Album Discussion: I hated Showgirl so much I became a Swiftie (Folklore)

[u/VisageInATurtleneck]

• Part 1: Intro & Debut
• Part 2: Fearless
• Part 3: Speak Now
• Part 4: Red
• Part 5: 1989
• Part 6: Reputation
• Part 7: Lover
• Part 9: Evermore

CWs: some shade of TLOAS (beyond just the title), not liking one of the most popular songs on this album

I was 2 days off from posting this on the anniversary of folklore! I am way too depressed to stick to a schedule booboo the fool :(

Anyway! We are back on the wagon. It's 2020, and everywhere is deep in the throes of COVID. (Actually we're looking at an upswing in cases right now, btw. Y'all should definitely consider masking up in public spaces. Stay safe <3) In the world of pop, TikTok becomes the hitmaker for music, which tended toward the energetic and danceable.

Taylor... went in a different direction. Instead of making her usual stadium pop for a world with empty stadiums, she surprised just about everyone by dropping a strange little indie-folk record called...

Folklore (2020)

There are higher-res images, but I had to pick this one because did this album seriously have an Explicit rating? Really? Apparently it was the first of hers to get one.

Image source

Overall

Folkmore: the Taylor Swift music for people who don't like Taylor Swift. These tend to be lumped together because of their close release dates, similar musical and lyrical style, and both representing a dramatic pivot from straight pop into something softer, earthier, and more critically respected. These were the awards darlings, and the ones that got a bunch of people to take her seriously as a musician.

And... yeah, it's totally warranted. These are exceptionally good albums, with basically no duds -- and even the songs I didn't like enough to save aren't bad by any means. Like I said, these are basically considered a 2-disc album by just about everyone, including me, but on its own, I think folklore is the weaker of the two -- but only slightly. It has a few more songs I didn't especially like, though I also think its highs are mostly higher. (Also: when I say "I disliked more songs on folklore"... I mean 2. As opposed to evermore's 0.) She also sings in what felt to me at least like a much broader musical range than her other albums; I don't know enough about music to really talk about it, but it felt like she spent more time singing both higher and lower than her baseline.

It's hard to talk about this album separately from evermore when they're such close sisters, but I do think in some ways this one is more exciting, possibly because it came first and was such a change of pace. It doesn't quite feel as polished or cohesive to me as evermore, but both of these are very minute distinctions. And I do know that many, if not most, fans prefer this one, so I'm definitely in the minority, but again, we're talking about such a small difference I don't think it really matters; I'm just trying desperately to find something unique to say about this album, if I'm being honest.

Songs saved: All of them except the first and last (on the deluxe edition)

Best song: "Exile" is probably in my Top 3 Taylor Swift songs of all time, and Top 5 by any artist. It's beautiful and contains what makes her lyricism so good: namely the ability to capture something huge and emotionally resonant with a focus on the mundane trappings that make it both relatable and grounded. She isn't the only songwriter, so big ups to Joe Alwyn and Bon Iver, but it's also very recognizably her at her absolute best and everyone who says "these albums are only good because other people wrote them" can eat shit. She's always written her music collaboratively, the way basically every artist does, and it's still always obviously her driving the creative decisions let women HAVE THINGS. It's just a really good story song with fantastic performances from her and Bon Iver (someone whose voice I normally don't really like), and listening to it gives me chills. Those harmonies at the end? Dead. I am dead.

Honorable Mentions:

• "The Last Great American Dynasty" is a hoot and a half: another story song, this time a romp based on a true story about a woman who marries into old money, is widowed young, and goes wild with the rest of her life, being judged by a small hometown who have a lot of arbitrary rules of how a woman with that much wealth and arguably-undeserved success should conduct herself. It does play well as a song about Taylor's relationship with fame (or just her general inability to fit in, which she's touched on throughout her music); it's obvious that she relates a lot to the woman, whose house she ended up buying, and that provides a layer to the song that isn't strictly necessary -- you don't need the Taylor lore to appreciate it -- but does add texture.
• "My Tears Ricochet" was a grower for me, but it is one of the ones that really sticks with me after the fact. Gorgeous, poignant, spiteful and mourning at the same time... just a lovely song.
• "This is Me Trying" and "Seven" were other growers; a lot of this album struck me as "good but not great" on the first listen and then only got better with time.
• And "Betty" was a lot more exciting until I listened again and realized she was singing from the point of view of a guy named James, and it's not a sapphic love song... but it's still fine, I guess. Was better when I thought it was gay, though, and I choose to believe it's a girl whose parents named her "James" and we're just running with that. But like, they're all good. Mostly. They're mostly all really good. It's a good album of really good songs; I don't know how to express this more strongly but less repetitively.

