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Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

October 15, 2023

Folklore (stylized in all lowercase) is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was a surprise album, released on July 24, 2020, via Republic Records. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Swift canceled the concert tour for her seventh studio album Lover (2019). She conceived Folklore during quarantine as "a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness", working with producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually; Dessner and Antonoff operated from recording studios in Hudson Valley and New York City, respectively, while Swift recorded her vocals in a home studio at her Los Angeles residence.

Folklore
Standard cover
Studio album by
Taylor Swift
ReleasedJuly 24, 2020 (2020-07-24)
Recorded2020
Studio
Genre
Length63:29
LabelRepublic
Producer
Taylor Swift chronology
Singles from Folklore
  1. "Cardigan"
    Released: July 27, 2020
  2. "Exile"
    Released: August 3, 2020
  3. "Betty"
    Released: August 17, 2020

Departing from the mainly upbeat pop production of its predecessors, Folklore consists of mellow ballads driven by neo-classical instruments, pursuing indie folk, alternative rock, and electro-acoustic styles. Influenced by the isolation of quarantine, Swift explores themes of escapism, empathy, nostalgia and romanticism in the album, using a set of characters, fictional narratives, and story arcs, in contrast to the autobiographical tone of her previous projects. The title was inspired by the lasting legacy of folk songs, whereas its visual aesthetic reflects cottagecore.

Upon release, Folklore broke the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act.[note 1] Three of its tracks, "Cardigan", "The 1", and "Exile" featuring Bon Iver, reached the top 10 on music charts in eight countries, with the former becoming Swift's sixth number-one single on the US Billboard Hot 100. Folklore topped the charts in various countries and is certified platinum or higher in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was Swift's seventh number-one album on the US Billboard 200, where it reigned atop for eight weeks and became the best-selling album of 2020.

Folklore received widespread critical acclaim, centering on its emotional weight, poetic lyricism, and relaxed pace. Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift's artistry. The album was featured on numerous 2020 year-end rankings. It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making Swift the first woman in history to win the honor three times, following her wins for Fearless (2008) and 1989 (2014). She discussed Folklore and performed it live in the Disney+ concert documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, premiering on November 25, 2020, and released Folklore's sequel record, Evermore (2020), two weeks later. Several artists cite Folklore as a source of inspiration.

Background Edit

In April 2020, Taylor Swift was set to embark on Lover Fest, her sixth concert tour in support of her seventh studio album Lover (2019), which was cancelled following the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] On July 23, 2020, nine photos were uploaded to Swift's Instagram account, all without captions, forming a black and white image of the singer standing alone in a forest. Subsequently, she made another post across all her social media accounts, announcing that her eighth studio album would be released at midnight; Swift stated: "Most of the things I had planned this summer didn't end up happening, but there is something I hadn't planned on that DID happen. And that thing is my 8th studio album, Folklore". She confirmed the image as the album's cover artwork and revealed the track list.[4] The Wall Street Journal opined that the surprise announcement "caught fans and the music business off-guard".[5] Billboard stated that it "blindsided the pop music world", arriving as "exciting news" during lockdown.[6] Folklore was released eleven months after Lover—the fastest turnaround for a Swift studio album at the time, beating the one year and nine months gap between Reputation (2017) and Lover. In another post, Swift announced that the music video for the track "Cardigan" would release at the same time as the album.[7]

During the YouTube premiere countdown to the "Cardigan" music video, Swift hinted that the album lyrics contained many of her signature Easter eggs: "One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the videos. I created character arcs and recurring themes that map out who is singing about who... For example, there's a collection of three songs I refer to as the Teenage Love Triangle. These three songs explore a love triangle from all three people's perspectives at different times in their lives".[8] She referred to the album as "wistful and full of escapism. Sad, beautiful, tragic. Like a photo album full of imagery, and all the stories behind that imagery",[9] described "Cardigan" as a song that explores "lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently in our memories,"[10] and pointed-out the self-written track, "My Tears Ricochet", as the first song she wrote for the album.[9] Uproxx narrated, "on Thursday night, that hand-drawn 'T' and 'S' could be seen up and down the timeline. Music fans and critics across genres unveiled hot takes, quoted lyrics like Myspace teens writing on the back of textbooks or crafting the perfect AIM away message, and debated Folklore's place in the unimpeachable Taylor Swift canon."[11]

Conception Edit

Swift did not expect to create an album in early 2020.[12] After the cancellation of Lover Fest,[3] Swift quarantined herself, during which she watched numerous films and shows, such as Rear Window (1954), L.A. Confidential (1997), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Jane Eyre (2011), Marriage Story (2019),[12] and The Last Dance (2020),[13] and read more books than she ever did, books that "dealt with times past, a world that doesn't exist anymore", such as Rebecca (1938) by Daphne du Maurier.[14] The fictions inspired Swift to venture beyond her usual autobiographical style of songwriting, and experiment with different narrative standpoints.[12] In isolation during the lockdown, she let her imagination "run wild", ensuing in a set of imageries and visuals that consequently became Folklore.[15]

It started with imagery. Visuals that popped into my mind and piqued my curiosity. Stars drawn around scars. A cardigan that still bears the scent of loss twenty years later. Battleships sinking into the ocean, down, down, down. The tree swing in the woods of my childhood. Hushed tones of "let's run away" and never doing it. The sun drenched month of August, sipped away like a bottle of wine. A mirrored disco ball hovering above a dance floor. A whiskey bottle beckoning. Hands held through plastic. A single thread that, for better or for worse, ties you to your fate. 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 about or from the perspective of people I've never met, people I've known, or those I wish I hadn't.

– Swift on developing Folklore, Billboard[15]

Some of the imageries the singer developed include: "An exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn't his own, wondering how it all went so terribly, terribly wrong. An embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession. A seventeen-year-old standing on a porch, learning to apologize. Lovestruck kids wandering up and down the evergreen High Line. My grandfather, Dean, landing at Guadalcanal in 1942. A misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out".[15] Swift "poured all of [her] whims, dreams, fears, and musings" into the songs, and reached out to her "musical heroes" to collaborate with.[16] She initially planned to release Folklore in early 2021, but it "ended up being done" sooner, and released in July 2020 without giving it second thoughts. She approached the album's creation without subjecting herself to any rules, and explained that she "used to put all these parameters on [herself], like, "How will this song sound in a stadium? How will this song sound on radio?" If you take away all the parameters, what do you make? And I guess the answer is Folklore."[14]

Writing and recording Edit

Swift's songwriting drifted towards escapism and romanticism for Folklore.[14] She enlisted two producers to achieve her desired sound—her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who worked with her on 1989 (2014), Reputation, and Lover, and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner, guitarist of American indie rock band the National.[17] Due to COVID-19 concerns, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner quarantined remotely, separate from each other, creating Folklore by continually exchanging digital files of instrumentals and vocals.[18] The album ensued from a DIY process,[19] mixed and engineered by personnel scattered across the US.[6]

 
 
Folklore features production from Aaron Dessner (pictured left) and Jack Antonoff (right); Dessner produced the majority of tracks.

Swift had previously met the National on a Saturday Night Live episode in 2014, and attended one of their concerts in 2019, where she talked to Dessner and his twin brother Bryce.[20] She asked Aaron Dessner about his songwriting technique, because it is her "favorite thing to ask people who I'm a fan of", and he replied his band members live in different parts of the world, and that he would make instrumental tracks and send them to the lead singer, Matt Berninger, who would write the lyrics—this ignited Swift's idea to create music in quarantine.[14]

Due to the pandemic, all recording studios were closed, so Swift built a home studio at her Los Angeles residence, named Kitty Committee, with help from engineer Laura Sisk.[12] Antonoff, with whom Swift worked on five songs from the album, operated from New York City while Sisk recorded Swift's vocals in Los Angeles. "My Tears Ricochet" was the first song written for Folklore. Swift wrote it about her ties with Scott Borchetta, founder of her old record label, coming to an abrupt end.[12] Antonoff compared the writing process of "Mirrorball" and "August" to that of "Out of the Woods" (2016).[21] Swift wrote "Mirrorball" following the cancellation of Lover Fest, as an ode to fans who find solace in her music and concerts.[22] She wrote "August" about a fictitious mistress, and "This Is Me Trying" based on multiple narratives, such as dealing with addiction, and her own mental health in 2016–2017 when she felt she was "worth absolutely nothing."[12]

In late April, Swift approached Dessner to co-write some songs remotely. He worked on eleven of the album's 16 tracks over the next few months.[23] Dessner "thought it would take a while for song ideas to come" and "had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely", but was surprised that "a few hours after sharing music, my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written song—the momentum never really stopped."[24] Swift and Dessner "were pretty much in touch daily for three or four months by text and phone calls."[20] He would mail her folders of instrumentals, and she would write the "entire top line"—melody and lyrics, and "he wouldn't know what the song would be about, what it was going to be called, where [she] was going to put the chorus."[14] The first song the duo wrote was "Cardigan", which is based on one of Dessner's sketches called "Maple".[24] "Cardigan" was followed by "Seven" and "Peace".[25] Upon hearing the composition of "Peace", Swift felt an "immediate sense of serenity" that roused the feeling of being peaceful, but felt it would be "too on-the-nose" to sing about finding peace; she instead wrote about complex "conflicted" feelings contrasting the track's calming sound,[12] and recorded it in one vocal take.[20]

 
Rebekah Harkness, the former owner of Swift's Rhode Island house, is the muse behind the third track "The Last Great American Dynasty".

A few weeks later, when Swift and Dessner had written "six or seven" songs, she explained him her concept of Folklore.[25] She told him about the work she had done earlier with Antonoff, concluding that both of her works resonate as an album.[24] Swift and Dessner also wrote "The Last Great American Dynasty", "Mad Woman", and "Epiphany", the first of which has an array of electric guitars inspired by Radiohead's 2007 surprise album In Rainbows.[24] The lyrics document American socialite Rebekah Harkness, whom Swift had been wanting to write about ever since she bought the Holiday House in 2013.[12] Dessner composed the piano melody for "Mad Woman" with his earlier work on "Cardigan" and "Seven" in mind.[25] On "Epiphany", he slowed down and reversed the sounds of different instruments to create a "giant stack of harmony", and added piano for a cinematic trope.[24] Swift wrote the song based on the experiences of her veteran grandfather, and healthcare workers in the pandemic.[12]

Swift wrote two songs, "Exile" and "Betty", with her then boyfriend, English actor Joe Alwyn. She developed "Exile" as a duet, and Dessner recorded a draft of her singing both the male and female parts.[25] Swift and Dessner ran through candidates for the male partner, and Swift liked the voice of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who is one half of the American indie rock band Big Red Machine along with Dessner.[20] Dessner sent the song to Vernon, who liked the song, added his own lyrics and sang his part.[24] "Betty" is the only song on the album produced by both Dessner and Antonoff; Swift was influenced by Bob Dylan's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963) and John Wesley Harding (1967) for its composition.[25][24] Alwyn used the pseudonym William Bowery for his credits. Upon the album's release, mainstream media and fans pointed out Bowery's lack of online presence,[26][23] and presumed that it was actually a pseudonym for Alwyn, which was later ultimately confirmed by Swift.[27][28][29] Swift added that he also penned the chorus of "Betty", and the piano line and first verse in "Exile".[30] The last two songs written were "The 1" and "Hoax", the first and last songs on the album respectively; Swift wrote both in a span of few hours.[24] Speaking about his collaboration with her, Dessner commented "there's a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you'll love and take comfort in as much as I do."[31]

In a November 2020 Rolling Stone interview with Paul McCartney, Swift stated she began using words in the album's lyrics that she always wanted to use, not worrying about whether it would suit radio. She used "bigger, flowerier, prettier" words such as "epiphany", "elegies" and "divorcée", just because they "sound beautiful". Swift disclosed that she maintains lists of such words, and recalled using one such, "kaleidoscope", in "Welcome to New York" (2014).[14] In a December 2020 Entertainment Weekly interview, Swift said the lyrics, melodies, and production of Folklore are the way she wanted them, without subjecting to others' expectations.[12]

Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have "the bop". To make the record that she made, while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music—she has kind of made an anti-pop record.

— Dessner on Swift's new sonic direction in Folklore, Billboard[32]

Folklore was written and recorded in secrecy. Swift, her boyfriend, family, management team, Antonoff, and Dessner were aware of the album's creation; she did not disclose the news or play the album to her friends like she did with her previous works.[12] Near the end of Folklore's recording process, Dessner reached out to his regular collaborators, including the National bandmates, to provide instrumentation remotely.[25] Bryce orchestrated several songs, while Bryan Devendorf performed the drums in "Seven".[17] Dessner kept Swift's involvement confidential from his family and colleagues until announcement.[33] While filming the "Cardigan" music video, Swift wore an earpiece and lip-synced to the song to prevent it from leaking.[34] Dessner stated that Swift's label, Republic Records, was unaware of the album until hours before its launch.[20]

Music and lyrics Edit

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 indiscernible. Speculation, over time, becomes fact. Myths, ghost stories, and fables. Fairytales and parables. Gossip and legend. Someone's secrets written in the sky for all to behold. In isolation, my imagination has run wild and this album is the result, a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory. 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.

