MONTREAL – Taylor Swift dropped her 8th studio album Folklore, on July 24th. It contained 16 songs.
First, she announced her brand new album the day before its official release date by tweeting: “Surprise, Tonight at midnight, I’ll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entirely brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into.”
This is her first alternative album. She is like a chameleon and isn’t comfortable with always creating the same kind of music. If you want imagery of what the album sounds like, just picture yourself in a forest after the rain, in the autumn.
This album definitely has an “end of summer”/ autumn vibe.
More Surprises
As if we weren’t already blessed by this surprise, she released a music video for the song Cardigan on top of it!
This superwoman released a music video that was filmed while in isolation (but don’t worry everything was safe and supervised!) Taylor tweeted: “The entire shoot was overseen by a medical inspector, everyone wore masks, stayed away from each other, and I even did my own hair, makeup, and styling”.
Taylor loves to put Easter eggs (something extra hidden within a film or a video clip for viewers to see if they can find it or not in her video clips and songs) into her projects. So have fun trying to find them.
She told her fans that for this album, she purposely put more Easter eggs in the lyrics than the video.
She also wrote: “ For example, there’s a collection of 3 songs I refer to as The Teenage Love triangle from all 3 people’s perspectives at different times in their lives.” Have you figured out which 3 songs in the album make the love triangle yet?
Well, the 3 songs are Betty, Cardigan, and August.
An Album Full Of Stories
The artist collaborated with Aaron Dessner who has co-written or produced 11 of 16 songs, Bon Iver who co-wrote and sang one song (exile), William Bowery, who co-wrote two songs, and Jack Antonoff.
What surprises us most is that Swift wrote and recorded these songs while in lockdown:
In isolation, my imagination has run wild and this album is the result. I’ve told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve. Now, it’s up to you to pass them down.
Taylor said that not all the songs were about her: “It started with imagery. Visuals that popped into my mind and piqued my curiosity.”
She continued:
Pretty soon these images in my head grew faces or names and became characters. I found myself not only writing my own stories but also writing from the perspective of people I’ve never met people I’ve known or those I wish I hadn’t.
Swift mentioned that picking up a pen was her way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory.
This album is amazing. She tells us stories through her music. A glimpse into a world full of nostalgia.
This album will warm your heart during this chaotic season.