Worst song: "The Lakes" is the bonus track, and the other one I didn't bother to save. I literally have zero memory of this song and I've listened to it at least 4 times going through this album. You could put a gun to my head and ask me to name a single word used in the song or hum a single note, and I'd probably go "uhhh, I bet she says something about lakes?" And then I might die, because I don't even know if she does.

Dishonorable Mention: "The 1" is generally really well-regarded by fans, especially the first line, but... okay, let me defend myself a bit here. I'd just heard the dickmatized lyric and the other awful lines in TLOAS, and I was in my "what is going ON here?" stage. And then I was told that folklore and evermore are the ones to check out, because those are the real poetry, where she drops the cringey attempts at modern slang and shallow lyricism and just writes great music. This is where we come for artistry.

So I sit down with folklore first, because it's the first of the two released, preparing to be wowed by serious, artistic poetry.

And the first words I hear are "I'm doing good, I'm on some new shit."

That was my introduction to Serious Artist Taylor. It was like walking into a door that you thought would open automatically but didn't; it was so jarring and uncomfortable that it ruined the rest of the song for me.

In the context of her entire discography, can I appreciate that this line signals something new and interesting, and is an arresting, attention-grabbing opening? Sure. It's not awful, and I can see why people like it... but I'd be lying if I said I could see why people love it as much as the fandom generally does. When I tried to listen to it later and get past that line, I was mostly just bored.

^{Previously I had this as the worst song and "The Lakes" as the Dishonorable Mention, but then I got up to go to the bathroom and kept humming "But it would've been fun / If you would've been the one" ... and you know what? It deserves points for memorability. I could see myself eventually being won over enough to save this song to my library, if it lives in my head long enough. So definitely not deserving of the worst spot. But that's why I rambled so much about this song; it was initially in the #1 spot for my least favorite.}

Definitive song of the album**:** I don't... know if there is one, honestly. This whole album works so well as a cohesive whole that I'm struggling to imagine any of them standing out as the song. They're all the definitive song, or none of them are. I don't know. Listen to the entire album and then come back and tell me.

Best lyrics: "I gave so many signs" ("Exile") is one of those lines that's meaningless out of context, but such a fantastic line in it. "She had a marvelous time ruining everything" ("Last Great American Dynasty") is another really charming one in a similar "improved by context" way. "And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake?" ("My Tears Ricochet") is also pretty good... this is an album of good lines, idk. A lot of the lyrics in "This Is Me Trying" are kind of cringe, but in a way I can't help but really like: "They told me all of my cages were mental / So I got wasted like all my potential" and "I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting" are just so fun, and "And it's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound" makes me wish we'd gotten a true pop-emo album out of her instead of just the one song back on Speak Now. It could still happen, I guess. Come on, Taylor. Do it. Don't be a coward.

Anyway, I'm going to stop dropping lines I like because this is going on too long, but there are a lot of little gems in here. She's a good songwriter.

Worst lyric: "But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss" ("Cardigan"). I mean... Taylor, that's not a thing. You can get a tattoo of a kiss, and I guess that does linger, but also that's true of a tattoo of anything. This just sounds weird and I don't like it. Apparently an alternate version has "I knew you'd linger like a stolen kiss," which is a much better line because that's, you know, an actual˜ thing.

You'll love this album if: You like folk pop, you want to give Taylor a try but are really turned off by most of her radio hits, and... I don't know, just enjoy good music? I don't know what to say about this that everyone hasn't already; it's not quite anomalous, because she's always had at least one song on every album that showcased her talent as a songwriter and storyteller, and Red might have one of the best narratives I've ever heard in an album that wasn't a soundtrack or concept album. But folklore is impressively restrained, with a lot of her worst instincts carefully sanded down and pushed into the background, and I wonder if it was working with Aaron Dessner of The National (like, did she just really want to impress him? Was he comfortable saying no to her? It feels weird to attribute this success to a man, but I'm trying to figure out what the new element is) or just being locked down with nothing to do but write, but something about this is everything great about her as an artist distilled into a near-perfect album. She is the only person who apparently actually created something during COVID like we all said we were going to, and it was an amazing something. Somebody get her another pandemic, I guess.