– Swift on the concept of Folklore, Instagram[35]

The standard edition of Folklore is about an hour and three minutes long, consisting of 16 tracks, while the deluxe edition adds a bonus song, "The Lakes", as the seventeenth track. Bon Iver is featured on "Exile", the fourth track. Folklore was written and produced by Swift, Dessner, Antonoff, and Alwyn, with additional writing credit to Vernon, the lead vocalist of Bon Iver, on "Exile".[17][36] It is Swift's first album to carry an explicit content label.[37]

Composition Edit

Critics mostly categorize Folklore as an alternative, indie folk, and electro-folk album departing from the pop maximalism and synth-driven sound of Swift's previous works.[38][39] It also incorporates indie rock,[40] electronica,[41] dream pop,[42] country,[43] and folk rock elements.[44] NME's Hannah Mylrea wrote the album "dives headfirst into the world of folk, alternative rock and indie",[43] while the same magazine's Gary Ryan classified it as indietronica and chamber pop.[45] Kaelen Bell of Exclaim! said Folklore is a laid-back pop record,[46] Variety's Chris Willman[47] and Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes specified it as chamber pop,[48] Michael Sumsion of PopMatters described it as a blend of chamber-pop and alt-folk,[49] and Raisa Bruner of Time deemed it "alternative pop-folk".[50] Music journalist Amanda Petrusich, reviewing for The New Yorker, felt Folklore is a "genre-less" record that drifts toward atmospheric pop rather than folk.[51] In disagreement, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica called it an atmospheric rock album abandoning pop.[52] Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic said the album "swims through intricate classical and folk instrumentation" held together by electronic music.[53]

Devoid of radio-friendly pop songs,[8][54] Folklore eschews the mainstream sound of Swift's older works.[47] It consists of mellow, cinematic, slow-paced ballads,[24][55][47] with a minimal,[48] lo-fi production,[56][57] and elegant melodies, together lending a modern spin on traditional songwriting.[55] It is built around neo-classical instrumentals, such as: soft,[41] sparse[48] and sonorous pianos,[55] moody,[48] picked[55] and burbling guitars,[41] glitchy and fractured electronic elements,[41] subliminal,[46] throbbing percussions,[58] mellow programmed drums, Mellotron,[47] sweeping orchestrations[48] with ethereal strings[42] and meditative horns.[59] The album does not fully avoid plush synths and programmed beats characteristic of Swift's pop music, but instead dials them down to a subtle texture,[55] delivering an electro-acoustic soundscape,[60] which highlights Swift's voice and lyrics.[61][47][42] Rolling Stone stated the album's tone resembles "Safe & Sound", Swift's 2012 single for The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond.[8] The Ringer noted that Antonoff confers a synth-based style to the record, while Dessner contributes a piano-leaning sound, and linked Folklore to two songs on Lover—"The Archer" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend"—as Swift's albums "usually have a couple tracks that harken back to the previous album or wind up connecting them to the next".[62]

Themes Edit

Folklore consists of songs exploring points of view that diverge from Swift's life, including third-person narratives[59] written from perspectives of characters that interweave across the tracks.[24] Its songwriting style combines balladeering with autobiographical experiences and character-driven storytelling,[63] and is primarily distinguished by themes of wistfulness, escapism,[64] nostalgia,[24] contemplation,[65] and empathy.[53] Although Swift opted for a new sound, the album retains stylistic aspects of her trademark songwriting, such as mournful delivery and bildungsroman passion.[62]

Compared to much of her older discography, Folklore reflected Swift's deepening self-awareness,[41] introspection,[49] and vivid storytelling[43] that showed a higher degree of fictionalization and fewer self-references,[47] culminating in an outward-looking approach.[53] The lyricism is both personal and fictional, and a blend of both at times.[66] The emotional and narrative range of Folklore is widened by expanding the focus from Swift's personal stories to imagined characters and personifications.[65]

The narratives described in Folklore include a ghost finding its murderer at its funeral, a seven-year-old girl with a traumatized friend, an old widow spurned by her town, recovering alcoholics, and a love triangle between the fictional characters Betty, James, and an unnamed woman,[note 2] as depicted in the tracks "Cardigan", "Betty" and "August", with each of the three songs written from each of the character's perspective in different times in their lives.[8] NPR's Ann Powers defined Folklore as a "body constructed of memory, a shared sense of the world, built of myths, heard stories", based on the idea that "we each have our own folklore", with the album being Swift's folklore.[69] Many songs on the album exude a cinematic quality in their lyrics,[70] and reference objects and phenomena in nature, such as a solar eclipse, Saturn, auroras, purple-pink skies, salt air, weeds, and Wisteria.[71]

Songs Edit

"The 1", the opening track, is a soft rock tune[72] driven by a bouncy arrangement of piano, minimal percussion, and electronic accents.[41] In the perspective of Swift's friend, "The 1" describes a new-found positive approach to life and past love, wishing they could have been soulmates.[43][24] The slow-burning "Cardigan" is a folk[73] ballad driven by moody, stripped-down instrumentals consisting of drums and tender piano;[74][75] Swift sings from the perspective of a fictional character named Betty,[58] who recalls the separation and enduring optimism of a relationship with a boy named James.[70]

"The Last Great American Dynasty" is an alternative indie pop tune with classical instruments like slide guitar, viola, violins, drums and glitchy production elements.[43][76] The satirical song tells the story of Harkness, the founder of Harkness Ballet, when she resided in Swift's Rhode Island mansion. It details how Harkness married into an upper-class family, was hated by the town, and blamed for the death of her then-husband and heir to Standard Oil, William Harkness, and the fall of his family's name, and draws parallels with Swift's life.[77][50] "Exile" is a gospel-influenced,[60] indie folk[78] duet with Bon Iver, fusing Swift's soft vocals with Vernon's growling baritone,[79] serving as an unspoken, argumentative conversation between two former lovers.[78] It begins with a plodding piano and reaches a dramatic climax accompanied by strings, synths[80] and harmonies.[42]

 
"Mirrorball"
The instrumentation of "Mirrorball", the sixth track, is characterized by its jangle,[81] tambourine,[53] and "nervous dance-floor" sensibility.[8]
"Seven"
The seventh track, "Seven", opens with Swift's "lustrous" upper register.[82]
Problems playing these files? See media help.

Sung from the perspective of a deceased lover's ghost, "My Tears Ricochet" is an icy arena-goth song[83] that reflects on the tensions following the end of a marital relationship,[12] using funereal imagery—a metaphor for Scott Borchetta and his sale of the masters of Swift's older catalogue.[70][12] It encompasses a music box, backing choir, reverbed ad-libs in the bridge, and reaches a tumultuous climax over shuddering drums.[43][82] "Mirrorball" is a folk-tinged dream pop song,[40] driven by pedal steel and twanging guitars.[84][83] Its lyrics portray Swift as a disco ball, pertaining to the reflective quality, describing her ability to entertain people with her music by making herself her vulnerable and sensitive.[85][70]

In "Seven", Swift sings in an innocent tone,[85][41] reminiscing about an abused friend from her childhood in Pennsylvania,[86] whom she cannot fully remember but still has fond memories of, over a resonant arrangement consisting of flurrying strings and piano.[41] "August" is a gloomy dream-pop song[42] that captures the summer affair between two young lovers—a naive girl who is seen holding on to a boy that "wasn't hers to lose";[58] the boy is revealed to be James, later in the album.[70] The song depicts the girl grieve and yearn over her love, using Swift's light and breezy delivery, "yo-yoing" vocal yelps, and a grandiose production driven by acoustic guitar, glistening vocal reverb, and key changes.[42][70]

The ninth track, "This Is Me Trying", is an orchestral pop song detailing the accountability and regret of an alcoholic who admits feeling inadequate.[83][70] It contains Swift's "ghostly", reverberated vocals and a gradually growing, dense production.[41][85] Over an acoustic arrangement of finger-plucked strings and soft horns,[42] "Illicit Affairs" unfolds the infidelity of a disloyal narrator, and highlights the measures they carry out to keep the affair a secret.[85][84] "Invisible String" is a folk song[87] that provides a glimpse into Swift's love life with Alwyn, recounting the "invisible" connection between them that they were not aware of until they met, alluding to an East Asian folk myth called the Red Thread of Fate.[70] It comprises an acoustic riff, thumping vocal backbeats,[87][70] a distinct passive writing style,[54] and references her older songs.[70]

 
In the seventeenth track "The Lakes", Swift sings about her vacation with her lover to Windermere, the largest lake in England.

"Mad Woman" tackles the taboo linked with female anger,[70] using sarcastic remarks at sexism,[58][84] as Folklore's moment of vituperation.[47] It metaphorically describes Swift's dispute with Borchetta and Scooter Braun,[12] painting the story of a deviant widow getting revenge, with references to witch hunts.[50] "Epiphany" is an ambient hymn.[40][84] It depicts the devastation of the pandemic, paying homage to healthcare workers, with whom she empathizes, comparing them to traumatized military soldiers,[58] such as her veteran grandfather, Dean, who fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal (1942).[70] The song is carried by a glacial piano,[87] and a howling brass.[82]

The fourteenth track, "Betty", is a country and folk rock song with prominent harmonica.[43][84] It describes the relationship narrated in "Cardigan", but in the perspective of the cheating boyfriend James,[58] who had a summer fling with the female narrator of "August".[84] James apologizes for his past actions but does not fully own up to them, citing excuses.[50] Its characters (Betty, James, and Inez) are named after the daughters of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.[88] The R&B-inclining "Peace" features jazzy vocals with a complex vocal melody.[83][24] over a pulse juxtaposed with three lushly harmonized basslines,[58][25] complemented by minimal synths and a drizzling piano.[60] Lyrically, "Peace" is an ode to Swift's lover,[83] dissects the effects of hectic stardom on her relationship and warns the subject of future challenges.[89][85]

The standard edition of the album closes with "Hoax", a slow piano ballad with emotionally raw lyrics that detail a flawed but everlasting relationship,[50][24] ending the album on a despondent note of sadness.[90] The deluxe bonus track, "The Lakes", is a string-laden midtempo song[90] that introspects on Swift's semi-retirement in England's Lake District;[8] the location is also mentioned in "Invisible String".[70] Imagining a red rose growing out of tundra "with no one around to tweet it", Swift fantasizes about a social-media-free utopia,[47] referencing William Wordsworth, an English poet known for his Romantic writings.[90]

Art direction Edit

From the very beginning, Taylor had a clear idea of what she wanted for the album's visuals. We looked at Surrealist work, imagery that toyed with human scale in nature. We also looked at early autochromes, ambrotypes, and photo storybooks from the 1940s.

— Beth Garrabrant, Meet the photographer behind Taylor Swift's Folklore artwork, i-D[91]

Folklore's album art, packaging, and lyric videos were created through a DIY approach.[12] Swift collaborated with photographer Beth Garrabrant for the artworks, without a technical team due to COVID-19 concerns. The photoshoot marked a change from Swift's older shoots, where she would have "100 people on set, commanding alongside other people in a very committee fashion." She styled herself, including hair, makeup and wardrobe, and prescribed Garrabrant a specific moodboard.[12] The photographs are characterized by a grayscale, black and white filter.[92][54]

Cover artwork Edit

The standard cover art depicts Swift as an 19th-century pioneer sleepwalking in a nightgown.[12] She is seen standing alone in a misty forest covered by morning fog,[93] wearing a long, double-breasted plaid coat over a white prairie dress,[94] gazing at the height of the trees.[95] On the backside cover, she stands turned away from the camera, wearing a slouchy flannel-lined denim jacket slumped around her arms, and a white lace frock, with two loose braided buns low over her nape, similar to American Girl doll Kirsten Larson.[94][93] The album title is written in an italicized roman font reminiscent of "a Chronicles of Narnia scrawl".[96][97]

 
Folklore logo

In December 2020, Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Swift about the presence of the word "Woodvale" on the cover of "Hide and Seek" edition of Folklore, which some suspected to be the title of a new album after Evermore; Swift denied it and said she did not reveal Folklore's title to anyone until just before its release and used "Woodvale" as a code name, which was included in an artwork for reference, but was accidentally printed in the final products.[98]

Aesthetic and fashion Edit

Reflecting its lyrical motifs of escapism,[99] Folklore sees Swift embracing a rustic,[54] nature-focused,[92] cottagecore[94][100] aesthetic for the project, moving away from the "technicolor carnival" of its predecessor, Lover.[101] The music video for "Cardigan" expands on cottagecore, and starts with her sitting at a vintage piano in a cozy cabin in the woods. The video features a moss-covered forest and a waterfall-producing piano. On her website, Swift sold replicas of the "folklore cardigan" she wore in the video—a cream colored cable knit, with silver embroidered stars on the sleeves' chunky elbows, and navy blue piping and buttons.[94]

W regarded the cardigan the "pièce de résistance" of the aesthetic, and thought the eight cover artworks of Folklore have Swift "frolicking through the woods like a cottagecore queen".[102] Irish Independent wrote that she became a "rural tunesmith communing with the birds and the trees", dressed up in a bulky "Clancy Brothers-style" Aran sweater.[103] RTÉ thanked Swift for putting cardigans "back on the map once more".[104] Noting that her album eras have been defined by their own color scheme, fashion and cultural motifs, Teen Vogue described Folklore as simple, neutral-toned wear, with the cardigan helping in understanding the sentimental role clothing plays.[105] Cottagecore faced resurgence on the internet after Swift used the aesthetic,[106] with a sales surge of hand-knitted Aran sweaters in Ireland and the US.[107]

Comparing it with her past albums, The Guardian characterized 1989 as sleek and suave, Reputation as gothic and dangerous, and Lover as jovial and pastel-hued, whereas Folklore is the monochrome tale of a songwriter returning to folksy roots.[65] Refinery29 dubbed the aesthetic as Swift's return to her "truest self",[94] and compared her new look to that of a "classic English Rose".[108] Vogue found Swift opting for a pastoral palette, and drew parallels to the music video of her 2012 single "Safe & Sound".[84] Beats Per Minute deemed the aesthetic reminiscent of works by painters Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth, and Lionel Walden, especially Wood's American Gothic.[95] Vulture defined Folklore as "an eerie black-and-white indie period horror film" that pays homage to various cult classic films, especially A24 horror films, with its songs evoking cinematic visuals.[101] The album's aesthetic has been compared to the visuals in multiple films, including Ivan's Childhood (1962), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), The Babadook (2014), The Witch (2015), The Beguiled (2017), Woodshock (2017), The Lighthouse (2019), Midsommar (2019) and Little Women (2019).[101][109][94][84]

Release and promotion Edit

Folklore was a surprise album. It marked the first time Swift abandoned her traditional album rollout, opting to release suddenly due to intuition; she stated "if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world". She unveiled the album via her social media on July 23, 2020, 16 hours prior to its release to digital music platforms at midnight.[110] Swift informed Republic Records about the new album only a few hours before its release,[20] and thus it was not widely and immediately available at retail, especially in its first week.[111] Deluxe CDs and vinyl LPs with seven other alternate covers, were sold on Swift's website exclusively.[112] The standard edition "In the Trees" CDs of Folklore were released to retail on August 7, 2020,[113] while "Meet Me Behind the Mall" CDs were made exclusive to Target.[114] The formerly physical-exclusive Folklore deluxe, featuring the bonus track "The Lakes", was released to digital platforms on August 18, 2020.[36]

Starting on August 20, 2020, a limited number of autographed Folklore CDs were delivered to various indie record shops in the US and Scotland to support small businesses in the pandemic.[115][116] Swift mailed her Folklore cardigans to celebrity friends and well-wishers.[117] Four six-song compilations of Folklore tracks were released to streaming, based on the thematic cohesion between them; The Escapism Chapter, The Sleepless Nights Chapter, The Saltbox House Chapter and The Yeah I Showed Up at Your Party Chapter were released in August–September 2020.[118] Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore, is a sequel to Folklore. She dubbed them "sister albums".[119]

Singles Edit

 
"Cardigan"
"Cardigan" is a folk ballad with Swift's vocals over stripped down piano, drums, a buoyant riff and escalating strings.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Cardigan" serves as the lead single of Folklore.[120] It was accompanied by a music video posted to YouTube, directed by Swift and produced by Jil Hardin. Both were released on July 24, 2020, alongside the album.[7] It was serviced to US pop and adult pop radio formats on July 27.[121][122] The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Swift's sixth chart-topper and second number-one debut.[123] Billboard noted a unique radio roll-out for Folklore, where few of its tracks were simultaneously promoted to multiple radio formats. While "Cardigan" impacted pop and adult contemporary,[124] "Exile" was sent to adult alternative radio on August 3, 2020, which had initially peaked at number six on the Hot 100,[125][123] whereas "Betty" was sent to country radio on August 17,[126] after arriving at number six on the Hot Country Songs chart.[127] "The 1" was released as a promotional single in Germany on October 9, 2020;[128] "The 1" had previously reached number four on the Hot 100.[123] On July 24, 2021, the first anniversary of Folklore, the original orchestral version of "The Lakes" was also released as a promotional single.[129]

Film and live album Edit

Main article: Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions

A concert documentary, titled Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, was released on November 25, 2020, to Disney+. It was directed and produced by Swift, seeing her perform all the tracks of Folklore in an intimate setting at Long Pong Studio, and sharing the stories behind the songs, with Antonoff and Dessner.[18] Alongside the film's premiere, Swift's third live album, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (From the Disney+ Special), containing the acoustic versions from the film, was released to streaming platforms.[130][131]

