Folklore (Taylor Swift album)

In April 2020, Swift was scheduled to embark on Lover Fest, her fifth concert tour in support of her seventh studio album Lover (2019), but the tour dates were cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[4] On July 23, 2020, nine photos were uploaded to Swift's Instagram account, all without captions, forming an 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 will 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.[5] The Wall Street Journal opined that the surprise announcement "caught fans and the music business off-guard".[6] Billboard stated that the news "blindsided the pop music world", and saved listeners from their tedious lockdown lives.[7] Folklore was released eleven months after Lover—the fastest turnaround for a Swift studio album, 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 debut at the same time as the album's release.[8]

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".[9] 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",[10] described "Cardigan" as a song that explores "lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently in our memories,"[11] and pointed-out the self-written track, "My Tears Ricochet", as the first song she wrote for the album.[10] 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".[12]

Swift did not expect to create an album in early 2020.[13] After the cancellation of Lover Fest,[4] the singer quarantined herself, during which she watched numerous films, such as Rear Window (1954), L.A. Confidential (1997), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Jane Eyre (2011), Marriage Story (2019),[13] and The Last Dance (2020),[14] 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.[15] The fictions inspired Swift to venture beyond her usual autobiographical style of songwriting, and experiment with different narrative standpoints.[13] In isolation during the lockdown, she let her imagination "run wild", ensuing in a set of imageries and "visuals that popped into [her] mind and piqued [her] curiosity", which consequently became Folklore.[16]

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 how she developed Folklore, Billboard[16]

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".[16] Swift "poured all of [her] whims, dreams, fears, and musings" into the songs, and reached out to her "musical heroes" to collaborate with.[17] 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".[15]

Swift drifted towards a direction of escapism and romanticism in terms of her songwriting,[15] and enlisted two producers to achieve her desired sound—her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff, who previously worked with her on 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), and Lover (2019), and first-time collaborator Aaron Dessner, guitarist of the American indie rock band the National.[18] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift, Antonoff and Dessner quarantined remotely, separate from each other, and created Folklore by continually exchanging digital files of instrumentals and vocals.[19] The album is a product of a do-it-yourself process,[20] mixed and engineered by personnel scattered across the US.[7]

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

Swift had previously met the National on an episode of Saturday Night Live in 2014, and she attended one of their concerts in 2019, where she talked to Dessner and his twin brother Bryce.[21] She enquired Dessner about his songwriting technique, because it's her "favorite thing to ask people who I'm a fan of", and Dessner replied that his band members live in different parts of the world, and that he would make instrumental tracks and send them to lead singer, Matt Berninger, who would write the lyrics—this ignited Swift's idea to create music during quarantine.[15]

After all recording studios were closed due to the pandemic, Swift built a home studio in her Los Angeles residence, named Kitty Committee studio, with help from engineer Laura Sisk.[13] Antonoff, with whom Swift collaborated on five songs from the album, worked from New York City while Sisk recorded Swift's vocals from Los Angeles. "My Tears Ricochet" was the first song written for the Folklore. Swift wrote it about her ties with Scott Borchetta, founder of her old record label, coming to an abrupt end.[13] Antonoff compared the writing process of "Mirrorball" and "August" to that of "Out of the Woods" from 1989; he sent tracks to Swift, who returned them with completed lyrics.[22] Swift wrote "Mirrorball" following the cancellation of Lover Fest, her fifth concert tour, as an ode to her fans finding solace in her music and concerts.[23] She wrote "August" about a fictitious mistress, and "This Is Me Trying" based on different narratives, such as dealing with addiction and everyday struggles, and her own mental health in 2016 to 2017 when she felt she was "worth absolutely nothing".[13]

