On Thursday, July 23, 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic that had the world stuck mostly indoors for the past four months, Taylor Swift changed the game. At least, she changed her game.
Eschewing the single/video release buildup that she and countless other musical acts have typically used to launch albums, she announced that she had something "to put out in the world" and wanted to do so right away. Like, that night.
The lack of pre-album hoopla fits Folklore's quiet, melancholy tone like a warm mitten, which is the sort of accessory this album evokes. Although it was released in the dog days of July, this collection of tunes is best-listened to while curling up with a book you don't have to think too hard about next to a warm fire. It is not a summery pop album like her last effort, 2019's Lover. It's the first album she's released in her 30's and bears all the hallmarks of maturity and growth that one would expect from a preternatural talent.
Before we go on, one more time, for people in the back: Taylor Swift is her generation's premier songwriter. Yes, she has become a pop star, but what separates her from the pack is how personal her music feels because she writes it. The best (and most authentic) parts of Miss Americana, the Netflix documentary about the writing of Lover and her newfound political activism show her actual genius at work.
It's not hard to imagine the follow up doc of Taylor, pent up during quarantine in her mansion with her cats, firing off classic Taylor laments like "When you are young/they think you know nothing" on "Cardigan" or "I'm only 17/I don't know anything/But I know I miss you" on the album's catchiest tune, "Betty." While those lyrics might've been at home on, say Speak Now, there's an added edge this time around. She wonders on "Betty" if the titular character would tell her "to go fuck myself." There's also a harmonica part, as she goes for that Bob Dylan in the coffee shop vibe.
Departing from pop is also going to ask for growth on the part of her audience. As a parent, I admit I was a bit shocked and dismayed by the few F-bombs she drops because they're not appropriate for my eight-year-old daughter, who is a big fan. Rory's capsule review (of the songs we allowed her to hear) was that the album "is all sad songs."
Additionally, Taylor is really leaning into the alcohol-soaked references she first began on Reputation. Those notes struck me as false then, but she's been pretty consistent about her relationship with booze since, crooning "They told me all of my cages were mental/So I got wasted/Just like my potential" on "This is Me Trying." On one of the album's highlights, "August," she claims that month "sipped away like a bottle of wine," which is a tortured simile, but it's a lovely tune.
Another standout includes the call-and-response duet "Exile," in which Bon Iver insists that Taylor "Never gave a warning sign," to which she protests "I gave so many signs." There's also a "Got lots of Starbucks lovers" potential to the wistful "Mirrorball," in that every time she sings "You'll find me on my tallest..." I think she's about to admit "You'll find me on my toilet" because of the way she pronounces the first part of "tallest." That could totally just be me, though.
The album's best song represents another departure of sorts, as Taylor details the fascinating life story of wealthy Rhode Island widow Rebekah Hastings, who ruined "The Last Great American Dynasty" through her antics of filling the swimming pool with champagne and coloring the neighbor's dog key-lime green. Taylor has rarely, if ever, written in the persona of another, and she does return to her roots at the end of the song by delightedly informing us that she is now the proud owner of Rebekah's mansion.
There are no stinkers on Folklore, but there are a few that merge together and float off into the ether. I'd qualify "My Tears Ricochet," "Seven," and "Peace" as merely "fine, I guess." Her political awakening continues on the scathing "Mad Woman," which is a lot sharper lyrically ("And women like hunting witches too/Doin' your dirtiest work for you/it's obvious that wanting me dead/Has really brought you together") than Lover's "The Man," but it's not nearly as fun to listen to.
Taylor has expressed admiration for old folkies like Joan Baez, even inviting her out on stage to a massive stadium show where approximately 80% of the crowd had no idea who she was. It feels like Taylor could write this type of music until she's Baez's age. Maybe five or six songs off this album will crack my "Best of Taylor Swift" mega mix, and none of these tunes are going to be radio staples like "Shake it Off," but they'll be more timeless.
Artistically, Taylor has grown up and found her groove. Selfishly, we may still want fun songs to sing along and dance to like she gave us as a teen and twenty-something, but we should take her words from "August" to heart: "I can see us lost in the memory/August slipped away into a moment in time/Cause it was never mine."
Folklore: B+
Lover: A-
Reputation: C-
1989: B
Red: A
Speak Now: A-
Fearless: B+
Taylor Swift: Idk. I don't like country, never listened to it
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