In typical 2020 fashion, the music world was left in shock after Taylor Swift announced the arrival of her eighth studio album, Folklore, with only twelve hours notice. This surprise release is a unique move for Swift, who typically spends months carefully marketing her records, gradually releasing radio-friendly singles and lyrical easter eggs that all culminate into a memorable album debut.
Whether her change in promotion is the result of a new ‘read the room’ mindset, or a sudden surge of impulsivity, this surprise reflects Swift’s new risk-taking behaviour, evident throughout the entire record. However, as shown throughout her career, Swift seems to be at her best when she’s more defiant in the name of artistic agency and creative expression. Such innovation could not be more evident than in Folklore’s ethereal dreamscape.
With Folklore, Swift has managed to do something virtually unheard of in the music industry: to successfully cross genres not once, but twice, all within the span of a decade. Swift began her music career as a Nashville-bred country singer with her first four records (Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, and Red); however, 2014 marked her official transition into mainstream pop through the release of her fifth record 1989, a three-time Grammy winner. In contrast to 1989, as well as the following pop records Reputation and Lover, Folklore is an alternative indie album filled with soothing vocals and mellow synth beats, tied together with luscious piano, guitar instrumentals and orchestral harmonies .
The melancholic, naturistic feeling evoked by these instrumentals is consistent throughout, yet they don’t feel over the top, never standing in the way of any powerful moments. In ‘Exile’, Swift collaborates with indie-folk legend Bon Iver to create a piano-driven, haunting masterpiece about lack of closure in the aftermath of a toxic relationship (‘I’m not your problem anymore/ so who am I offending now?/ you were my crown/now i’m in exile seeing you out.)
Lyrically, Folklore is also fundamentally different from Swift’s previous records in that it presents a more adventurous and inquiring state of mind, without lacking the interpersonal, magical touch that Swift’s stories have always brought to the table. Swift writes of the record, ‘I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t.’ These ‘perspectives’ include that of a teenage love triangle, the widow of an oil tycoon, and even a reflection on the experiences of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, shown in the moving ‘Epiphany’ (something med school did not cover/ someone’s daughter, someone’s mother/ holds your hand through plastic now/ Doc, I think she’s crashing now/and some things you just can’t speak about).
It’s clear Swift’s days of rain or late-night themed references are come and gone (ie. Red, 1989 eras), as she seems to have evolved into the use of adolescent, fairytale, and even circus imagery, specifically in my personal favorite track, ‘Mirrorball’ (but I’m still on that tightrope, I’m still trying everything/ to get you laughing at me.) Even through all this experimentation, Swift is able to tie in her own personal experiences into the fictional arcs of Folklore, in tracks such as ‘Cardigan’ (‘when they are young they assume you know nothing’) and ‘Mad Woman’ (‘no one likes a mad woman/you made her like that.) These bring a level of self-awareness previously indecipherable in Swift’s pop endeavors: at the very least, the public can no longer jump to the conclusion that Taylor’s music is repetitive, or that she only writes songs about her relationships.
While unexpected, the transformative escape that Swift has nurtured through Folklore’s calming melodies and magical lyrics proves it to be a record both timeless and timely: one that only 2020 could have produced, but that will remain relevant and engrossing for years to come. Evidently, Taylor dedicates the record not just to loyal Swifties but to the entire world, and brings an unprecedented level of ingenuity that serves as a reminder of her colossal talent and musical genius.
