Taylor Swift - Folklore

This is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnz5LPIMYYo

I dig the new ("original") version of "The Lakes" that she released - the track is nice this way, with the strings running throughout. (The lyrics are v good, too; I hadn't registered them but looked them up.)

one of the best albums of all time

I think it hits the skids at "Mirrorball"; regains its footing with "Invisible String, "before immediately losing it again; and then has a few pretty good tracks before its shoulda-been closer, "Peace" (why she then stuck "Hoax" at the end, I'll never understand!)

(As a rough draft for "Evermore," it's an OK effort...)

Lol, "Seven" and "August" are probably my two favourite songs here.

Probably the only tracks I'd describe as clearly second tier are "Mad Woman" and "Hoax" (and "The Lakes" if it counts).

Yeah, I agree those are objectively the weakest tracks. My dislike for (say) “August” and “Mirrorball” is probably more personal to myself; I just really don’t care for those melodies.

(“Seven” is probably decent in a vacuum, but somehow “Mirrorball” sours my ears to it…)

"mirrorball" and "august" are some of the best tracks on this

obsessed with "mirrorball"

been listening to this album nonstop recently; i think when it came out i lacked the focus to listen to anything? it is super-good! she sounds like she's trying to sing like joni mitchell on "peace." some of her best lyrics ever on this album.

only second tier song to me is "cardigan"

Haha, see, I like that one

furthermore:

IM STILL A BELIEVER
BUT I DONT KNOW WHY
ILL NEVER BE A NATURAL
ALL I EVER DO IS TRY TRY TRY

...

IM STILL ON THAT TIGHTROPE
IM STILL TRYING EEEEEVERYTHING
TO KEEP YOU LOOKING AT ME

"seven" makes me so sad

just driving in my car, listening to "folklore," feeling feelings

some of her best lyrics ever on this album.

― horseshoe, Tuesday, June 6, 2023 9:30 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

100%. I love all the callbacks/internal references in the lyrics between these two albums. Been listening to this playlist a lot that combines them "in the story order"

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3IWCfag3xFRuQCtLirPTjP?si=e56567854f9b4306

Here's a decent/consumable summary of the mostly fan-driven narrative on this: https://lhstomtom.org/5235/arts-entertainment/a-detailed-guide-to-folklores-love-triangle-explained-through-some-of-taylor-swifts-folklore-and-evermore-songs/

until i pick my daughter up and she makes me play songs sung by Elmo

xp

Still obsessed with "Cowboy Like Me." The soft "ch" sounds in the lines "perched in the dark / telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear" ... ugh.

I mean, yeah, the Evermore songs are on another level…

For me, Folklore has a similar hit-to-miss ratio as, say, Lover (in fact I slightly prefer that one)… whereas her best albums are no-skip affairs.

only second tier song to me is "cardigan"

lol sorry I just thought that was a pretty heavy song

Here's a decent/consumable summary of the mostly fan-driven narrative on this: https://lhstomtom.org/5235/arts-entertainment/a-detailed-guide-to-folklores-love-triangle-explained-through-some-of-taylor-swifts-folklore-and-evermore-songs/

I don't really get how it deepens one's appreciation of these songs by shoehorning them into this supposed "narrative," rather than doing the opposite (making the songs seem more trivial)... but to each their own! (It reminds me of how some Fiery Furnaces fans kept trying to find/invent a narrative throughline to each of their albums, even though that was only sort of / halfway / not at all a thing for all but one of them.)

WHAT
― brimstead, Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:20 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I dunno! I find the speaker boring and smug! The slightest of the “cardigan” “August” “betty” triptych. Also “you drew stars around my scars” a rare lyrical misstep on the album

I still listen to it though

furthermore

IF IM DEAD TO YOU WHY ARE YOU AT THE WAKE?

CURSIN MY NAME

WISHIN I STAYED

LOOK AT HOW MY TEARS RICOCHET

recently got this on vinyl

still true:

"Cold was the steel of my ax to grind for the boys who broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents"
― Ned Raggett

this line is so good, and also the followup:

"Gold was the color of the leaves when I showed you around Centennial Park / Hell was the journey but it brought me heaven"

― sleeve, Friday, July 24, 2020 10:58 PM

yeah that’s a great song

I don't think the narrator of "Cardigan" is smug(?), and I think some of the lines are really good (particularly how it hinges on the climactic "'Cause I knew everything when I was young")

I really like both couplets in the chorus, too

This may be a #ControversialOpinion, but I think "Cardigan" is even a better/more interesting song than "All Too Well," thanks to its precision and economy.

I guess what I mean is there’s an interesting complexity to the personae speaking “August” and “Betty” even though the dude in the latter seems kind of…feeble, but there me not much TO the persona speaking “cardigan”

“Mary’s Song” or “Love Story” or even “invisible string” do a better job conveying childlike conviction you and someone else were made for each other. It sits kind of uneasy on this adult album about self awareness and compromise and the passage of time.

would not occur to me to compare “cardigan” to “all too well”

They're both post-breakup songs in which the narrator focuses on small, specific details (no?)

Isn’t “cardigan” post-reunion?

yeah, I guess the guy comes back in "Cardigan"

This may be a #ControversialOpinion, but I think "Cardigan" is even a better/more interesting song than "All Too Well," thanks to its precision and economy.

― Day 1 fan (morrisp), Tuesday, June 6, 2023 3:57 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's not

lol agreed, Alfred

yeah that’s a bridge too far cmon now

here we are again

I remember it all too well!

Tired: "We're dancin' 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light"
Wired: "Dancin' in your Levis / Drunk under the streetlight"