Critical reception Edit

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.5/10[132]
Metacritic88/100[133]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [134]
The Daily Telegraph     [55]
Entertainment WeeklyA[86]
The Guardian     [41]
The Independent     [135]
The Irish Times     [64]
NME     [43]
Pitchfork8.0/10[48]
Rolling Stone     [8]
The Sydney Morning Herald      [42]

Folklore was met with widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its emotional weight and introspective songwriting,[136] calling it Swift's most subdued and sophisticated body of work yet.[137] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 88, based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[133] Folklore is widely regarded as Swift's best album.[63][138]

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone lauded Swift's songwriting abilities that brought out her "deepest wit, compassion, and empathy", making Folklore her most intimate album so far.[8] Also noting the album's vivid storytelling filled with imagination and imagery, Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes considered Folklore a mature step in Swift's artistry while retaining her core as a celebrated songwriter.[48] Mark Savage of BBC classified Folklore as an indie record dealing with nostalgia and mistakes that resonate with the times.[139] Katie Moulton from Consequence appreciated Swift's maturity, particularly the employment of third-person perspectives that had been uncommon on her previous works.[81] Complimenting the album's writing, The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick,[55] i's Sarah Carson,[58] and The Sydney Morning Herald's Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen,[42] gave the album full-score ratings. Describing Folklore as a bold attempt, Hannah Mylrea of NME praised Swift's ability to evoke vivid imagery, but said that the 16-song run can "sometimes drag slightly".[43]

Several critics welcomed Swift's new musical direction. Chris Willman of Variety considered Folklore to be a "first-rank album", and its change of a musical style a "serious act of sonic palette cleansing" for Swift.[47] Laura Snapes of The Guardian considered it to be the most cohesive and the most experimental among Swift's releases.[41] Entertainment Weekly's Maura Johnston deemed the album a bold move for a pop star like Swift to challenge its audience.[86] Roisin O'Connor of The Independent praised the album's "exquisite, piano-based poetry" which she found unconventional for Swift's catalog.[135] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was positive towards the album but felt its musical styles are not "precisely new tricks" for Swift.[134] In agreement, Annie Zaleski of The A.V. Club deemed the album not completely experimental, but still a new aspect of Swift's artistry.[87] In his Substack-published Consumer Guide column, Robert Christgau was most moved by the youth-themed "Seven" and "Betty" than the more adult songs, which he summarized as "melodically fetching, lyrically deft pop songs that are fine as far as they go". He singled out "The Last Great American Dynasty" as the only intolerable song for how it reminds him of "Taylor Swift the showbiz plutocrat".[140] In a mixed review, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica praised Swift's songwriting but felt the album is burdened by "desolate" and "overcomposed" indie rock.[52]

Year-end lists Edit

A multitude of publications listed Folklore in their lists of best albums of 2020, including number-one placements from Billboard,[6] Los Angeles Times,[141] Rolling Stone,[142] Insider,[143] NJ.com,[144] South China Morning Post,[145] Uproxx,[146] USA Today,[147] Us Weekly,[148] Variety,[149] and Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.[150] Folklore placed third on Metacritic's ranking of the most mentioned albums in 2020 year-end lists.[151] Its tracks "The 1",[152] "Cardigan",[153] "The Last Great American Dynasty",[154] "Exile",[155] "Mirrorball",[72] "Seven",[156] "August",[157] "This Is Me Trying",[158] "Invisible String"[159] and "Betty"[160] were also named among the best songs of 2020.

Select year-end rankings of Folklore
Critic/Publication List Rank Ref.
BBC The Best Albums of 2020
3
[161]
Billboard Top 50 Best Albums of 2020
1
[6]
Entertainment Weekly The 15 Best Albums of 2020
5
[162]
The Guardian The 50 Best Albums of 2020
9
[65]
The Independent The 40 Best Albums of 2020
10
[163]
Los Angeles Times The 10 Best Albums of 2020
1
[141]
NME The 50 Best Albums of 2020
2
[164]
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2020
29
[66]
Rolling Stone The 50 Best Albums of 2020
1
[142]
Time The 10 Best Albums of 2020
1
[39]

Commercial performance Edit

The biggest first day on Spotify for a 2020 album, Folklore opened with over 80.6 million global streams on the platform, and earned the Guinness World Record for the most opening-day streams for an album by a female artist, surpassing Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next.[165] "Cardigan" placed first on global Spotify chart with 7.742 million plays—the biggest first day for a song by a female artist in 2020.[166] The album broke the Apple Music record for the most-streamed pop album in a day,[167] and the Amazon Music indie/alternative record.[168] Republic Records reported that Folklore sold over 1.3 million units worldwide on its first day and two million units in its first week.[167][169] Swift was 2020's second most-streamed woman on Spotify, after Billie Eilish,[170] and the year's most streamed act on Amazon Music.[171] By the end of 2020, Folklore sold 2 million pure copies globally. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named it the year's best-selling album by a woman,[172] and Swift the best-selling solo act of 2020.[173]

United States Edit

The album's on-demand first-day streams were 72 million in the US, beating Thank U, Next's 55.9 million.[174] Folklore sold over 500,000 units, including 400,000 sales, in its first three days, becoming the first album to do so since Swift's own Lover.[175] Folklore debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and topped it for eight weeks, becoming the longest-reigning number-one album of 2020. Opening with 846,000 units, consisting of 615,000 pure sales and 289.85 million streams, it marked the largest sales and streaming weeks of 2020, surpassing Juice Wrld's Legends Never Die. Its first-week sales alone were enough to make it the year's best-selling album, beating BTS' Map of the Soul: 7. Swift became the first woman with seven Billboard 200 number-one debuts and tied Janet Jackson for the third-most number-ones.[111] Eclipsing Eminem, she was the first act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have seven albums each sell 500,000 copies or more in a week,[111] and the first woman since Barbra Streisand to have six albums spend multiple weeks at number one.[176] Folklore gave Swift her first entry on Alternative Albums, with the biggest debut ever on the chart.[177]

 
American indie-folk band Bon Iver is featured on fourth track "Exile", which critics picked as an album highlight. It was one of the best-charting songs of Folklore.

It was 2020's fastest album to move a million units,[178] the longest-running number-one album by a woman on the Billboard 200 since Reputation,[179] and the first to spend its first four weeks at the top since Adele's 25 (2015);[180] Swift became the first 21st-century act to have six albums each spend four weeks atop,[181] and the first solo/female artist (after the Beatles) to have five albums each top the chart for six weeks or more.[182][183] Billboard attributed the album's success to its timing, pandemic-suited songs and Swift's ability to connect with listeners.[184] She also surpassed Whitney Houston as the woman with the most weeks atop Billboard 200 (47 weeks).[185] Folklore sold a million pure copies in the US by October, becoming the only 2020 album to do so and Swift's ninth project to reach the mark.[186] When Evermore topped the Billboard 200 later that year, Folklore rose to number three with 133,000 units, making Swift the first woman ever to chart two simultaneous albums in the top three.[187]

All of its 16 tracks debuted simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, giving three top-10 and five top-20 entries. Swift became the first act to debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 in the same week, with the number-one debut of "Cardigan". She also was the first act to debut two songs in the top-four and three songs in the top-six simultaneously, as "The 1" entered at number four and "Exile" at number six. It increased Swift's sum of top-10 hits to 28, including 18 top-10 debuts. Folklore was her second consecutive album to chart all of its tracks together on the Hot 100 after Lover.[188] Swift extended her record for the most concurrent Hot 100 debuts ever among women (16), and eclipsed Nicki Minaj as the woman with the most Hot 100 entries (113).[189] 11 tracks charted on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, of which a record eight entries were in the top 10.[177]

On the 2020 Billboard Year-End charts, Swift was the top female artist for the fifth time in her career.[190] Swift or Folklore ranked at number one on the year-end Top Album Sales, Tastemaker Albums, Alternative Albums, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Artists, and Billboard 200 Female Artists charts. 11 tracks from Folklore landed on the year-end Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart—the most for any act or album.[191] Swift ranked as US Spotify's most streamed female artist of 2020,[170] and the year's most consumed artist, totaling 3.5 million units (including 1.3 million sales).[192] The best-selling album of 2020, Folklore earned 2.3 million units, including 1.276 million sales.[193][194] It made Swift the first act to have the best-selling album of a calendar year five times, following Fearless (2009), 1989, Reputation, and Lover.[195] Folklore was the eighth best-selling album of 2021 with 304,000 copies sold.[196]

Other markets Edit

Folklore opened at number-one on the Billboard Canadian Albums as Swift's seventh consecutive number-one, spending four weeks atop. All of its 16 tracks debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 chart together, with "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" in the top-10.[197][198] Folklore landed ninth on the 2020 Top Canadian Albums year-end list.[191]

In the UK, Folklore debuted atop the Official Albums Chart with 37,000 copies, beating Eminem's Music to Be Murdered By for the biggest digital sales week of 2020. It became Swift's fifth consecutive chart-topper, making her one of the only five women to score five number-one albums in the UK, after Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Streisand, and Celine Dion, and the first one to do so in the 21st-century.[199][200] Becoming Swift's first album to spend multiple weeks atop the chart, Folklore remained at number one for three consecutive weeks.[201] On the UK Singles Chart, "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" opened at numbers six, eight and 10, respectively, taking the total of Swift's UK top-ten entries to 16,[202] and made her the first woman in UK history to concurrently debut three songs in the top-10.[203] Folklore is the UK's most downloaded album of 2020.[204] It further topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart.[205]

The album arrived at number one on the Irish Albums Chart, scoring Ireland's biggest opening week of 2020 and outperforming the rest of the top-five combined. Swift became the first solo female act with five Irish number-one albums in the 21st-century. Folklore stayed atop for four weeks, yielding Swift's longest-running Irish number-one album. The tracks "Exile", "Cardigan" and "The 1" appeared at the third, fourth and seventh spots on the Irish Singles Chart, respectively, taking Swift's career top-tens to a total of 15.[206][207][208] Folklore is 2020's longest-running number-one album of Ireland, and the most downloaded.[209] It reached number one in Belgium,[210] Czech Republic,[211] Denmark,[212] Estonia,[213] Finland,[214] Greece,[215] Norway,[216] Switzerland,[217][218] and many other European countries.

In China, the album sold more than 200,000 copies in its first six hours and around 740,000 copies in its first week, instantly becoming the best-selling and fastest-selling album of 2020 by a western act.[219][220] Folklore was certified Diamond by QQ Music, making Swift the first western act to have four albums, with Reputation, 1989 and Lover, reach the milestone.[219] It was the platform's most streamed English-language album of 2020.[221] In Malaysia, Folklore spawned nine top-20 songs on the RIM Singles chart, with "Cardigan", "Exile", "The 1", "My Tears Ricochet" and "The Last Great American Dynasty" entering the top 10.[222] In Singapore, 14 tracks from the album landed on the RIAS Singles chart, 11 of which reached the top 20 and five in the top 10.[223] Folklore was the best selling foreign album of 2020 in Japan.[224]

In Australia, Folklore topped the ARIA Albums Chart as Swift's sixth album to do so, giving her more chart-toppers in the country in 2010–2020 than any other artist.[225] Its 16 tracks entered the top 50 of the ARIA Singles Chart together, breaking the all-time record for the most debuts in one week, previously held by Post Malone and Ed Sheeran. "Cardigan" became Swift's sixth number-one song, while "Exile", "The 1", "The Last Great American Dynasty" and "My Tears Ricochet" reached top-10; Swift became the act with the most Australian top-ten hits of 2020.[226] Folklore topped the chart for four consecutive weeks as Swift's longest-running Australian number-one album since 1989, the only 2020 album to top the chart for more than two weeks,[227][228] and the country's best selling album by a woman in 2020.[229] It topped New Zealand's Official Top 40 Albums chart as well, spending two weeks atop.[230] "Cardigan", "Exile", and "The 1" charted in the top-10 of the New Zealand singles chart, and "The Last Great American Dynasty" placed 13th.[231] Folklore ranked at number seven on the RMNZ 2020 year-end albums list.[232]

Awards Edit

Folklore and its songs received five Grammy Award nominations at the 63rd ceremony, winning the Album of the Year. Swift became the first woman in history to win Album of the Year thrice,[note 3] and the fourth artist overall, tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.[233] The album was also a candidate for Best Pop Vocal Album, while "Cardigan" was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year, making Swift the most nominated female artist ever in the latter category with five nods. "Exile" contended for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.[234][235] At the 2020 American Music Awards, Swift scored four nominations: Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Music Video for "Cardigan" and Favorite Pop/Rock Album for Folklore, and won the first three,[236] extending her record as the most awarded artist in the show's history with 32 American Music Awards.[237] It also marked the third consecutive year Swift was crowned the Artist of the Year, and sixth overall—the first and only artist to achieve it.[238]

Awards and nominations for Folklore
Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2020 American Music Awards Favorite Pop/Rock Album Nominated
[236]
Apple Music Awards Songwriter of the Year (Folklore) Won
[239]
ARIA Music Awards Best International Artist (Folklore) Nominated
[240]
Danish Music Awards International Album of the Year Won
[241]
E! People's Choice Awards The Album of 2020 Nominated
[242]
Guinness World Records Most day-one streams of an album on Spotify (female) Won
[165]
NetEase Annual Music Awards Top Western Album Won
[243]
Top Folk Music Album Won
2021 Billboard Music Awards Top Billboard 200 Album Nominated
[244]
Gaffa Awards International Album of the Year Nominated
[245]
Grammy Awards Album of the Year Won
[246]
Best Pop Vocal Album Nominated
Japan Gold Disc Awards Best 3 Western Albums Won
[247]
Juno Awards International Album of the Year Nominated
[248]
iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Pop Album Won
[249]
2022 TEC Awards Outstanding Creative Achievement – Record Production/Album Nominated
[250]

Legacy Edit

 
Swift performing the Folklore act of her Eras Tour (2023)

Folklore's release ignited widespread interest in the term "folklore" on the internet. In response to this mainstream attention, the American Folklore Society launched a website titled "What is Folklore?" and engaged in an online campaign to educate passersby about folklore studies. Folklorists were recruited to promote the academic field to the general public via social media.[251] Metacritic's traffic skyrocketed by roughly half a million views upon Folklore's release. The site's founder Marc Doyle stated, "There's nothing quite like Taylor Swift", whose albums supply "a great deal of traffic and user participation" to the site whenever they are released.[252]

The album has been contextualized as a lockdown project by commentators,[253] and earned a reputation as the archetypal quarantine album.[254] The Guardian opined that Folklore was a respite from chaotic events.[65] The Daily Telegraph called it "an exquisite, empathetic lockdown triumph".[55] NME wrote the album will be remembered as "the quintessential lockdown album" that "felt like the perfect accompaniment for the weird loneliness" of 2020.[255][164] Insider stated that Folklore would be known as "lockdown's one true masterpiece".[143] Rolling Stone said the album may go down in history as "the definitive quarantine album" for providing comfort and catharsis "just when we needed it most".[142] Billboard proclaimed that Folklore would be cherished as one of Swift's most influential albums.[6] Uproxx noted how Folklore changed the tone of music in 2020,[256] and its impact on the year's cultural landscape "can't be measured".[146]

In a list awarding the most creative works that shaped quarantine, Vulture labeled Folklore as 2020's "Best Breakdown in Musical Form" for addressing topics of loneliness.[257] Vogue listed the album amongst the best moments of lockdown culture.[258] The Week called it "the first great pandemic art" for setting "a high bar" for future pandemic-inspired projects.[259] Financial Times called it "the first great lockdown album",[260] while Hot Press termed it "the first great album of the lockdown era".[261] Judging from its acclaim and commercial success, critic Tom Hull concluded that Swift "caught the spirit of the times" with Folklore.[262] Billboard named Folklore and Evermore as the best examples of innovative albums from artists who amended their creative process during the pandemic,[263] and in a list titled "The 25 Musical Moments That Defined the First Quarter of the 2020s", called the album a "commercial smash" that stands as "one of the quintessential quarantine full-lengths".[264] In 2023, The New York Times named Folklore as one of the "17 pop culture moments that define the COVID era".[265]

My world felt opened up creatively. There was a point that I got to as a writer who only wrote very diaristic songs that I felt it was unsustainable for my future moving forward. So what I felt after we put out Folklore was like "oh wow, people are into this too, this thing that feels really good for my life and feels really good for my creativity… it feels good for them too?"