In late April, Swift approached Dessner to co-write some songs remotely. He worked on eleven of the album's sixteen tracks with her over the next several months, while she wrote the remaining songs with Antonoff, William Bowery, and Justin Vernon.[24] Dessner remarked he "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 pleasantly 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".[25] Swift and Dessner "were pretty much in touch daily for three or four months by text and phone calls".[21] He would mail her folders of instrumentals, and she would write the "entire top line"—melody and lyrics—for a song, and "he wouldn't know what the song would be about, what it was going to be called, where I was going to put the chorus".[15] The first song Swift and Dessner wrote was "Cardigan", which was based on one of Dessner's sketches called "Maple".[25] "Cardigan" was followed by "Seven", then "Peace".[26] Upon hearing the instrumentals of "Peace", Swift felt an "immediate sense of serenity" that roused the feeling of being peaceful, but thought it would be "too on-the-nose" to sing about finding peace. Thus, she wrote lyrics about complex "conflicted" feelings in contrast to the calming sound of the track,[13] and recorded it in one vocal take.[21]

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[27]

After a few weeks, when Swift and Dessner had written "six or seven" songs, Swift explained her concept of Folklore to Dessner.[26] She also told Dessner about ideas she had earlier worked on with Antonoff, adding she thinks both bodies of work fit well together for an album.[25] Other songs Swift and Dessner wrote include "The Last Great American Dynasty", "Mad Woman", and "Epiphany". For "The Last Great American Dynasty", Dessner arranged an array of electric guitars inspired by Radiohead's surprise album In Rainbows (2007), which Swift wrote the lyrics to while Dessner was out for a run.[25] The lyrics were inspired by American socialite Rebekah Harkness, whom Swift had been wanting to write about ever since she bought the Holiday House in 2013.[13] Dessner composed the piano melody for "Mad Woman" with his earlier work on "Cardigan" and "Seven" in mind.[26] On "Epiphany", Dessner slowed down and reversed the sounds of different instruments to create a "giant stack of harmony", and added piano for a "cinematic" sound.[25] Swift wrote "Epiphany" based on the experiences of her veteran grandfather and healthcare workers during the pandemic.[13]

The last two songs Swift wrote for the album were "The 1" and "Hoax", the first and last songs on the album respectively. They were both written with Dessner, with Swift writing both in the span of a few hours.[25] Speaking about his collaboration with Swift, 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."[28]

Swift wrote two songs with Bowery, "Exile" and "Betty". Swift developed "Exile" as a duet, and Dessner recorded a draft of her singing both the male and females parts.[26] 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 experimental indie folk rock band Big Red Machine along with Dessner.[21] Dessner sent the song to Vernon, who liked the song, added his own lyrics and sang his part.[25] "Betty" is the only song on the album worked on by both Dessner and Antonoff; Swift used Bob Dylan's 1963 album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, as a reference point,[26] while also drawing from Dylan's 1967 album, John Wesley Harding.[25] Bowery appeared to have no online presence and was assumed to be a pseudonym,[29][30] which mainstream media, commentators and fans conjectured to be that of Swift's boyfriend, English actor Joe Alwyn.[31][32] Swift later confirmed that Bowery was indeed an alias for Alwyn,[33] and that he wrote the chorus in "Betty", and the piano composition and first verse of "Exile".[34]

In a November 2020 Rolling Stone interview with Paul McCartney, Swift stated that she also began using words in the lyrics of Folklore that she always wanted to use, not worrying about whether it would suit radio. She made use of "bigger, flowerier, prettier words" such as "epiphany", "elegies" and "divorcée", just because they "sound beautiful". The singer disclosed that she maintains lists of such words, and recalled using one such—"kaleidoscope"—in her 2014 song "Welcome to New York".[15] In a December 2020 interview for Entertainment Weekly, Swift stated that she wrote the lyrics, melodies, and production on Folklore the way she wanted them, without subjecting herself to external parameters.[13]

I always thought, "Well, that'll never track on pop radio", but when I was making this record, I thought, "What tracks? Nothing makes sense anymore. If there's chaos everywhere, why don't I just use the damn word I want to use in the song?"

