The Folklore Love Triangle: A Story of Unrequited Love by Lily Rowell

 The Folklore Love Triangle: A Story of Unrequited Love by Lily Rowell

    In this week’s blog post I will be discussing Taylor Swift’s album, folklore and the story behind the album. Swift’s first Covid studio album describes the love triangle between 3 teeangers, James, Betty, and Augustine. 

    The opening song that discusses the teens' relationship is titled, cardigan, which is also Swift's most popular song off of the album. The song is from the perspective of 17 year-old Betty, James’ prior love interest to his summer “fling”, Augustine. The lyrics express the pain that Betty feels after James has left her for another girl over the summer. The song expresses the longing for the relationship they had before and her cardigan that she owns is a constant reminder of what they once had. Swift also includes lyrics that imply that James was chasing two girls but “lost the one [Betty]”. One lyric (that will also be compared to another later on), hints at the iconic teenage love stereotype; when you are young you know nothing. Swift uses this to show the three different personalities and points of view of the situation. 

    The second song is august, which is from the perspective of James’ summer fling, Augustine. The lyrics describe the love triangle from the “other woman's” point of view.  The song tells the story of their short-lived relationship and Augustine wanting for something more to come out of it.  Augustine’s love for James is undoubtedly unrequited and her longing for him is something that will last forever. Even though she knows he will run back to Betty. Her pain, while similar to Betty’s, is more of a mix of jealousy and sadness knowing that Betty is his only real love. The lyrics; 

August slipped away like a bottle of wine

‘Cause you were never mine, 

shows that Augustine knew of Betty and James’ relationship prior to theirs and she still decided to go through with it. It could mean that there is some unreliability to her point of view on the situation but James’ story in his song betty, tries to pin the situation on her. 


    betty, the final song that describes their love story, is the average come back I love you song from a teenage guy. From both Augustine and Betty’s view he seems like a very big jerk with his selfishness in not being able to stick with one girl. But, there is some reasoning as to why we could forgive him. As mentioned before the stereotype of being young and knowing nothing is something Swift uses throughout this story and James uses it again as an excuse; 

I’m only seventeen

I don't know anything but I know I miss you

In his apology video of a song he tries to win Betty back after dumping Augustine which works surprisingly. After showing up at her party he finally realizes that she is the only girl he has ever loved and Betty feels the same.


Comments

  1. DJApril 12, 2024 at 10:43 AM

    I don't listen to taylor swift but I heard that folklore was one of many people's favorites. Thanks for the recommendation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AbbyApril 15, 2024 at 9:41 PM

    Hi Lilly! This is a very interesting blog and I really like how you connected all the lore to the love triangle in Taylors songs from your perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SophiaApril 16, 2024 at 6:51 PM

    Wow- this was really interesting to me, as someone who listens to tswift's songs a lot but knows nothing about her fandom/lore! I had no idea there even was lore tbh, you learn something new every day I guess

    ReplyDelete
  4. PennyApril 17, 2024 at 2:59 PM

    Hi Lily! This is such a good blog and I love how you organized the love triangle. I loved how she made a song for each person's perspective of the love triangle, and I especially liked how you talked about it. Folklore is such a good album and the review really highlighted that. Amazing blog!

    ReplyDelete

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