a champagne sea.” A connection?? Mirrorball. Taylor Swift surprised-released a new album called Folklore on Friday, and like all her albums, it’s bound to be a hit. It was a surprise album, released through Republic Records on July 24, 2020, eleven months after its predecessor, Lover (2019). “seven” is about the pureness of childhood friendship: “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 we can be pirates, / then you won’t have to cry / or hide in the closet.” Like, I don’t need this right now. Combined, the moodier, contemplative tone and the emphasis on songs that can't be parsed as autobiography make folklore feel not like a momentary diversion inspired by isolation but rather the first chapter of Swift's mature second act. But Alwyn’s casting wasn’t reported until after he and Swift started dating. Creating a fictional male character and wearing him like an outfit to sing a song about kissing a girl. However, Swift and Stone saw each other at the premiere. I’m worried we’re going to find out “mad woman” is about, like … Rainn Wilson. 26 Notable New Releases Over the Next Two Weeks. The 16 songs on folklore are recognizably her work, bearing telltale melodic phrases and a … Adam Brody and Leighton Meester Probably Won’t Binge the New, “I don’t think we’re the audience, but I’m sure we’ll dip our toes in.”. Anyway, “illicit affairs” is about how having an affair and lying kills you “a million little times.” But as the meme goes, “I ain’t reading all that. None of these are precisely new tricks for Swift but her writing from the explicit vantage of other characters, as on the epic story-song "the last great american dynasty," is. This is everything I want out of a Taylor Swift song: strings being plucked, colors being painted, and the saccharine imagery of an “invisible string” pulling two unwitting strangers together. A lowercase girl texts and posts in lowercase letters so as to appear relaxed; we are the antithesis of thirst, having been terrorized by love lost so many times that we can no longer bear to even seem like we care enough to text you with proper capitalization. “the 1” is just oiling you up for your own annihilation. The added blow of bon iver’s blatant disrespect for lowercaseists (also known as anti-capitalists) is enough to push me over the edge. The LP was quickly classified as alternative, making it the third genre classification in her career. “hoax” is a song about heartbreak that rips your guts out, sort of like when you rip the guts out of a bear, clearing space in its body so you can sleep between its ribs because you’re trapped in an icy tundra without shelter. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly released earlier this week, Swift expressed that she couldn’t entirely shake the experience of writing the album, hinting that more songs of similar ilk might be on the way. When Taylor said, “And if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake?” I threw my copy of The Bell Jar in the trash. Faced with some unexpected free time due to a lockdown inspired by a global pandemic, Taylor Swift turned inward. Taylor Swift's second isolation album, "Evermore," is a breathtaking companion to this summer's "Folklore" that puts her songwriting front and center. I don’t care about that. ACAB, comrade!! One of the songs on Folklore that caught the most early attention online is “Betty,” a late-album track that sees Swift return most directly to her country roots. All of the blood in my body turned to stone at my first listen of “betty,” which SEEMS to be about Swift’s romance with a girl named “betty,” until she drops the name “James,” and then we’re meant to assume the song is from the perspective of this “man” named “James.” That doesn’t matter to me because, like I said, I can’t read. Taylor Swift confirmed that her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, cowrote two songs on her latest album, Folklore, under a pseudonym. Okay, what’s weird to me is that the “B” and the “I” are still capitalized in “feat. All rights reserved. I’m good. You\'ll receive the next newsletter in your inbox. Zooey Deschanel Plays Katy Perry in Music Video, Culminating a 13-Year-Old Joke. , “ Do it on the Tip. ” why are Megan Thee Stallion City! 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