— Swift on how Folklore changed her creative process moving forward, Apple Music 1[266]

The making of and rave reception to Folklore encouraged Swift to release Evermore. Swift herself has credited Folklore for ushering a new mindset of songwriting in her repertoire, which in turn influenced her subsequent releases.[63] Folklore was the most popular album of 2020 on Genius,[267] and Swift was the top searched act.[268] She was also the world's highest-paid solo musician of 2020,[269] and the highest paid in the US, solely due to her incomes from the 2020 albums.[270] In 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which consisted of 10 acts, the seventh of which is dedicated to Folklore.[271]

Artistic influence Edit

Track listing Edit

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes and Tidal.[290][291]

Folklore – Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."The 1"
Dessner3:30
2."Cardigan"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:59
3."The Last Great American Dynasty"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:51
4."Exile" (featuring Bon Iver)
4:45
5."My Tears Ricochet"Swift
4:15
6."Mirrorball"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
3:29
7."Seven"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:28
8."August"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Alwyn
4:21
9."This Is Me Trying"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Alwyn
3:15
10."Illicit Affairs"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Alwyn
3:10
11."Invisible String"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner4:12
12."Mad Woman"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:57
13."Epiphany"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner4:49
14."Betty"
  • Swift
  • Bowery
  • Swift
  • Dessner
  • Antonoff
  • Alwyn
4:54
15."Peace"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:54
16."Hoax"
  • Swift
  • Dessner
Dessner3:40
Total length:63:29
Folklore – Deluxe edition[36]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
17."The Lakes"
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
  • Swift
  • Antonoff
3:31
Total length:67:00

Notes Edit

Personnel Edit

Credits are adapted from Pitchfork, Tidal, and the album's liner notes.[17][291][290]

Musicians Edit

  • Taylor Swift – lead vocals, songwriting, production (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17)
  • Aaron Dessner –  production (1–4, 7, 11–16), songwriting (1–3, 7, 11–13, 15, 16), piano (1–4, 7, 11–16), acoustic guitar (1, 7, 11, 12, 16), electric guitar (1–4, 11–14, 16), drum programming (1–4, 7, 11, 12), Mellotron (1, 2, 11, 13, 15), OP-1 (1, 4, 16), synth bass (1, 16), percussion (2–4, 7, 11, 12, 14), bass (2, 3, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15), synthesizer (2–4, 7, 11–13, 15), slide guitar (3), keyboards (3), high string guitar (14), field recording (15), drone (15)
  • Bryce Dessner – orchestration (1–4, 7, 11–13)
  • Thomas Bartlett – synthesizer (1), OP-1 (1)[a]
  • Jason Treuting – percussion (1)[a]
  • Yuki Numata Resnick – viola (1, 2, 7, 11, 12), violin (1, 2, 7, 11, 12)
  • Benjamin Lanz – modular synth (2)
  • Dave Nelson – trombone (2, 13)[a]
  • James McAlister – drum programming (2, 11), beat programming (12), synthesizers (12), hand percussion (12), drums (12)[a]
  • Clarice Jensen – cello (2, 7, 11–13)[a]
  • Rob Moose – orchestration (3, 16), violin (3, 4, 16), viola (3, 4, 16)[a]
  • JT Bates – drums (3, 7, 13)[a]
  • Justin Vernon – lead vocals (4), songwriting (4), pulse (15)[a]
  • Joe Alwyn –  production (4, 5, 8–10, 14), songwriting (4, 14)
  • Jack Antonoff –  production (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), songwriting (6, 8–10, 17), live drums (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), percussion (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), programming (5, 6, 8–10, 17), electric guitars (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), keyboards (5, 6, 8–10, 17), piano (5, 17), bass (5, 8–10, 14), background vocals (5, 6, 9, 10, 17), acoustic guitars (6, 8, 14), B3 (6, 14), organ (9), Mellotron (14)
  • Evan Smith – saxophones (5, 8–10, 14, 17), keyboards (5, 8–10, 17), programming (5), flute (8, 17), electric guitar (8, 10), accordion (10), background vocals (10), clarinet (14, 17), bass (17)
  • Bobby Hawk – strings (5, 8, 9, 17)
  • Bryan Devendorf – drum programming (7)[a]
  • Jonathan Low – synth bass (8)[a]
  • Mikey Freedom Hart – pedal steel (10, 14), Mellotron (14), Wurlitzer (14), harpsichord (14), vibraphone (14), electric guitar (14)
  • Kyle Resnick – trumpet (13)[a]
  • Josh Kaufman – harmonica (14), electric guitar (14), lap steel (14)[a]

Additional instrument recording[b]

  • Kyle Resnick – viola (1, 2, 7, 11–13), violin (1, 2, 7, 11–13)
  • Bella Blasko – modular synth (2)
  • Lorenzo Wolff – strings (5, 9)
  • Mike Williams – strings (8, 17)
  • Jon Gautier – strings (8, 17)
  • Benjamin Lanz – trombone (13)

Technical Edit

  • Taylor Swift – executive producer
  • Jonathan Low – recording (1–4, 7, 11–16), mixing (1–4, 7, 8, 11, 15–17)
  • Aaron Dessner – recording (1–4, 7, 11–16), additional recording (2, 11)
  • Laura Sisk – recording (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17), vocal recording (1–3; Swift on 4; 13, 15, 16)
  • Jack Antonoff – recording (5, 6, 8–10, 14, 17)
  • Bella Blasko – additional recording (2)
  • Justin Vernon – vocal recording (Bon Iver on 4)
  • John Rooney – assistant engineering (5, 9, 14)
  • Jon Sher – assistant engineering (5, 9)
  • Şerban Ghenea – mixing (5, 6, 9, 10, 12–14)
  • John Hanes – mix engineering (5, 6, 9, 10, 12–14)
  • Randy Merrill – mastering

Design Edit

  • Taylor Swift – wardrobe styling, hair and makeup, packaging creative and art direction
  • Beth Garrabrant – photography
  • 13 Management – packaging design, project support and coordination
  • Republic Records – project support and coordination

Charts Edit

Certifications Edit

Certifications for Folklore
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[356] Platinum 70,000‡
Austria (IFPI Austria)[357] Gold 7,500‡
Belgium (BEA)[358] Gold 10,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[359] Platinum 20,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[360] Gold 25,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[361] 3× Platinum 45,000‡
Norway (IFPI Norway)[362] Platinum 20,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[363] Platinum 20,000‡
Singapore (RIAS)[364] Gold 5,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[365] Gold 20,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[366] Platinum 300,000‡
United States (RIAA)[367] 2× Platinum 2,000,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history Edit

Release dates and formats for Folklore
Region Date Format(s) Edition Label Ref.
Various July 24, 2020
Standard Republic [368]
United Kingdom August 4, 2020 CD Deluxe EMI [369]
Various August 7, 2020
Republic [370]
Japan CD Universal [371]
 Special [372]

See also Edit

Footnotes Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l This performer is also credited with recording their instrumentation.
  2. ^ Several performers are also credited with recording their own instrumentation, as noted in the 'Musicians' section.
  1. ^ The record was surpassed by Swift's own Red (Taylor's Version) on November 12, 2021,[1] and once again surpassed by her own Midnights on October 21, 2022.[2]
  2. ^ Though not mentioned in the album, Swift refers to the unnamed narrator of "August" as Augustine or Augusta.[67][68]
  3. ^ Her second studio album, Fearless (2008), won the Album of the Year in 2010, followed by her fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), winning the award in 2016.

