i think taylor really encapsulated the album perfectly by saying “a tale that becomes folklore is one that is passed down and whispered around. sometimes even sung about. the lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscrenible.” we have songs alluding her current relationship (invisible string, peace, hoax - obvious with the reccurring motifs from her past two albums of her personal story), those alluding to her struggles and self-reflection (my tears ricochet, mirrorball, this is me trying, mad woman), those drawn from real tales (the last great american dynasty, epiphany), those fictional (the trilogy of cardigan, august, betty) and those more ambiguous (the 1, exile, seven, illicit affair). these stories are interwoven, tied together with a personal touch that they feel they’re personal stories but they’re not, she’s acting here as the narrator, and so its hard to distinguish what’s real and what’s imagination. and folktales are told over time and they are changed, reflective of what message the storyteller wishes to convey. and in that sense, maybe cardigan makes sense to be the title track, for two ways. one, in essence its part of the fictional tale she’s telling, but also parallels to her own personal tales she had told for years. two, it seems as this metaphor for taylor weaving patches of story to form one bigger story within this album. and how the listeners of folktales get morales, interpret the stories, we as listeners to are left open to interpret the tales she’s woven, to become our own tales. in conclusion, its a brilliant concept, and a new prime in taylor’s songwriting.
theartofmadeline
titsay
baratheonpilled
gummygunk
origamiaround
amandla