— Swift on using her favorite vocabulary in Folklore, Rolling Stone[15]

Folklore was written and recorded in secrecy. The only people aware of the album were Swift, her boyfriend, family, management team, Antonoff and Dessner; Swift did not disclose the news or play the album to her friends like she did with her previous projects.[13] Near the end of the Folklore's recording process, Dessner reached out to regular collaborators, including the National bandmates, to provide instrumentation remotely.[26] Dessner's brother Bryce wrote orchestration for several songs, while the National's drummer Bryan Devendorf performed the drum programming on "Seven".[18] Dessner kept Swift's involvement confidential from his collaborators and family until Swift's announcement.[21][35] While filming the music video for "Cardigan", Swift wore an earpiece and lip-synced to the song as a safeguard against the song leaking out.[36] According to Dessner, Swift's label was not aware of the album until "hours" before its launch.[21]

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[37]

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. American indie-folk band Bon Iver is featured on "Exile", the fourth track. Folklore was written and produced by Swift, Dessner, and Antonoff, with additional writing credits to Joe Alwyn (under the pseudonym William Bowery) on "Exile" and "Betty", and Justin Vernon, the lead vocalist of Bon Iver, on "Exile".[18][38] It is Swift's first album to carry an explicit content label.[39]

Songs

Rebekah Harkness is the muse behind the third track "The Last Great American Dynasty".

The opening track, "The 1", is a soft rock tune[66] driven by a bouncy[47] arrangement of trickling piano, minimal percussion, and electronic accents. Written in the perspective of Swift's friend, "The 1" describes their new-found positive approach to life and past love, wishing they could have been soulmates.[42][25] The slow-burning "Cardigan" is a folk[67] and soft rock[68] ballad driven by a moody, stripped-down instrumentals[69] of clopping drums and tender piano;[70] Swift sings from the perspective of a fictional character named Betty,[54] who recalls the separation and enduring optimism of a relationship with a boy named James.[65] She mentions Peter Pan and High Line in the song, and uses cardigan as a simile for the persisting physicality of the relationship.[71]

"The Last Great American Dynasty" is an alternative indie pop tune with classical instruments like slide guitar, viola, violins, drums and glitchy production elements.[42][72] The satirical song tells the story of American socialite Rebekah Harkness, the founder of Harkness Ballet, when she resided in Swift's Rhode Island mansion—the Holiday House. 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. Swift compares Harkness to herself, drawing parallels between the harsh criticism Harkness received to that of which Swift received throughout her career.[73][74] The soaring "Exile" is a sentimental,[75][76] gospel-flavored,[56] indie folk[77] duet with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, fusing Swift's honeyed vocals with Vernon's growling baritone,[78] serving as an unspoken, argumentative conversation between two former lovers.[77] It begins with a plodding piano and advances into a climax of chorused vocals, dramatic strings, synths[79] and posh harmonies.[80] It has drawn comparisons to Swift's 2013 single "The Last Time".[77]

Sung from the perspective of a deceased lover's ghost, "My Tears Ricochet" is an icy arena-goth song[81] that reflects on the tensions following the end of a marital relationship,[13] using funereal imagery—a metaphor for Scott Borchetta and his sale of the masters of Swift's older catalogue.[65][13] It encompasses a twinkling music box, backing choir, reverbed ad-libs in the bridge, and reaches a tumultuous climax over shuddering drums.[42][82] "Mirrorball" is a folk-tinged, jangle-pop[83] and dream pop[46] song with swirling vocals, pedal steel,[84] snowy tambourine,[57] and twanging guitars,[81] creating a nervous dance-floor sensibility.[9] The song portrays Swift as a disco ball, pertaining to its reflective quality, vowing to the listeners to reveal every facet of themselves. It inspects Swift's ability to entertain people with her music, by sacrificing her vulnerability and sensitivity.[75][65] The song is also interpreted as a romantic declaration.[42]

In "Seven", the nostalgic seventh track,[75] Swift uses her upper register[82] in an innocent tone,[47] reminiscing an abused friend from her childhood in Pennsylvania,[85] whom she cannot fully remember but still has fond memories of, over a resonant production set to flurrying strings and piano.[47] The escapist song sees her hinting at her friend's queerness and urges them to run away with her to India.[71][65] "August" is a gloomy pop rock and dream pop song[48] 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";[54] the boy is revealed to be James, later in the album.[65] The song is a summer anthem,[86] seeing 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.[48][65]