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October 15, 2023
folklore, taylor, swift, album, folklore, stylized, lowercase, eighth, studio, album, american, singer, songwriter, taylor, swift, surprise, album, released, july, 2020, republic, records, following, outbreak, covid, pandemic, early, 2020, swift, canceled, con. Folklore stylized in all lowercase is the eighth studio album by American singer songwriter Taylor Swift It was a surprise album released on July 24 2020 via Republic Records Following the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic in early 2020 Swift canceled the concert tour for her seventh studio album Lover 2019 She conceived Folklore during quarantine as a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness working with producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff virtually Dessner and Antonoff operated from recording studios in Hudson Valley and New York City respectively while Swift recorded her vocals in a home studio at her Los Angeles residence FolkloreStandard coverStudio album by Taylor SwiftReleasedJuly 24 2020 2020 07 24 Recorded2020StudioConway Los Angeles Kitty Committee Los Angeles Electric Lady New York City Long Pond Hudson Valley Rough Customer Brooklyn GenreIndie folk alternative rock electro folk chamber pop indietronicaLength63 29LabelRepublicProducerAaron Dessner Jack Antonoff Taylor Swift Joe AlwynTaylor Swift chronologyLive from Clear Channel Stripped 2008 2020 Folklore 2020 Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions 2020 Singles from Folklore Cardigan Released July 27 2020 Exile Released August 3 2020 Betty Released August 17 2020Departing from the mainly upbeat pop production of its predecessors Folklore consists of mellow ballads driven by neo classical instruments pursuing indie folk alternative rock and electro acoustic styles Influenced by the isolation of quarantine Swift explores themes of escapism empathy nostalgia and romanticism in the album using a set of characters fictional narratives and story arcs in contrast to the autobiographical tone of her previous projects The title was inspired by the lasting legacy of folk songs whereas its visual aesthetic reflects cottagecore Upon release Folklore broke the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act note 1 Three of its tracks Cardigan The 1 and Exile featuring Bon Iver reached the top 10 on music charts in eight countries with the former becoming Swift s sixth number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 Folklore topped the charts in various countries and is certified platinum or higher in Australia Denmark New Zealand Norway the United Kingdom and the United States It was Swift s seventh number one album on the US Billboard 200 where it reigned atop for eight weeks and became the best selling album of 2020 Folklore received widespread critical acclaim centering on its emotional weight poetic lyricism and relaxed pace Critics found its introspective essence timely for the pandemic and regarded its sound a bold reinvention of Swift s artistry The album was featured on numerous 2020 year end rankings It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards making Swift the first woman in history to win the honor three times following her wins for Fearless 2008 and 1989 2014 She discussed Folklore and performed it live in the Disney concert documentary Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions premiering on November 25 2020 and released Folklore s sequel record Evermore 2020 two weeks later Several artists cite Folklore as a source of inspiration Contents 1 Background 2 Conception 3 Writing and recording 4 Music and lyrics 4 1 Composition 4 2 Themes 4 3 Songs 5 Art direction 5 1 Cover artwork 5 2 Aesthetic and fashion 6 Release and promotion 6 1 Singles 6 2 Film and live album 7 Critical reception 7 1 Year end lists 8 Commercial performance 8 1 United States 8 2 Other markets 9 Awards 10 Legacy 10 1 Artistic influence 11 Track listing 11 1 Notes 12 Personnel 12 1 Musicians 12 2 Technical 12 3 Design 13 Charts 13 1 Weekly 13 2 Year end 14 Certifications 15 Release history 16 See also 17 Footnotes 18 References 19 External linksBackground EditIn April 2020 Taylor Swift was set to embark on Lover Fest her sixth concert tour in support of her seventh studio album Lover 2019 which was cancelled following the COVID 19 pandemic 3 On July 23 2020 nine photos were uploaded to Swift s Instagram account all without captions forming a black and white image of the singer standing alone in a forest Subsequently she made another post across all her social media accounts announcing that her eighth studio album would be released at midnight Swift stated Most of the things I had planned this summer didn t end up happening but there is something I hadn t planned on that DID happen And that thing is my 8th studio album Folklore She confirmed the image as the album s cover artwork and revealed the track list 4 The Wall Street Journal opined that the surprise announcement caught fans and the music business off guard 5 Billboard stated that it blindsided the pop music world arriving as exciting news during lockdown 6 Folklore was released eleven months after Lover the fastest turnaround for a Swift studio album at the time beating the one year and nine months gap between Reputation 2017 and Lover In another post Swift announced that the music video for the track Cardigan would release at the same time as the album 7 During the YouTube premiere countdown to the Cardigan music video Swift hinted that the album lyrics contained many of her signature Easter eggs One thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics more than just the videos I created character arcs and recurring themes that map out who is singing about who For example there s a collection of three songs I refer to as the Teenage Love Triangle These three songs explore a love triangle from all three people s perspectives at different times in their lives 8 She referred to the album as wistful and full of escapism Sad beautiful tragic Like a photo album full of imagery and all the stories behind that imagery 9 described Cardigan as a song that explores lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently in our memories 10 and pointed out the self written track My Tears Ricochet as the first song she wrote for the album 9 Uproxx narrated on Thursday night that hand drawn T and S could be seen up and down the timeline Music fans and critics across genres unveiled hot takes quoted lyrics like Myspace teens writing on the back of textbooks or crafting the perfect AIM away message and debated Folklore s place in the unimpeachable Taylor Swift canon 11 Conception EditSwift did not expect to create an album in early 2020 12 After the cancellation of Lover Fest 3 Swift quarantined herself during which she watched numerous films and shows such as Rear Window 1954 L A Confidential 1997 Pan s Labyrinth 2006 Jane Eyre 2011 Marriage Story 2019 12 and The Last Dance 2020 13 and read more books than she ever did books that dealt with times past a world that doesn t exist anymore such as Rebecca 1938 by Daphne du Maurier 14 The fictions inspired Swift to venture beyond her usual autobiographical style of songwriting and experiment with different narrative standpoints 12 In isolation during the lockdown she let her imagination run wild ensuing in a set of imageries and visuals that consequently became Folklore 15 It started with imagery Visuals that popped into my mind and piqued my curiosity Stars drawn around scars A cardigan that still bears the scent of loss twenty years later Battleships sinking into the ocean down down down The tree swing in the woods of my childhood Hushed tones of let s run away and never doing it The sun drenched month of August sipped away like a bottle of wine A mirrored disco ball hovering above a dance floor A whiskey bottle beckoning Hands held through plastic A single thread that for better or for worse ties you to your fate 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 about or from the perspective of people I ve never met people I ve known or those I wish I hadn t Swift on developing Folklore Billboard 15 Some of the imageries the singer developed include An exiled man walking the bluffs of a land that isn t his own wondering how it all went so terribly terribly wrong An embittered tormentor showing up at the funeral of his fallen object of obsession A seventeen year old standing on a porch learning to apologize Lovestruck kids wandering up and down the evergreen High Line My grandfather Dean landing at Guadalcanal in 1942 A misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out 15 Swift poured all of her whims dreams fears and musings into the songs and reached out to her musical heroes to collaborate with 16 She initially planned to release Folklore in early 2021 but it ended up being done sooner and released in July 2020 without giving it second thoughts She approached the album s creation without subjecting herself to any rules and explained that she used to put all these parameters on herself like How will this song sound in a stadium How will this song sound on radio If you take away all the parameters what do you make And I guess the answer is Folklore 14 Writing and recording EditSwift s songwriting drifted towards escapism and romanticism for Folklore 14 She enlisted two producers to achieve her desired sound her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff who worked with her on 1989 2014 Reputation and Lover and first time collaborator Aaron Dessner guitarist of American indie rock band the National 17 Due to COVID 19 concerns Swift Antonoff and Dessner quarantined remotely separate from each other creating Folklore by continually exchanging digital files of instrumentals and vocals 18 The album ensued from a DIY process 19 mixed and engineered by personnel scattered across the US 6 nbsp nbsp Folklore features production from Aaron Dessner pictured left and Jack Antonoff right Dessner produced the majority of tracks Swift had previously met the National on a Saturday Night Live episode in 2014 and attended one of their concerts in 2019 where she talked to Dessner and his twin brother Bryce 20 She asked Aaron Dessner about his songwriting technique because it is her favorite thing to ask people who I m a fan of and he replied his band members live in different parts of the world and that he would make instrumental tracks and send them to the lead singer Matt Berninger who would write the lyrics this ignited Swift s idea to create music in quarantine 14 Due to the pandemic all recording studios were closed so Swift built a home studio at her Los Angeles residence named Kitty Committee with help from engineer Laura Sisk 12 Antonoff with whom Swift worked on five songs from the album operated from New York City while Sisk recorded Swift s vocals in Los Angeles My Tears Ricochet was the first song written for Folklore Swift wrote it about her ties with Scott Borchetta founder of her old record label coming to an abrupt end 12 Antonoff compared the writing process of Mirrorball and August to that of Out of the Woods 2016 21 Swift wrote Mirrorball following the cancellation of Lover Fest as an ode to fans who find solace in her music and concerts 22 She wrote August about a fictitious mistress and This Is Me Trying based on multiple narratives such as dealing with addiction and her own mental health in 2016 2017 when she felt she was worth absolutely nothing 12 In late April Swift approached Dessner to co write some songs remotely He worked on eleven of the album s 16 tracks over the next few months 23 Dessner thought it would take a while for song ideas to come and had no expectations as far as what we could accomplish remotely but was surprised that a few hours after sharing music my phone lit up with a voice memo from Taylor of a fully written song the momentum never really stopped 24 Swift and Dessner were pretty much in touch daily for three or four months by text and phone calls 20 He would mail her folders of instrumentals and she would write the entire top line melody and lyrics and he wouldn t know what the song would be about what it was going to be called where she was going to put the chorus 14 The first song the duo wrote was Cardigan which is based on one of Dessner s sketches called Maple 24 Cardigan was followed by Seven and Peace 25 Upon hearing the composition of Peace Swift felt an immediate sense of serenity that roused the feeling of being peaceful but felt it would be too on the nose to sing about finding peace she instead wrote about complex conflicted feelings contrasting the track s calming sound 12 and recorded it in one vocal take 20 nbsp Rebekah Harkness the former owner of Swift s Rhode Island house is the muse behind the third track The Last Great American Dynasty A few weeks later when Swift and Dessner had written six or seven songs she explained him her concept of Folklore 25 She told him about the work she had done earlier with Antonoff concluding that both of her works resonate as an album 24 Swift and Dessner also wrote The Last Great American Dynasty Mad Woman and Epiphany the first of which has an array of electric guitars inspired by Radiohead s 2007 surprise album In Rainbows 24 The lyrics document American socialite Rebekah Harkness whom Swift had been wanting to write about ever since she bought the Holiday House in 2013 12 Dessner composed the piano melody for Mad Woman with his earlier work on Cardigan and Seven in mind 25 On Epiphany he slowed down and reversed the sounds of different instruments to create a giant stack of harmony and added piano for a cinematic trope 24 Swift wrote the song based on the experiences of her veteran grandfather and healthcare workers in the pandemic 12 Swift wrote two songs Exile and Betty with her then boyfriend English actor Joe Alwyn She developed Exile as a duet and Dessner recorded a draft of her singing both the male and female parts 25 Swift and Dessner ran through candidates for the male partner and Swift liked the voice of Bon Iver s Justin Vernon who is one half of the American indie rock band Big Red Machine along with Dessner 20 Dessner sent the song to Vernon who liked the song added his own lyrics and sang his part 24 Betty is the only song on the album produced by both Dessner and Antonoff Swift was influenced by Bob Dylan s The Freewheelin Bob Dylan 1963 and John Wesley Harding 1967 for its composition 25 24 Alwyn used the pseudonym William Bowery for his credits Upon the album s release mainstream media and fans pointed out Bowery s lack of online presence 26 23 and presumed that it was actually a pseudonym for Alwyn which was later ultimately confirmed by Swift 27 28 29 Swift added that he also penned the chorus of Betty and the piano line and first verse in Exile 30 The last two songs written were The 1 and Hoax the first and last songs on the album respectively Swift wrote both in a span of few hours 24 Speaking about his collaboration with her Dessner commented there s a palpable humanity and warmth and raw emotion in these songs that I hope you ll love and take comfort in as much as I do 31 In a November 2020 Rolling Stone interview with Paul McCartney Swift stated she began using words in the album s lyrics that she always wanted to use not worrying about whether it would suit radio She used bigger flowerier prettier words such as epiphany elegies and divorcee just because they sound beautiful Swift disclosed that she maintains lists of such words and recalled using one such kaleidoscope in Welcome to New York 2014 14 In a December 2020 Entertainment Weekly interview Swift said the lyrics melodies and production of Folklore are the way she wanted them without subjecting to others expectations 12 Taylor has opened the door for artists to not feel pressure to have the bop To make the record that she made while running against what is programmed in radio at the highest levels of pop music she has kind of made an anti pop record Dessner on Swift s new sonic direction in Folklore Billboard 32 Folklore was written and recorded in secrecy Swift her boyfriend family management team Antonoff and Dessner were aware of the album s creation she did not disclose the news or play the album to her friends like she did with her previous works 12 Near the end of Folklore s recording process Dessner reached out to his regular collaborators including the National bandmates to provide instrumentation remotely 25 Bryce orchestrated several songs while Bryan Devendorf performed the drums in Seven 17 Dessner kept Swift s involvement confidential from his family and colleagues until announcement 33 While filming the Cardigan music video Swift wore an earpiece and lip synced to the song to prevent it from leaking 34 Dessner stated that Swift s label Republic Records was unaware of the album until hours before its launch 20 Music and lyrics EditA 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 indiscernible Speculation over time becomes fact Myths ghost stories and fables Fairytales and parables Gossip and legend Someone s secrets written in the sky for all to behold In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy history and memory 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 Swift on the concept of Folklore Instagram 35 The standard edition of Folklore is about an hour and three minutes long consisting of 16 tracks while the deluxe edition adds a bonus song The Lakes as the seventeenth track Bon Iver is featured on Exile the fourth track Folklore was written and produced by Swift Dessner Antonoff and Alwyn with additional writing credit to Vernon the lead vocalist of Bon Iver on Exile 17 36 It is Swift s first album to carry an explicit content label 37 Composition Edit Critics mostly categorize Folklore as an alternative indie folk and electro folk album departing from the pop maximalism and synth driven sound of Swift s previous works 38 39 It also incorporates indie rock 40 electronica 41 dream pop 42 country 43 and folk rock elements 44 NME s Hannah Mylrea wrote the album dives headfirst into the world of folk alternative rock and indie 43 while the same magazine s Gary Ryan classified it as indietronica and chamber pop 45 Kaelen Bell of Exclaim said Folklore is a laid back pop record 46 Variety s Chris Willman 47 and Pitchfork s Jillian Mapes specified it as chamber pop 48 Michael Sumsion of PopMatters described it as a blend of chamber pop and alt folk 49 and Raisa Bruner of Time deemed it alternative pop folk 50 Music journalist Amanda Petrusich reviewing for The New Yorker felt Folklore is a genre less record that drifts toward atmospheric pop rather than folk 51 In disagreement The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica called it an atmospheric rock album abandoning pop 52 Spencer Kornhaber of The Atlantic said the album swims through intricate classical and folk instrumentation held together by electronic music 53 Devoid of radio friendly pop songs 8 54 Folklore eschews the mainstream sound of Swift s older works 47 It consists of mellow cinematic slow paced ballads 24 55 47 with a minimal 48 lo fi production 56 57 and elegant melodies together lending a modern spin on traditional songwriting 55 It is built around neo classical instrumentals such as soft 41 sparse 48 and sonorous pianos 55 moody 48 picked 55 and burbling guitars 41 glitchy and fractured electronic elements 41 subliminal 46 throbbing percussions 58 mellow programmed drums Mellotron 47 sweeping orchestrations 48 with ethereal strings 