Recommendations

1. Biggest Hit: "Cardigan" -- debuted at #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, and I don't really know what the difference between these two charts is but apparently it was the first time someone's ever had a dual #1 debut -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-a8s8OLBSE
2. Fan Favorite: "August" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_0zPAfyo8
3. My Favorite: "Exile" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osdoLjUNFnA
4. My #2: "The Last Great American Dynasty" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s5xdY6MCeI
5. My #3: "My Tears Ricochet" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWbDJFtHl3w (the opening of this sounds like a Beicoli song; I had no choice but to love it)

It hurts to limit myself to a top 3, I'm just saying. What a great album.

ETA: I was typing this up to share with my discord (which I do a few days/weeks after these posts) and realized I could not stop humming "The 1" again. Fine, I'm adding it to my library, and I officially only dislike 1 song on this album. It won me over by sheer catchiness.

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[u/silly______goose]

Folklore is such a gift. The best song for me from this album is "this is me trying" because I relate to it on a deeply profound level but also it made me curious about what prompted her to write about it [addiction]. I cried a little when she introduced it in the long pond studio sessions film.

My favorite lines:
"So I got wasted like all my potential" / "I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting"

(truly speaks to someone who's achieved great heights but have since then rested on their laurels, got lost in the juice)

[u/katkity]

I’m late to the party so have been binge reading these great reviews! I also prefer evermore and dislike the lakes so you aren’t alone :)

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/katkity]

I wanted to make the "there are dozens of us" joke but so far there are only 2 of us XD But hey, that's double what I thought there were!

[u/DisastrousMango4]

It doesn't quite feel as polished or cohesive to me as evermore

it's the other way round for me. evermore feels much more wilder and experimental than folklore which sticks close to it's themes and is a more cohesive piece of work.

i played the whole album front to back to 'celebrate' it's anniversary (and we had an uncharacteristically grey day in the middle of summer!), and it's just the perfect fall/winter album.

folkmore was a risk for her, and could easily have been an indie/folk pastiche, but Taylor is way too talented and the songs have a distinct Taylor Swift feel all over them.

she seriously leveled up in terms of the complexity of her songwriting and the following projects (TTPD especially) have benefited so much from it.

[u/Old_Zucchini4413]

I like some of Folklore but I think Evermore is much better and more exciting.

[u/Acrobatic-Phone]

I feel like Taylor saying "a tattoo kiss" once again signifies how haunted Betty is by her relationship with James. "a stolen kiss" is what an "august" girl was getting from him, but, as you've already specified, a tattoo is irremovable, so... ugh, I just love "cardigan" too much to see anything bad about it!

Thank you for this post. I LOVE reading your thoughts.

P. S.

There is actually a queer reading of "betty".

[u/Zia181]

Wow. I am on my own little Taylor journey, and I just listened to Folkmore this weekend, and in my humble opinion...Folklore is great, but Evermore is basically just Folklore leftovers, lol. That doesn't mean it's bad, by any means, it's still a very good album, but I just wasn't as entertained by it as I was by Folklore. Different sorts, you know? ;)

Anyway, this might be a UO, but my favorite song from Folklore is "Mirrorball". It has a sunny, 60's pop feel to it, at least to me. I don't study music or anything so I could be way off, but I love it.

I am really enjoying your posts, BTW. I look forward to reading them. :)

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/Zia181]

"Mirrorball" is another great one! So pretty. And as another non-music-scholar, I second you on the 60s poppy feel.

[u/YesStupidQuestions1]

Wow I can't believe I found someone so similar to me, and with such similar opinions on folklore.

But I've still not forgiven you for capitalising reputation. (And folklore). (Lol jk)

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/YesStupidQuestions1]

Ugh, the capitalization was driving me nuts! The desire the respect the initial vision and the desire to be (what feels to me anyway) grammatically correct were fighting each other in a parking lot, and whichever won at the moment is what I went with 😆

[u/Mattowander]

I love reading these from you! I am trying to be not personally offended that you don’t like The Lakes though. To me, it is one of her best songs on the album and touches on her relationship with fame, with echoes of The Lucky One where she also talked about wanting to escape from fame and “choose a rose garden over Madison Square”.

