“august” by Taylor Swift, Saturday, August 6, 2022

Someone once compared releasing an album on a major label to giving birth. They say it takes about nine months. There’s the actual making of the album, which in most cases, takes longer than the making of a baby, with preproduction, songwriting, and recording. The process before and in the studio is only half to two-thirds of the process. Then there's the mixing, mastering, and promotion. But a lot of the process is waiting; waiting for the record label to pick the right day to release the record--to make sure Adele isn't going to release a record the same day. And the promotion--making sure that the singles are evenly spaced for maximum effect on radio--something that major labels have failed at in the mid-'00s as we've talked about Mae, Acceptance, Copeland, and others.

MEET ME BEHIND THE MALL. Taylor Swift certainly had been bullied by the music industry for much of her career. But with a fanbase of avid music buyers--millions of buyers at that--Taylor's pregnancy with her eighth album didn't need nine months. In fact, just releasing folklore on a lark was the best thing for the record. Taylor's folklore was written and produced during Covid lockdown, yet the record does not reference the issues of the day, but rather features Swift's most poignant writing.  Swift released a prologue to the record in which she says that the album "started with imagery." The dusty old images and stories the singer had been sitting with for years. And while the album doesn't tell a cohesive story, there are stories and connections within the songs. Swift is meticulous in leaving clues and Easter Eggs in her songs for her fans to find deeper meaning. The prologue references today's song, "august" as part of the imagery that inspired the album. She writes, "The sun drenched month of August, sipped away like a bottle of wine." Swift confirmed that there is a trilogy of songs on the record, and fans believe that "cardigan," "betty," and "august" make that trilogy.

SALT AIR, AND THE RUST ON YOUR DOOR. Taylor Swift has talked about her love for numerology on several occasions, and her albums are often full of meaning in numbers. Today's song is track 8, just like how August is the eighth month of the year. Furthermore, folklore's release seems to coincide with the timing of this song. Taylor surprised the public on July 24, 2020, and many listeners and critics called folklore a fall album. But what's a fall album without something illicit that happened over the summer to talk about? Like a steamy affair or even a surprise indie record by a big pop star?  The story that fans have constructed of the "high school love trilogy" is that three high school kids, James, Betty, and Inez, are involved in a love triangle. Betty's song is "cardigan." The lead single from folklore is a sweet, dusty acoustic track that finds the speaker realizing her worth when someone discovers her worth. Today's song is said to be when James cheats on Betty with Inez during summer vacation. According to the song, James takes Inez's virginity, but she realizes that James was never hers. James then tell his regret in "betty" after the rumors circulate when school starts again. Today's song revels for a time in young folly. It feels so real in the moment, but the summer dream abruptly ends when the setting of a seaside vacation town boards up its windows after the tourists leave. The song is clearly fiction, and in retrospect, probably "Blank Space" was too. But "Blank Space" is the kind of story for a Rory Gilmore who has been through far too many "august" situations and learned nothing from it. 

Read the lyrics on Genius.