42 and meditative horns 59 The album does not fully avoid plush synths and programmed beats characteristic of Swift s pop music but instead dials them down to a subtle texture 55 delivering an electro acoustic soundscape 60 which highlights Swift s voice and lyrics 61 47 42 Rolling Stone stated the album s tone resembles Safe amp Sound Swift s 2012 single for The Hunger Games Songs from District 12 and Beyond 8 The Ringer noted that Antonoff confers a synth based style to the record while Dessner contributes a piano leaning sound and linked Folklore to two songs on Lover The Archer and It s Nice to Have a Friend as Swift s albums usually have a couple tracks that harken back to the previous album or wind up connecting them to the next 62 Themes Edit Folklore consists of songs exploring points of view that diverge from Swift s life including third person narratives 59 written from perspectives of characters that interweave across the tracks 24 Its songwriting style combines balladeering with autobiographical experiences and character driven storytelling 63 and is primarily distinguished by themes of wistfulness escapism 64 nostalgia 24 contemplation 65 and empathy 53 Although Swift opted for a new sound the album retains stylistic aspects of her trademark songwriting such as mournful delivery and bildungsroman passion 62 Compared to much of her older discography Folklore reflected Swift s deepening self awareness 41 introspection 49 and vivid storytelling 43 that showed a higher degree of fictionalization and fewer self references 47 culminating in an outward looking approach 53 The lyricism is both personal and fictional and a blend of both at times 66 The emotional and narrative range of Folklore is widened by expanding the focus from Swift s personal stories to imagined characters and personifications 65 The narratives described in Folklore include a ghost finding its murderer at its funeral a seven year old girl with a traumatized friend an old widow spurned by her town recovering alcoholics and a love triangle between the fictional characters Betty James and an unnamed woman note 2 as depicted in the tracks Cardigan Betty and August with each of the three songs written from each of the character s perspective in different times in their lives 8 NPR s Ann Powers defined Folklore as a body constructed of memory a shared sense of the world built of myths heard stories based on the idea that we each have our own folklore with the album being Swift s folklore 69 Many songs on the album exude a cinematic quality in their lyrics 70 and reference objects and phenomena in nature such as a solar eclipse Saturn auroras purple pink skies salt air weeds and Wisteria 71 Songs Edit The 1 the opening track is a soft rock tune 72 driven by a bouncy arrangement of piano minimal percussion and electronic accents 41 In the perspective of Swift s friend The 1 describes a new found positive approach to life and past love wishing they could have been soulmates 43 24 The slow burning Cardigan is a folk 73 ballad driven by moody stripped down instrumentals consisting of drums and tender piano 74 75 Swift sings from the perspective of a fictional character named Betty 58 who recalls the separation and enduring optimism of a relationship with a boy named James 70 The Last Great American Dynasty is an alternative indie pop tune with classical instruments like slide guitar viola violins drums and glitchy production elements 43 76 The satirical song tells the story of Harkness the founder of Harkness Ballet when she resided in Swift s Rhode Island mansion It details how Harkness married into an upper class family was hated by the town and blamed for the death of her then husband and heir to Standard Oil William Harkness and the fall of his family s name and draws parallels with Swift s life 77 50 Exile is a gospel influenced 60 indie folk 78 duet with Bon Iver fusing Swift s soft vocals with Vernon s growling baritone 79 serving as an unspoken argumentative conversation between two former lovers 78 It begins with a plodding piano and reaches a dramatic climax accompanied by strings synths 80 and harmonies 42 nbsp Mirrorball source source The instrumentation of Mirrorball the sixth track is characterized by its jangle 81 tambourine 53 and nervous dance floor sensibility 8 Seven source source The seventh track Seven opens with Swift s lustrous upper register 82 Problems playing these files See media help Sung from the perspective of a deceased lover s ghost My Tears Ricochet is an icy arena goth song 83 that reflects on the tensions following the end of a marital relationship 12 using funereal imagery a metaphor for Scott Borchetta and his sale of the masters of Swift s older catalogue 70 12 It encompasses a music box backing choir reverbed ad libs in the bridge and reaches a tumultuous climax over shuddering drums 43 82 Mirrorball is a folk tinged dream pop song 40 driven by pedal steel and twanging guitars 84 83 Its lyrics portray Swift as a disco ball pertaining to the reflective quality describing her ability to entertain people with her music by making herself her vulnerable and sensitive 85 70 In Seven Swift sings in an innocent tone 85 41 reminiscing about an abused friend from her childhood in Pennsylvania 86 whom she cannot fully remember but still has fond memories of over a resonant arrangement consisting of flurrying strings and piano 41 August is a gloomy dream pop song 42 that captures the summer affair between two young lovers a naive girl who is seen holding on to a boy that wasn t hers to lose 58 the boy is revealed to be James later in the album 70 The song depicts the girl grieve and yearn over her love using Swift s light and breezy delivery yo yoing vocal yelps and a grandiose production driven by acoustic guitar glistening vocal reverb and key changes 42 70 The ninth track This Is Me Trying is an orchestral pop song detailing the accountability and regret of an alcoholic who admits feeling inadequate 83 70 It contains Swift s ghostly reverberated vocals and a gradually growing dense production 41 85 Over an acoustic arrangement of finger plucked strings and soft horns 42 Illicit Affairs unfolds the infidelity of a disloyal narrator and highlights the measures they carry out to keep the affair a secret 85 84 Invisible String is a folk song 87 that provides a glimpse into Swift s love life with Alwyn recounting the invisible connection between them that they were not aware of until they met alluding to an East Asian folk myth called the Red Thread of Fate 70 It comprises an acoustic riff thumping vocal backbeats 87 70 a distinct passive writing style 54 and references her older songs 70 nbsp In the seventeenth track The Lakes Swift sings about her vacation with her lover to Windermere the largest lake in England Mad Woman tackles the taboo linked with female anger 70 using sarcastic remarks at sexism 58 84 as Folklore s moment of vituperation 47 It metaphorically describes Swift s dispute with Borchetta and Scooter Braun 12 painting the story of a deviant widow getting revenge with references to witch hunts 50 Epiphany is an ambient hymn 40 84 It depicts the devastation of the pandemic paying homage to healthcare workers with whom she empathizes comparing them to traumatized military soldiers 58 such as her veteran grandfather Dean who fought at the Battle of Guadalcanal 1942 70 The song is carried by a glacial piano 87 and a howling brass 82 The fourteenth track Betty is a country and folk rock song with prominent harmonica 43 84 It describes the relationship narrated in Cardigan but in the perspective of the cheating boyfriend James 58 who had a summer fling with the female narrator of August 84 James apologizes for his past actions but does not fully own up to them citing excuses 50 Its characters Betty James and Inez are named after the daughters of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds 88 The R amp B inclining Peace features jazzy vocals with a complex vocal melody 83 24 over a pulse juxtaposed with three lushly harmonized basslines 58 25 complemented by minimal synths and a drizzling piano 60 Lyrically Peace is an ode to Swift s lover 83 dissects the effects of hectic stardom on her relationship and warns the subject of future challenges 89 85 The standard edition of the album closes with Hoax a slow piano ballad with emotionally raw lyrics that detail a flawed but everlasting relationship 50 24 ending the album on a despondent note of sadness 90 The deluxe bonus track The Lakes is a string laden midtempo song 90 that introspects on Swift s semi retirement in England s Lake District 8 the location is also mentioned in Invisible String 70 Imagining a red rose growing out of tundra with no one around to tweet it Swift fantasizes about a social media free utopia 47 referencing William Wordsworth an English poet known for his Romantic writings 90 Art direction EditFrom the very beginning Taylor had a clear idea of what she wanted for the album s visuals We looked at Surrealist work imagery that toyed with human scale in nature We also looked at early autochromes ambrotypes and photo storybooks from the 1940s Beth Garrabrant Meet the photographer behind Taylor Swift s Folklore artwork i D 91 Folklore s album art packaging and lyric videos were created through a DIY approach 12 Swift collaborated with photographer Beth Garrabrant for the artworks without a technical team due to COVID 19 concerns The photoshoot marked a change from Swift s older shoots where she would have 100 people on set commanding alongside other people in a very committee fashion She styled herself including hair makeup and wardrobe and prescribed Garrabrant a specific moodboard 12 The photographs are characterized by a grayscale black and white filter 92 54 Cover artwork Edit The standard cover art depicts Swift as an 19th century pioneer sleepwalking in a nightgown 12 She is seen standing alone in a misty forest covered by morning fog 93 wearing a long double breasted plaid coat over a white prairie dress 94 gazing at the height of the trees 95 On the backside cover she stands turned away from the camera wearing a slouchy flannel lined denim jacket slumped around her arms and a white lace frock with two loose braided buns low over her nape similar to American Girl doll Kirsten Larson 94 93 The album title is written in an italicized roman font reminiscent of a Chronicles of Narnia scrawl 96 97 nbsp Folklore logoIn December 2020 Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Swift about the presence of the word Woodvale on the cover of Hide and Seek edition of Folklore which some suspected to be the title of a new album after Evermore Swift denied it and said she did not reveal Folklore s title to anyone until just before its release and used Woodvale as a code name which was included in an artwork for reference but was accidentally printed in the final products 98 Aesthetic and fashion Edit Reflecting its lyrical motifs of escapism 99 Folklore sees Swift embracing a rustic 54 nature focused 92 cottagecore 94 100 aesthetic for the project moving away from the technicolor carnival of its predecessor Lover 101 The music video for Cardigan expands on cottagecore and starts with her sitting at a vintage piano in a cozy cabin in the woods The video features a moss covered forest and a waterfall producing piano On her website Swift sold replicas of the folklore cardigan she wore in the video a cream colored cable knit with silver embroidered stars on the sleeves chunky elbows and navy blue piping and buttons 94 W regarded the cardigan the piece de resistance of the aesthetic and thought the eight cover artworks of Folklore have Swift frolicking through the woods like a cottagecore queen 102 Irish Independent wrote that she became a rural tunesmith communing with the birds and the trees dressed up in a bulky Clancy Brothers style Aran sweater 103 RTE thanked Swift for putting cardigans back on the map once more 104 Noting that her album eras have been defined by their own color scheme fashion and cultural motifs Teen Vogue described Folklore as simple neutral toned wear with the cardigan helping in understanding the sentimental role clothing plays 105 Cottagecore faced resurgence on the internet after Swift used the aesthetic 106 with a sales surge of hand knitted Aran sweaters in Ireland and the US 107 Comparing it with her past albums The Guardian characterized 1989 as sleek and suave Reputation as gothic and dangerous and Lover as jovial and pastel hued whereas Folklore is the monochrome tale of a songwriter returning to folksy roots 65 Refinery29 dubbed the aesthetic as Swift s return to her truest self 94 and compared her new look to that of a classic English Rose 108 Vogue found Swift opting for a pastoral palette and drew parallels to the music video of her 2012 single Safe amp Sound 84 Beats Per Minute deemed the aesthetic reminiscent of works by painters Grant Wood Andrew Wyeth and Lionel Walden especially Wood s American Gothic 95 Vulture defined Folklore as an eerie black and white indie period horror film that pays homage to various cult classic films especially A24 horror films with its songs evoking cinematic visuals 101 The album s aesthetic has been compared to the visuals in multiple films including Ivan s Childhood 1962 Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975 The Blair Witch Project 1999 Pan s Labyrinth 2006 The Babadook 2014 The Witch 2015 The Beguiled 2017 Woodshock 2017 The Lighthouse 2019 Midsommar 2019 and Little Women 2019 101 109 94 84 Release and promotion EditFolklore was a surprise album It marked the first time Swift abandoned her traditional album rollout opting to release suddenly due to intuition she stated if you make something you love you should just put it out into the world She unveiled the album via her social media on July 23 2020 16 hours prior to its release to digital music platforms at midnight 110 Swift informed Republic Records about the new album only a few hours before its release 20 and thus it was not widely and immediately available at retail especially in its first week 111 Deluxe CDs and vinyl LPs with seven other alternate covers were sold on Swift s website exclusively 112 The standard edition In the Trees CDs of Folklore were released to retail on August 7 2020 113 while Meet Me Behind the Mall CDs were made exclusive to Target 114 The formerly physical exclusive Folklore deluxe featuring the bonus track The Lakes was released to digital platforms on August 18 2020 36 Starting on August 20 2020 a limited number of autographed Folklore CDs were delivered to various indie record shops in the US and Scotland to support small businesses in the pandemic 115 116 Swift mailed her Folklore cardigans to celebrity friends and well wishers 117 Four six song compilations of Folklore tracks were released to streaming based on the thematic cohesion between them The Escapism Chapter The Sleepless Nights Chapter The Saltbox House Chapter and The Yeah I Showed Up at Your Party Chapter were released in August September 2020 118 Swift s ninth studio album Evermore is a sequel to Folklore She dubbed them sister albums 119 Singles Edit nbsp Cardigan source source track track Cardigan is a folk ballad with Swift s vocals over stripped down piano drums a buoyant riff and escalating strings Problems playing this file See media help Cardigan serves as the lead single of Folklore 120 It was accompanied by a music video posted to YouTube directed by Swift and produced by Jil Hardin Both were released on July 24 2020 alongside the album 7 It was serviced to US pop and adult pop radio formats on July 27 121 122 The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart becoming Swift s sixth chart topper and second number one debut 123 Billboard noted a unique radio roll out for Folklore where few of its tracks were simultaneously promoted to multiple radio formats While Cardigan impacted pop and adult contemporary 124 Exile was sent to adult alternative radio on August 3 2020 which had initially peaked at number six on the Hot 100 125 123 whereas Betty was sent to country radio on August 17 126 after arriving at number six on the Hot Country Songs chart 127 The 1 was released as a promotional single in Germany on October 9 2020 128 The 1 had previously reached number four on the Hot 100 123 On July 24 2021 the first anniversary of Folklore the original orchestral version of The Lakes was also released as a promotional single 129 Film and live album Edit Main article Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions A concert documentary titled Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions was released on November 25 2020 to Disney It was directed and produced by Swift seeing her perform all the tracks of Folklore in an intimate setting at Long Pong Studio and sharing the stories behind the songs with Antonoff and Dessner 18 Alongside the film s premiere Swift s third live album Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions From the Disney Special containing the acoustic versions from the film was released to streaming platforms 130 131 Critical reception EditProfessional ratingsAggregate scoresSourceRatingAnyDecentMusic 8 5 10 132 Metacritic88 100 133 Review scoresSourceRatingAllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 134 The Daily Telegraph nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 55 Entertainment WeeklyA 86 The Guardian nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 41 The Independent nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 135 The Irish Times nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 64 NME nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 43 Pitchfork8 0 10 48 Rolling Stone nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 8 The Sydney Morning Herald nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 42 Folklore was met with widespread acclaim from music critics who praised its emotional weight and introspective songwriting 136 calling it Swift s most subdued and sophisticated body of work yet 137 At Metacritic which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications the album received an average score of 88 based on 27 reviews indicating universal acclaim 133 Folklore is widely regarded as Swift s best album 63 138 Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone lauded Swift s songwriting abilities that brought out her deepest wit compassion and empathy making Folklore her most intimate album so far 8 Also noting the album s vivid storytelling filled with imagination and imagery Pitchfork s Jillian Mapes considered Folklore a mature step in Swift s artistry while retaining her core as a celebrated songwriter 48 Mark Savage of BBC classified Folklore as an indie record dealing with nostalgia and mistakes that resonate with the times 139 Katie Moulton from Consequence appreciated Swift s maturity particularly the employment of third person perspectives that had been uncommon on her previous works 81 Complimenting the album s writing The Daily Telegraph s Neil McCormick 55 i s Sarah Carson 58 and The Sydney Morning Herald s Giselle Au Nhien Nguyen 42 gave the album full score ratings Describing Folklore as a bold attempt Hannah Mylrea of NME praised Swift s ability to evoke vivid imagery but said that the 16 song run can sometimes drag slightly 43 Several critics welcomed Swift s new musical direction Chris Willman of Variety considered Folklore to be a first rank album and its change of a musical style a serious act of sonic palette cleansing for Swift 47 Laura Snapes of