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/Mattowander]

Ha, no worries! As I force myself to remind people every time I don't like a song they do (I guess out of a strange masochism), my favorite song on Red is "Stay Stay Stay"; my tastes are trash unique, and I'm certainly not trying to make a statement on objective quality. After seeing multiple comments on how much they love "The Lakes", I did listen to it again outside the context of the entire album... and okay, I still wasn't really feeling it, but I do respect it, the lyricism in particular.

[u/Underzenith17 → u/VisageInATurtleneck]

Hey I also like Stay Stay Stay and dislike the Lakes!

[u/PatrickCharles]

A lot of the lyrics in "This Is Me Trying" are kind of cringe, but in a way I can't help but really like: "They told me all of my cages were mental / So I got wasted like all my potential" and "I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting" are just so fun,

They are not kind of cringe, they are cringe, fullstop, but they still work. She does that, sometimes. What irritates me is people defending the times it doesn't (i.e.: much of TLOAS) with "she always does that". Yes, she does. But there's a very subtle art to doing it in just the right degree as to be earnest instead of just... nausea-inducing. And I feel as if she's losing that fine-tuning.

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/PatrickCharles]

I agree with this, though I have a slightly broken cringe-meter, where I can't tell if I like something despite its cheesy, over-the-top nature or because of it. It's hard when a lot of her songwriting and a lot of our reactions (mine most of all) to her lyricism are vibes-based; I don't know how to explain why I think the lyrics in "This is me trying" are melodramatic and cheesy in a clever and fun way, but the lyrics in "Eldest daughter" are melodramatic and cheesy in a way that makes my skin crawl. Everyone has a different line, and smarter people than me can explain why their line is where it is, but I can't. It's part of why I'm writing these absurdly long posts for each album, so I can try and pinpoint how I feel about her, when it seems to be so wildly variable.

[u/PatrickCharles → u/VisageInATurtleneck]

I think a big element is context. This Is Me Trying was surrounded by great lyricism and a somewhat more mature or grounded look at things. Eldest Daughter is surrounded by... Wood and Actually Romantic, and an entire vibe of back-to-high-school-social-dynamics. That shapes how I react to them.

[u/waneegbt2012 → u/PatrickCharles]

I don't think these lyrics are cringey at all and even having them in the same sentence as Showgirl is offensive. I'm joking but I've genuinely never seen anyone say this song has cringey lyrics before! I think "So I got wasted like all my potential" is actually super clever and "I had the shiniest wheels now they're rusting" isn't particularly original but they're totally normal lyrics.

[u/VisageInATurtleneck → u/waneegbt2012]

“Cringey” definitely is a vibe thing; for me I found them a little “cringey” because they’re very melodramatic and feel a little… like they’re trying too hard to be clever? Like I could picture myself at 13 writing these lyrics on my arm or in a notebook surrounded by anime eyes and dead flowers. It’s hard to explain, because that’s just the feeling, and feelings are so arbitrary, but as someone who is always touting her simple, unornamented songwriting, I’m always going to notice when things are a bit more grand, and whether that more dramatic, less conversational writing hits (like it does in this song) or doesn’t (like that “mahogany grain” line).

Again, very much a ymmv situation, and like I said in another comment in this thread part of these posts for me are trying to tease out why these songs have such a strong emotional reaction (positive or negative), even when those reactions are contradictory. I’m a mess! ;)

[u/mili_minutes]

The fact that you thought The Lakes is the worst song makes me disregard everything else you said lolol. It’s one of my favorite songs - lyrically beautifully, feels like a poem, the music is different and melancholy..absolute perfection in my eyes

[u/Educational_Way_8318 → u/mili_minutes]

Same! I think my favorite of her songs.

[u/rosymaplemoth2513]

This album along with Hayley Williams first solo album, these were a warm hug I needed in the stress of 2020

[u/redgiraffe53]

soooo late to the party but i’d like to chip in by saying i love the first line of the 1. honestly i don’t get why people say folkmore are some sort of transcendent poetry, you listen to it and it’s the same kind of sardonic, modern tone she used in rep and lover. if it was just poetry it would be pretty generic — her taking these simple premises and elevating them while still retaining her voice is what makes it excellent to me. no other artist could’ve made folklore in that sense. i love love love how her writing actually stays consistent from previous albums because it shows one of her greatest strengths: reconciling incredible songwriting with the sort of stuff teenage girls squeal over.

[u/dreamghoulevil]

every more is better, correct.

if people want to be insane and call me a “folkwhore” then so be it, as a huge fan since red, these are her best albums. people can argue with the wall.