Folklore

***folklore*** is the eighth studio album from American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. This surprise album saw a massive shift in tone and genre from 2019's ***Lover***.

## Tracklist

1. the 1
2. cardigan
3. the last great american dynasty
4. exile (feat. Bon Iver)
5. my tears ricochet
6. mirrorball
7. seven
8. august
9. this is me trying
10. illicit affairs
11. invisible string
12. mad woman
13. epiphany
14. betty
15. peace
16. hoax
17. the lakes (bonus track)

## Awards

***folklore*** won Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

## Trivia

* Taylor Swift's long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn used the pseudonym "William Bowery" for his credits on the album.

## Commentary

* "folklore :: working with taylor is a full connection to all of the wonder of making music. knowing her and making work with her gives me faith in the ability for people to grow. to actual grow. it has been a one of the most deeply important personal and creative relationships in my life. thank god i met you at that bizarre show in germany all those years ago. i adore you and i adore this album. thank you for listening and believing in what i was doing before i had produced a single record. damn taylor. there is a protective layer on the process with her that lets in zero cynicism. zero. songs are sacred and the way they sound have to hold the writing in the right home forever. finding that with her is magic. running forward on every album is magic. thank you for not letting up. feels almost a shock that this all was even real. sending tracks back and forth. laura recording taylor’s vocals in another room in CA - me patched in from NY. maybe it was conditions that we had to make it under but i’ve never heard taylor sing better in my life / write better. all of it. recorded these songs in just a few takes. most of them full takes and not comped. sending her tracks for august and mirrorball and hearing what she would send back are moments that are mind blowing to me thinking back to the first time we did this on out of the woods — the feeling is the same, heaven. 4 together at this point. jesus taylor. can’t believe i got to type that. love you thank you to the best living engineer @sharp\_stick , @aarondessner who has been inspiring me long before i’ve gotten to know him, @esmith109 for sax, flutes and clarinet. gorgeous. @mikeyfreedomhart for pedal steel, harmonica and key work. again, gorgeous. @heyjonlow and serban for the mixes. randy for perfect master. folklore forever ps august forever :) @taylorswift forever" -Jack Antonoff, via Instagram
* “I was surprised at the level of it. I thought it was beautiful. I loved the work she was doing with Aaron [Dessner], I loved the work she and I were doing. I thought it would speak to her people. I didn’t know it would become what it did. It was just her sort of like pulling it back, like, ‘Let’s try some shit.’ And that’s the algorithm I focus on, the one in my head where it’s like, ‘If you make things you really love, you find your people for it.’ That’s my experience of Bleachers. I’m not trying to get everyone on Earth. Are there 10,000 in every city, or is there a million in every city? I don’t know. That’s this whole thing, at its highest: Find your people. Otherwise you could be really, really big and no one could give a fuck. Remember how big fun. was? You’re not asking me about that. At the end of the day, it came and went because the conversation wasn’t long enough to build into something that stayed with you.” — Jack Antonoff to *Rolling Stone* on *folklore*’s success

## References

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CDB0Gz3pIeY/
2. ↑ Rolling Stone https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jack-antonoff-bleachers-album-taylor-swift-lorde-bruce-springsteen-lana-del-rey-1183389/