The Guardian considered it to be the most cohesive and the most experimental among Swift s releases 41 Entertainment Weekly s Maura Johnston deemed the album a bold move for a pop star like Swift to challenge its audience 86 Roisin O Connor of The Independent praised the album s exquisite piano based poetry which she found unconventional for Swift s catalog 135 AllMusic s Stephen Thomas Erlewine was positive towards the album but felt its musical styles are not precisely new tricks for Swift 134 In agreement Annie Zaleski of The A V Club deemed the album not completely experimental but still a new aspect of Swift s artistry 87 In his Substack published Consumer Guide column Robert Christgau was most moved by the youth themed Seven and Betty than the more adult songs which he summarized as melodically fetching lyrically deft pop songs that are fine as far as they go He singled out The Last Great American Dynasty as the only intolerable song for how it reminds him of Taylor Swift the showbiz plutocrat 140 In a mixed review The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica praised Swift s songwriting but felt the album is burdened by desolate and overcomposed indie rock 52 Year end lists Edit A multitude of publications listed Folklore in their lists of best albums of 2020 including number one placements from Billboard 6 Los Angeles Times 141 Rolling Stone 142 Insider 143 NJ com 144 South China Morning Post 145 Uproxx 146 USA Today 147 Us Weekly 148 Variety 149 and Walla Walla Union Bulletin 150 Folklore placed third on Metacritic s ranking of the most mentioned albums in 2020 year end lists 151 Its tracks The 1 152 Cardigan 153 The Last Great American Dynasty 154 Exile 155 Mirrorball 72 Seven 156 August 157 This Is Me Trying 158 Invisible String 159 and Betty 160 were also named among the best songs of 2020 Select year end rankings of Folklore Critic Publication List Rank Ref BBC The Best Albums of 2020 3 161 Billboard Top 50 Best Albums of 2020 1 6 Entertainment Weekly The 15 Best Albums of 2020 5 162 The Guardian The 50 Best Albums of 2020 9 65 The Independent The 40 Best Albums of 2020 10 163 Los Angeles Times The 10 Best Albums of 2020 1 141 NME The 50 Best Albums of 2020 2 164 Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2020 29 66 Rolling Stone The 50 Best Albums of 2020 1 142 Time The 10 Best Albums of 2020 1 39 Commercial performance EditThe biggest first day on Spotify for a 2020 album Folklore opened with over 80 6 million global streams on the platform and earned the Guinness World Record for the most opening day streams for an album by a female artist surpassing Ariana Grande s Thank U Next 165 Cardigan placed first on global Spotify chart with 7 742 million plays the biggest first day for a song by a female artist in 2020 166 The album broke the Apple Music record for the most streamed pop album in a day 167 and the Amazon Music indie alternative record 168 Republic Records reported that Folklore sold over 1 3 million units worldwide on its first day and two million units in its first week 167 169 Swift was 2020 s second most streamed woman on Spotify after Billie Eilish 170 and the year s most streamed act on Amazon Music 171 By the end of 2020 Folklore sold 2 million pure copies globally The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named it the year s best selling album by a woman 172 and Swift the best selling solo act of 2020 173 United States Edit The album s on demand first day streams were 72 million in the US beating Thank U Next s 55 9 million 174 Folklore sold over 500 000 units including 400 000 sales in its first three days becoming the first album to do so since Swift s own Lover 175 Folklore debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and topped it for eight weeks becoming the longest reigning number one album of 2020 Opening with 846 000 units consisting of 615 000 pure sales and 289 85 million streams it marked the largest sales and streaming weeks of 2020 surpassing Juice Wrld s Legends Never Die Its first week sales alone were enough to make it the year s best selling album beating BTS Map of the Soul 7 Swift became the first woman with seven Billboard 200 number one debuts and tied Janet Jackson for the third most number ones 111 Eclipsing Eminem she was the first act in Nielsen SoundScan history to have seven albums each sell 500 000 copies or more in a week 111 and the first woman since Barbra Streisand to have six albums spend multiple weeks at number one 176 Folklore gave Swift her first entry on Alternative Albums with the biggest debut ever on the chart 177 nbsp American indie folk band Bon Iver is featured on fourth track Exile which critics picked as an album highlight It was one of the best charting songs of Folklore It was 2020 s fastest album to move a million units 178 the longest running number one album by a woman on the Billboard 200 since Reputation 179 and the first to spend its first four weeks at the top since Adele s 25 2015 180 Swift became the first 21st century act to have six albums each spend four weeks atop 181 and the first solo female artist after the Beatles to have five albums each top the chart for six weeks or more 182 183 Billboard attributed the album s success to its timing pandemic suited songs and Swift s ability to connect with listeners 184 She also surpassed Whitney Houston as the woman with the most weeks atop Billboard 200 47 weeks 185 Folklore sold a million pure copies in the US by October becoming the only 2020 album to do so and Swift s ninth project to reach the mark 186 When Evermore topped the Billboard 200 later that year Folklore rose to number three with 133 000 units making Swift the first woman ever to chart two simultaneous albums in the top three 187 All of its 16 tracks debuted simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 giving three top 10 and five top 20 entries Swift became the first act to debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 in the same week with the number one debut of Cardigan She also was the first act to debut two songs in the top four and three songs in the top six simultaneously as The 1 entered at number four and Exile at number six It increased Swift s sum of top 10 hits to 28 including 18 top 10 debuts Folklore was her second consecutive album to chart all of its tracks together on the Hot 100 after Lover 188 Swift extended her record for the most concurrent Hot 100 debuts ever among women 16 and eclipsed Nicki Minaj as the woman with the most Hot 100 entries 113 189 11 tracks charted on Hot Rock amp Alternative Songs of which a record eight entries were in the top 10 177 On the 2020 Billboard Year End charts Swift was the top female artist for the fifth time in her career 190 Swift or Folklore ranked at number one on the year end Top Album Sales Tastemaker Albums Alternative Albums Hot Rock amp Alternative Songs Artists and Billboard 200 Female Artists charts 11 tracks from Folklore landed on the year end Hot Rock amp Alternative Songs chart the most for any act or album 191 Swift ranked as US Spotify s most streamed female artist of 2020 170 and the year s most consumed artist totaling 3 5 million units including 1 3 million sales 192 The best selling album of 2020 Folklore earned 2 3 million units including 1 276 million sales 193 194 It made Swift the first act to have the best selling album of a calendar year five times following Fearless 2009 1989 Reputation and Lover 195 Folklore was the eighth best selling album of 2021 with 304 000 copies sold 196 Other markets Edit Folklore opened at number one on the Billboard Canadian Albums as Swift s seventh consecutive number one spending four weeks atop All of its 16 tracks debuted on the Canadian Hot 100 chart together with Cardigan Exile and The 1 in the top 10 197 198 Folklore landed ninth on the 2020 Top Canadian Albums year end list 191 In the UK Folklore debuted atop the Official Albums Chart with 37 000 copies beating Eminem s Music to Be Murdered By for the biggest digital sales week of 2020 It became Swift s fifth consecutive chart topper making her one of the only five women to score five number one albums in the UK after Madonna Kylie Minogue Streisand and Celine Dion and the first one to do so in the 21st century 199 200 Becoming Swift s first album to spend multiple weeks atop the chart Folklore remained at number one for three consecutive weeks 201 On the UK Singles Chart Cardigan Exile and The 1 opened at numbers six eight and 10 respectively taking the total of Swift s UK top ten entries to 16 202 and made her the first woman in UK history to concurrently debut three songs in the top 10 203 Folklore is the UK s most downloaded album of 2020 204 It further topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart 205 The album arrived at number one on the Irish Albums Chart scoring Ireland s biggest opening week of 2020 and outperforming the rest of the top five combined Swift became the first solo female act with five Irish number one albums in the 21st century Folklore stayed atop for four weeks yielding Swift s longest running Irish number one album The tracks Exile Cardigan and The 1 appeared at the third fourth and seventh spots on the Irish Singles Chart respectively taking Swift s career top tens to a total of 15 206 207 208 Folklore is 2020 s longest running number one album of Ireland and the most downloaded 209 It reached number one in Belgium 210 Czech Republic 211 Denmark 212 Estonia 213 Finland 214 Greece 215 Norway 216 Switzerland 217 218 and many other European countries In China the album sold more than 200 000 copies in its first six hours and around 740 000 copies in its first week instantly becoming the best selling and fastest selling album of 2020 by a western act 219 220 Folklore was certified Diamond by QQ Music making Swift the first western act to have four albums with Reputation 1989 and Lover reach the milestone 219 It was the platform s most streamed English language album of 2020 221 In Malaysia Folklore spawned nine top 20 songs on the RIM Singles chart with Cardigan Exile The 1 My Tears Ricochet and The Last Great American Dynasty entering the top 10 222 In Singapore 14 tracks from the album landed on the RIAS Singles chart 11 of which reached the top 20 and five in the top 10 223 Folklore was the best selling foreign album of 2020 in Japan 224 In Australia Folklore topped the ARIA Albums Chart as Swift s sixth album to do so giving her more chart toppers in the country in 2010 2020 than any other artist 225 Its 16 tracks entered the top 50 of the ARIA Singles Chart together breaking the all time record for the most debuts in one week previously held by Post Malone and Ed Sheeran Cardigan became Swift s sixth number one song while Exile The 1 The Last Great American Dynasty and My Tears Ricochet reached top 10 Swift became the act with the most Australian top ten hits of 2020 226 Folklore topped the chart for four consecutive weeks as Swift s longest running Australian number one album since 1989 the only 2020 album to top the chart for more than two weeks 227 228 and the country s best selling album by a woman in 2020 229 It topped New Zealand s Official Top 40 Albums chart as well spending two weeks atop 230 Cardigan Exile and The 1 charted in the top 10 of the New Zealand singles chart and The Last Great American Dynasty placed 13th 231 Folklore ranked at number seven on the RMNZ 2020 year end albums list 232 Awards EditFolklore and its songs received five Grammy Award nominations at the 63rd ceremony winning the Album of the Year Swift became the first woman in history to win Album of the Year thrice note 3 and the fourth artist overall tied with Frank Sinatra Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon 233 The album was also a candidate for Best Pop Vocal Album while Cardigan was nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year making Swift the most nominated female artist ever in the latter category with five nods Exile contended for Best Pop Duo Group Performance 234 235 At the 2020 American Music Awards Swift scored four nominations Artist of the Year Favorite Pop Rock Female Artist Favorite Music Video for Cardigan and Favorite Pop Rock Album for Folklore and won the first three 236 extending her record as the most awarded artist in the show s history with 32 American Music Awards 237 It also marked the third consecutive year Swift was crowned the Artist of the Year and sixth overall the first and only artist to achieve it 238 Awards and nominations for Folklore Year Organization Award Result Ref 2020 American Music Awards Favorite Pop Rock Album Nominated 236 Apple Music Awards Songwriter of the Year Folklore Won 239 ARIA Music Awards Best International Artist Folklore Nominated 240 Danish Music Awards International Album of the Year Won 241 E People s Choice Awards The Album of 2020 Nominated 242 Guinness World Records Most day one streams of an album on Spotify female Won 165 NetEase Annual Music Awards Top Western Album Won 243 Top Folk Music Album Won2021 Billboard Music Awards Top Billboard 200 Album Nominated 244 Gaffa Awards International Album of the Year Nominated 245 Grammy Awards Album of the Year Won 246 Best Pop Vocal Album NominatedJapan Gold Disc Awards Best 3 Western Albums Won 247 Juno Awards International Album of the Year Nominated 248 iHeartRadio Music Awards Best Pop Album Won 249 2022 TEC Awards Outstanding Creative Achievement Record Production Album Nominated 250 Legacy Edit nbsp Swift performing the Folklore act of her Eras Tour 2023 Folklore s release ignited widespread interest in the term folklore on the internet In response to this mainstream attention the American Folklore Society launched a website titled What is Folklore and engaged in an online campaign to educate passersby about folklore studies Folklorists were recruited to promote the academic field to the general public via social media 251 Metacritic s traffic skyrocketed by roughly half a million views upon Folklore s release The site s founder Marc Doyle stated There s nothing quite like Taylor Swift whose albums supply a great deal of traffic and user participation to the site whenever they are released 252 The album has been contextualized as a lockdown project by commentators 253 and earned a reputation as the archetypal quarantine album 254 The Guardian opined that Folklore was a respite from chaotic events 65 The Daily Telegraph called it an exquisite empathetic lockdown triumph 55 NME wrote the album will be remembered as the quintessential lockdown album that felt like the perfect accompaniment for the weird loneliness of 2020 255 164 Insider stated that Folklore would be known as lockdown s one true masterpiece 143 Rolling Stone said the album may go down in history as the definitive quarantine album for providing comfort and catharsis just when we needed it most 142 Billboard proclaimed that Folklore would be cherished as one of Swift s most influential albums 6 Uproxx noted how Folklore changed the tone of music in 2020 256 and its impact on the year s cultural landscape can t be measured 146 In a list awarding the most creative works that shaped quarantine Vulture labeled Folklore as 2020 s Best Breakdown in Musical Form for addressing topics of loneliness 257 Vogue listed the album amongst the best moments of lockdown culture 258 The Week called it the first great pandemic art for setting a high bar for future pandemic inspired projects 259 Financial Times called it the first great lockdown album 260 while Hot Press termed it the first great album of the lockdown era 261 Judging from its acclaim and commercial success critic Tom Hull concluded that Swift caught the spirit of the times with Folklore 262 Billboard named Folklore and Evermore as the best examples of innovative albums from artists who amended their creative process during the pandemic 263 and in a list titled The 25 Musical Moments That Defined the First Quarter of the 2020s called the album a commercial smash that stands as one of the quintessential quarantine full lengths 264 In 2023 The New York Times named Folklore as one of the 17 pop culture moments that define the COVID era 265 My world felt opened up creatively There was a point that I got to as a writer who only wrote very diaristic songs that I felt it was unsustainable for my future moving forward So what I felt after we put out Folklore was like oh wow people are into this too this thing that feels really good for my life and feels really good for my creativity it feels good for them too Swift on how Folklore changed her creative process moving forward Apple Music 1 266 The making of and rave reception to Folklore encouraged Swift to release Evermore Swift herself has credited Folklore for ushering a new mindset of songwriting in her repertoire which in turn influenced her subsequent releases 63 Folklore was the most popular album of 2020 on Genius 267 and Swift was the top searched act 268 She was also the world s highest paid solo musician of 2020 269 and the highest paid in the US solely due to her incomes from the 2020 albums 270 In 2023 Swift embarked on the Eras Tour which consisted of 10 acts the seventh of which is dedicated to Folklore 271 Artistic influence Edit Hayley Williams of Paramore described her second solo studio album Flowers for Vases Descansos as her Folklore 272 Phoebe Bridgers in January 2021 stated her next record could be inspired by Folklore 273 Critics noted influences of Folklore in Olivia Rodrigo s debut album Sour 2021 and its lead single Drivers License 274 275 Spanish singer songwriter Zahara released a song titled Taylor in tribute to Swift and credited Folklore for encouraging her to compose music again following months of isolation 276 Croatian singer Mia Dimsic named Folklore as an inspiration for Guilty Pleasure her song representing Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 277 278 Christina Perri and Sabrina Carpenter credited Folklore with encouraging them to be emotionally honest in their songs without worrying about external expectations 279 280 Japanese British singer songwriter Rina Sawayama cited the poetic and fictitious traits of Folklore as a source of inspiration for her second studio album Hold the Girl 2022 281 Bridgerton writer Abby McDonald stated the track Illicit Affairs inspired writing the episode An Unthinkable Fate of the series second season 282 American singer songwriter and actress Maya Hawke was inspired by Folklore s compositions for her second studio album Moss 2022 283 Following Folklore artists such as Hawke 284 Gracie Abrams 285 Ed Sheeran 286 King Princess 287 and Girl in Red 288 chose to collaborate with Dessner and record songs at his Long Pond Studio 287 The story characters and art style of Superman The Harvests of Youth an upcoming DC Comics graphic novel by Sina Grace was inspired by Folklore s aesthetic and melancholic themes 289 Track listing EditCredits are adapted from the album s liner notes and Tidal 290 291 Folklore Standard editionNo TitleWriter s Producer s Length1 The 1 Taylor SwiftAaron DessnerDessner3 302 Cardigan SwiftDessnerDessner3 593 The Last Great American Dynasty SwiftDessnerDessner3 514 Exile featuring Bon Iver SwiftWilliam BoweryJustin VernonDessnerJoe Alwyn4 455 My Tears Ricochet SwiftSwiftJack AntonoffAlwyn4 156 Mirrorball SwiftAntonoffSwiftAntonoff3 297 Seven SwiftDessnerDessner3 288 August SwiftAntonoffSwiftAntonoffAlwyn4 219 This Is Me Trying SwiftAntonoffSwiftAntonoffAlwyn3 1510 Illicit Affairs SwiftAntonoffSwiftAntonoffAlwyn3 1011 Invisible String SwiftDessnerDessner4 1212 Mad Woman SwiftDessnerDessner3 5713 Epiphany SwiftDessnerDessner4 4914 Betty SwiftBowerySwiftDessnerAntonoffAlwyn4 5415 Peace SwiftDessnerDessner3 5416 Hoax SwiftDessnerDessner3 40Total length 63 29 Folklore Deluxe edition 36 No TitleWriter s Producer s Length17 The Lakes SwiftAntonoffSwiftAntonoff3 31Total length 67 00 Notes Edit All track titles are stylized in all lowercase Personnel EditCredits are adapted from Pitchfork Tidal and the album s liner notes 17 291 290 Musicians Edit Taylor Swift lead vocals songwriting production 5 6 8 10 14 17 Aaron Dessner production 1 4 7 11 16 songwriting 1 3 7 11 13 15 16 piano 1 4 7 11 16 acoustic guitar 1 7 11 12 16 electric guitar 1 4 11 14 16 drum programming 1 4 7 11 12 Mellotron 1 2 11 13 15 OP 1 1 4 16 synth bass 1 16 percussion 2 4 7 11 12 14 bass 2 3 7 11 12 14 15 synthesizer 2 4 7 11 13 15 slide guitar 3 keyboards 3 high string guitar 14 field recording 15 drone 15 Bryce Dessner orchestration 1 4 7 11 13 Thomas Bartlett synthesizer 1 OP 1 1 a Jason Treuting percussion 1 a Yuki Numata Resnick viola 1 2 7 11 12 violin 1 2 7 11 12 Benjamin Lanz modular synth 2 Dave Nelson trombone 2 13 a James McAlister drum programming 2 11 beat programming 12 synthesizers 12 hand percussion 12 drums 12 a Clarice Jensen cello 2 7 11 13 a Rob Moose orchestration 3 16 violin 3 4 16 viola 3 4 16 a JT Bates drums 3 7 13 a Justin Vernon lead vocals 4 songwriting 4 pulse 15 a Joe Alwyn production 4 5 8 10 14 songwriting 4 14 Jack Antonoff production 5 6 8 10 14 17 songwriting 6 8 10 17 live drums 5 6 8 10 14 17 percussion 5 6 8 10 14 17 programming 5 6 8 10 17 electric guitars 5 6 8 10 14 17 keyboards 5 6 8 10 17 piano 5 17 bass 5 8 10 14 background vocals 5 6 9 10 17 acoustic guitars 6 8 14 B3 6 14 organ 9 Mellotron 14 Evan Smith saxophones 5 8 10 14 17 keyboards 5 8 10 17 programming 5 flute 8 17 electric guitar 8 10 accordion 10 background vocals 10 clarinet 14 17 bass 17 Bobby Hawk strings 5 8 9 17 Bryan Devendorf drum programming 7 a Jonathan Low synth bass 8 a Mikey Freedom Hart pedal steel 10 14 Mellotron 14 Wurlitzer 14 harpsichord 14 vibraphone 14 electric guitar 14 Kyle Resnick trumpet 13 a Josh Kaufman harmonica 14 electric guitar 14 lap steel 14 a Additional instrument recording b Kyle Resnick viola 1 2 7 11 13 violin 1 2 7 11 13 Bella Blasko modular synth 2 Lorenzo Wolff strings 5 9 Mike Williams strings 8 17 Jon Gautier strings 8 17 Benjamin Lanz trombone 13 Technical Edit Taylor Swift executive producer Jonathan Low recording 1 4 7 11 16 mixing 1 4 7 8 11 15 17 Aaron Dessner recording 1 4 7 11 16 additional recording 2 11 Laura Sisk recording 5 6 8 10 14 17 vocal recording 1 3 Swift on 4 13 15 16 Jack Antonoff recording 5 6 8 10 14 17 Bella Blasko additional recording 2 Justin Vernon vocal recording Bon Iver on 4 John Rooney assistant engineering 5 9 14 Jon Sher assistant engineering 5 9 Serban Ghenea mixing 5 6 9 10 12 14 John Hanes mix engineering 5 6 9 10 12 14 Randy Merrill mastering Design Edit Taylor Swift wardrobe styling hair and makeup packaging creative and art direction Beth Garrabrant photography 13 Management packaging design project support and coordination Republic Records project support and coordinationCharts EditWeekly Edit Chart performance for Folklore Chart 2020 2022 PeakpositionArgentine Albums CAPIF 292 1Australian Albums ARIA 293 1Austrian Albums O3 Austria 294 2Belgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 210 1Belgian Albums Ultratop Wallonia 295 3Canadian Albums Billboard 197 1Croatian International Albums HDU 296 2Czech Albums CNS IFPI 211 1Danish Albums Hitlisten 212 1Dutch Albums Album Top 100 297 2Estonian Albums Eesti Ekspress 213 1Finnish Albums Suomen virallinen lista 214 1French Albums SNEP 298 12German Albums Offizielle Top 100 299 5Greek Albums IFPI 215 1Hungarian Albums MAHASZ 300 7Icelandic Albums Tonlist 301 8Irish Albums OCC 302 1Italian Albums FIMI 303 8Japan Hot Albums Billboard Japan 304 8Japanese Albums Oricon 305 10Lithuanian Albums AGATA 306 2New Zealand Albums RMNZ 230 1Norwegian Albums VG lista 216 1Polish Albums ZPAV 307 8Portuguese Albums AFP 308 2Scottish Albums OCC 309 2Slovak Albums CNS IFPI 310 4South Korean Albums Gaon 311 27Spanish Albums PROMUSICAE 312 2Swedish Albums Sverigetopplistan 313 3Swiss Albums Schweizer Hitparade 217 1Swiss Albums Romandie 218 1UK Albums OCC 314 1UK Americana Albums OCC 315 1Uruguayan Albums CUD 316 1US Billboard 200 317 1US Top Alternative Albums Billboard 318 1US Top Rock amp Alternative Albums Billboard 319 2 Year end Edit 2020 year end chart performance for Folklore Chart 2020 PositionAustralian Albums ARIA 229 2Austrian Albums O3 Austria 320 66Belgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 321 30Canadian Albums Billboard 322 9Croatian Albums Foreign Top 40 323 34Danish Albums Hitlisten 324 36Dutch Albums Album Top 100 325 46German Albums Offizielle Top 100 326 89Irish Albums IRMA 327 7New Zealand Albums RMNZ 232 7Norwegian Albums VG lista 328 27Portuguese Albums AFP 329 53Spanish Albums PROMUSICAE 330 52Swiss Albums Schweizer Hitparade 331 70UK Albums OCC 332 12US Billboard 200 191 5US Top Alternative Albums 191 12021 year end chart performance for Folklore Chart 2021 PositionAustralian Albums ARIA 333 20Belgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 334 49Canadian Albums Billboard 335 14Danish Albums Hitlisten 336 56Dutch Albums Album Top 100 337 100Irish Albums IRMA 338 18New Zealand Albums RMNZ 339 27Portuguese Albums AFP 340 80Spanish Albums PROMUSICAE 341 70UK Albums OCC 342 38US Billboard 200 343 12US Top Alternative Albums Billboard 344 22022 year end chart performance for Folklore Chart 2022 PositionAustralian Albums ARIA 345 25Belgian Albums Ultratop Flanders 346 49Canadian Albums Billboard 347 30Danish Albums Hitlisten 348 93Dutch Albums Album Top 100 349 100New Zealand Albums RMNZ 350 30Portuguese Albums AFP 351 85Spanish Albums PROMUSICAE 352 69UK Albums OCC 353 30US Billboard 200 354 41US Top Alternative Albums Billboard 355 2Certifications EditCertifications for Folklore Region Certification Certified units salesAustralia ARIA 356 Platinum 70 000 Austria IFPI Austria 357 Gold 7 500 Belgium BEA 358 Gold 10 000 Denmark IFPI Danmark 359 Platinum 20 000 Italy FIMI 360 Gold 25 000 New Zealand RMNZ 361 3 Platinum 45 000 Norway IFPI Norway 362 Platinum 20 000 Poland ZPAV 363 Platinum 20 000 Singapore RIAS 364 Gold 5 000 Spain PROMUSICAE 365 Gold 20 000 United Kingdom BPI 366 Platinum 300 000 United States RIAA 367 2 Platinum 2 000 000 Sales figures based on certification alone Sales streaming figures based on certification alone Release history EditRelease dates and formats for Folklore Region Date Format s Edition Label Ref Various July 24 2020 Digital downloadstreaming Standard Republic 368 United Kingdom August 4 2020 CD Deluxe EMI 369 Various August 7 2020 CDcassette tapevinyl Republic 370 Japan CD Universal 371 CDDVD Special 372 See also EditCultural impact of Taylor Swift List of Billboard 200 number one albums of 2020 List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 2020s List of UK Album Downloads Chart number ones of the 2020s List of number one albums of 2020 Canada List of number one albums of 2020 Australia List of number one albums of 2020 Ireland List of number one albums from the 2020s New Zealand List of number one albums in Norway List of number one albums of 2020 Belgium List of best selling albums in ChinaFootnotes Edit a b c d e f g h i j k l This performer is also credited with recording their instrumentation Several performers are also credited with recording their own instrumentation as noted in the Musicians section The record was surpassed by Swift s own Red Taylor s Version on November 12 2021 1 and once again surpassed by her own Midnights on October 21 2022 2 Though not mentioned in the album Swift refers to the unnamed narrator of August as Augustine or Augusta 67 68 Her second studio album Fearless 2008 won the Album of the Year in 2010 followed by her fifth studio album 1989 2014 winning the award in 2016 References Edit Iasimone Ashley November 14 2021 Taylor Swift Breaks Spotify Single Day Streaming Records With Red Taylor s Version Billboard Retrieved November 14 2021 Caulfield Keith October 30 2022 Taylor Swift s Midnights Blasts in at No 1 on Billboard 200 Chart With Biggest Week for an Album in 7 Years Billboard Archived from the original on November 5 2022 Retrieved April 11 2023 a b Lipshutz Jason July 24 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore There s Nothing Quiet About This Songwriting Tour De Force Billboard Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 O Kane Caitlin July 23 2020 Taylor Swift announces surprise album recorded in isolation CBS News Archived from the original on August 2 2020 Retrieved September 3 2020 Shah Neil July 23 2020 Taylor Swift s New Album Folklore Is Making a Surprise Debut The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on September 9 2020 Retrieved September 3 2020 a b c d e The 50 Best Albums of 2020 Staff Picks Billboard December 7 2020 Retrieved December 8 2020 a b Reilly Nick July 23 2020 Taylor Swift to release surprise eighth album Folklore tonight NME Archived from the original on August 6 2020 Retrieved July 23 2020 a b c d e f g h Sheffield Rob July 24 2020 Taylor Swift Leaves Her Comfort Zones Behind on the Head Spinning Heartbreaking Folklore Rolling Stone Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 a b Cohen Jess July 24 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Album Lyrics Decoded Love Loss and a Mad Woman E Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 28 2020 Kircher Madison Malone July 24 2020 Wrap Yourself Up in Taylor Swift s Cardigan Music Video Vulture Archived from the original on July 26 2020 Retrieved July 28 2020 Cosores Philip July 27 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Burns Bright in Dark Times Uproxx Archived from the original on September 10 2020 Retrieved September 3 2020 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Suskind Alex December 9 2020 Taylor Swift broke all her rules with Folklore and gave herself a much needed escape Entertainment Weekly Retrieved December 8 2020 Warner Denise November 25 2020 11 Things We Learned From Taylor Swift s Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions Billboard Retrieved December 3 2020 a b c d e f Doyle Patrick November 13 2020 Musicians on Musicians Taylor Swift amp Paul McCartney Rolling Stone Retrieved November 13 2020 a b c It Started With Imagery Read Taylor Swift s Primer For Folklore Billboard July 24 2020 Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 25 2020 Kaufman Gil July 23 2020 Taylor Swift Folklore Collaborator Reveals How They Wrote Songs in Just Hours Billboard Archived from the original on September 10 2020 Retrieved July 23 2020 a b c d Strauss Matthew Minsker Evan July 24 2020 Taylor Swift Releases New Album Folklore Listen and Read the Full Credits Pitchfork Archived from the original on September 10 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 a b Blistein Jon November 24 2020 Taylor Swift to Release New Folklore Film The Long Pond Studio Sessions Rolling Stone Retrieved November 24 2020 Taylor Swift unveils William Bowery s identity and more revelations from Folklore concert film Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 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Jon July 24 2020 How Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift Stripped Down Her Sound on Folklore Rolling Stone Archived from the original on July 29 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 Blistein Jon July 23 2020 Hear Taylor Swift s New Album Folklore Rolling Stone Archived from the original on July 25 2020 Retrieved July 29 2020 Bailey Alyssa July 24 2020 Is Taylor Swift s Boyfriend Joe Alwyn Credited as William Bowery on Folklore Elle Retrieved October 28 2020 O Connor Roisin July 24 2020 Taylor Swift fans are trying to work out who the mysterious William Bowery is The Independent Retrieved October 28 2020 Aubrey Elizabeth November 25 2020 Taylor Swift confirms the identity of Folklore song co writer William Bowery NME Retrieved November 25 2020 Taylor Swift confirms boyfriend Joe Alwyn is mystery Folklore co writer BBC News November 25 2020 Retrieved November 26 2020 Cohen Jonathan July 23 2020 Who Is Aaron Dessner Taylor Swift s Main Collaborator on Folklore Variety Archived from the original on 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extraordinary indie folk makeover NME Archived from the original on August 28 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 Winograd Jeremy August 23 2021 Review Big Red Machine s How Long Do You Think It s Gonna Last Is a Group Effort Slant Magazine Retrieved August 25 2021 Ryan Gary March 9 2021 The best lockdown albums ranked on order of greatness NME Retrieved March 9 2021 a b Bell Kaelen July 27 2020 Despite Her Best Efforts Taylor Swift s Folklore Is Still a Pop Album Exclaim Retrieved February 21 2021 a b c d e f g h i Willman Chris July 24 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Album Review Variety Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 a b c d e f g Mapes Jillian July 27 2020 Taylor Swift Folklore Pitchfork Archived from the original on August 28 2020 Retrieved July 27 2020 a b The 60 Best Albums of 2020 PopMatters December 7 2020 Retrieved December 7 2020 a b c d e Bruner Raisa July 24 2020 Let s Break Down Taylor Swift s Tender New Album Folklore Time Archived from the 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Alex November 24 2020 Taylor Swift announces Folklore The Long Pond Studio Sessions concert film Consequence Retrieved November 24 2020 a b c d e f g h Carson Sarah July 24 2020 Taylor Swift Folklore review a dazzling timeless surprise album i Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 24 2020 a b McKenna Lyndsey July 24 2020 Stream Taylor Swift s New Album Folklore NPR Archived from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved July 25 2020 a b c Sumsion Michael July 29 2020 Taylor Swift Abandons Stadium Pop for a New Tonal Approach on Folklore PopMatters Archived from the original on July 31 2020 Retrieved August 13 2020 Campbell Caleb July 29 2020 Folklore Under The Radar Archived from the original on August 9 2020 Retrieved August 13 2020 a b Princiotti Nora July 24 2020 The Folklore FAQ The Ringer Retrieved November 7 2020 a b c Weatherby Taylor March 10 2021 Taylor Swift s Road To Folklore Grammy com Retrieved November 24 2021 a b McRedmond Finn July 24 2020 Taylor Swift 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George August 14 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore is now fastest selling album of 2020 ABC News Radio Archived from the original on November 5 2021 Retrieved November 7 2020 Caulfield Keith August 16 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Makes It a Third Week at No 1 on Billboard 200 Chart Billboard Archived from the original on August 17 2020 Retrieved August 17 2020 Caulfield Keith August 23 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Rules for Fourth Week at No 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart Billboard Archived from the original on August 24 2020 Retrieved August 23 2020 Grein Paul August 25 2020 Folklore Is Taylor Swift s Sixth Album to Top the Billboard 200 For Four Weeks Just Four Other Artists Have Done That Billboard Archived from the original on August 29 2020 Retrieved August 26 2020 Caulfield Keith August 30 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Ties for Most Weeks at No 1 in 2020 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart Billboard Archived from the original on August 31 2020 Retrieved August 31 2020 Caulfield Keith September 6 2020 Taylor Swift Ties Whitney Houston for Most Weeks at No 1 Among Women in Billboard 200 s History Billboard Archived from the original on September 6 2020 Retrieved September 6 2020 Unterberger Andrew September 11 2020 Taylor Swift s Surprise Set Folklore Had 2020 s Biggest Debut Here s How It s Still on Top Five Weeks Later Billboard Archived from the original on September 13 2020 Retrieved September 13 2020 Caulfield Keith September 27 2020 Taylor Swift Surpasses Whitney Houston for Most Weeks at No 1 Among Women in Billboard 200 s History Billboard Retrieved September 28 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore Back at No 1 on Billboard 200 Chart for Eighth Week Billboard October 25 2020 Retrieved October 26 2020 Taylor Swift s Evermore Arrives at No 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart Billboard December 20 2020 Retrieved December 20 2020 Trust Gary August 3 2020 Taylor Swift Debuts at No 1 on Hot 100 With Cardigan Is 1st Artist to Open Atop Hot 100 amp Billboard 200 in Same Week Billboard Archived from the original on August 3 2020 Retrieved August 10 2020 Trust Gary August 3 2020 Taylor Swift Charts 16 Songs From Folklore on Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Archived from the original on August 3 2020 Retrieved August 4 2020 Caulfield Keith December 3 2020 The Year in Charts 2020 Post Malone Is the Top Artist for the Second Year in a Row Billboard Retrieved December 3 2020 a b c d 2020 Year End Billboard charts Billboard Retrieved December 3 2020 Mayfield Geoff November 19 2020 Taylor Swift s Masters What Shamrock Gets for 300 Million Why It Matters and What s Next Variety Retrieved November 21 2020 Blake Emily January 5 2021 Folklore Is Officially the Biggest Album of 2020 Rolling Stone Retrieved January 6 2021 MRC Data Year End Report U S 2020 PDF Billboard pp 46 47 Retrieved January 30 2021 Caulfield Keith January 8 2021 Taylor Swift Has the Top Selling Album of the Year in U S for Historic Fifth Time Billboard Retrieved January 7 2021 Caulfield Keith January 6 2022 Dua Lipa s Levitating Is Most Streamed Song of 2021 In U S Morgan Wallen s Dangerous The Double Album Is MRC Data s Top Album Billboard Retrieved January 17 2022 a b Taylor Swift Chart History Canadian Albums Billboard Retrieved August 4 2020 Taylor Swift Canadian Hot 100 History Billboard Retrieved September 26 2021 White Jack July 31 2020 Taylor Swift s Folklore debuts at UK Albums Number 1 Official Charts Company Archived from the original on August 2 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 Sutherland Mark Inside Taylor Swift s all conquering debut week for Folklore Music Week Archived from the original on August 3 2020 Retrieved August 5 2020 Ainsley Helen August 14 2020 Taylor Swift holds for a third week at Number 1 with Folklore Official Charts Company Archived from the original on August 15 2020 Retrieved August 14 2020 Taylor Swift Set to Land Three Folklore Tracks in U K Top 10 Billboard July 27 2020 Archived from the original on July 30 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 Joel Corry amp MNEK hold on to Number 1 with Head amp Heart Official Charts Company Archived from the original on August 1 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 Official Charts Company officialcharts October 5 2020 ChartFact taylorswift13 s Folklore is the UK s most downloaded 2020 album release Tweet via Twitter Official Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40 Official Charts Company November 28 2020 Archived from the original on November 28 2020 Retrieved November 28 2020 White Jack July 31 2020 Taylor Swift breaks Irish Albums Chart record with Folklore Official Charts Company Archived from the original on August 1 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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