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

The ninth track, "This is Me Trying", is a drowsy orchestral pop song[81] that documents accountability and regret of an alcoholic narrator who admits feeling inadequate.[65] The production slowly grows into a dramatic setting with Swift's ghostly reverb-drenched vocals.[47][75] Over a hushed[81] acoustic arrangement of finger-plucked strings and soft horns,[48] "Illicit Affairs" unfolds infidelity[84] and highlights the measures the disloyal protagonist has to carry out to keep the affair a secret.[75] "Invisible String" is an airy[87] folk song[88] that gives a glimpse into Swift's current love with English actor Joe Alwyn, recounting the "invisible" connection between them that they weren't aware of until they met, alluding to an Asian folk myth called Red thread of fate.[65] It is built around thumping vocal backbeats, an acoustic riff,[88][65] a distinct songwriting style of using passive voice to create narrative remove,[51] and references Swift's past hits "Bad Blood" (2015), "Delicate" (2017) and "Daylight" (2019).[65]

With snark and sarcastic remarks at sexism,[76][84] "Mad Woman" tackles the taboo linked with female anger,[65] acting as Folklore's moment of vituperation.[43] Metaphorizing Swift's dispute with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun,[13] the song describes a deviant widow getting revenge, with references to witch hunts[74] throwing back to Swift's 2017 deep-cut "I Did Something Bad". "Mad Woman" is a tense sequel to "The Last Great American Dynasty", and is noted as a scathing version of "The Man" (2019). "Epiphany" is an ambient,[46] ethereal hymn[84] that depicts the devastation of COVID-19 pandemic, paying homage to the healthcare workers. Swift dubs doctors and nurses as soldiers on beaches,[54] comparing them to her military veteran grandfather, Dean, who fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal (1942) in World War II; she empathizes with their trauma of seeing death and having to reconcile with that to continue serving the affected.[65] Her vocals are notably reverent and angelic in the song, carried by a glacial piano,[89] howling brass[82] and orchestrals.[74]

The fourteenth track, "Betty", is a country and folk rock song knitted in harmonica.[42][84] It is the tale of the relationship narrated in "Cardigan", but in the perspective of the cheating boyfriend James,[54] who had a summer fling with the female narrator of "August".[84] James apologizes for his past mistakes but does not fully own up to them, citing his agoraphobia and Betty's roving eye as excuses.[74] Its characters—Betty, James, and Inez—are named after the daughters of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively.[90] The R&B-inclining "Peace" spotlights Swift's soulful and jazzy voice, using a complex vocal melody[81][25] over a pulse juxtaposed with three lushly harmonized basslines,[76][26] complemented by minimal synths and a light piano drizzle.[56] "Peace" is a prayer-like ode[81] that dissects the effects of Swift's hectic superstardom on her relationship and warns the subject of the challenges that come with them being a part of her life.[86][75]

"Hoax", the standard closing track, is a slow piano ballad with emotionally raw lyrics that detail a flawed but lasting relationship,[74][25] ending the album on a despondent note of sadness.[91] The deluxe bonus track, "The Lakes", is a string-laden midtempo song[91] that introspects on Swift's semi-retirement in Windermere, the largest lake in England, situated in its Lake District;[9] the location is also mentioned in "Invisible String".[65] Fantasizing a red rose growing out of tundra "with no one around to tweet it", Swift imagines a social media-free utopia,[43] with references to depression, Wisteria flowers, and William Wordsworth, the 19th-century poet known for his Romantic writings.[91]

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.

— "Meet the photographer behind Taylor Swift's folklore artwork", i-D[92]

The album art, packaging, and lyrics videos of Folklore were created in a do-it-yourself method.[13] Swift collaborated with photographer Beth Garrabrant for the artworks, without involving 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". Swift styled herself for Folklore's shoot, including her hair, makeup and wardrobe, and sent a moodboard to Garrabrant prior to the shoot. In Swift's words, the photoshoot was just her and Garrabrant wandering fields.[13] The photographs are characterized by a grayscale, black and white filter.[93][51]

Cover artwork

The standard cover art is a depiction of Swift's imagined idea of an 18th-century pioneer sleepwalking through a forest in a nightgown.[13] In the cover, Swift is standing alone in a misty forest with a morning fog in the distance,[94][95] wearing a long, double-breasted plaid coat over a white prairie dress,[96] gazing "in awe" at the height of a trees-meadow.[97] 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 towards her nape, similar to the American Girl doll Kirsten Larson.[96][94] The album title is written in an italicized roman font reminiscent of a Chronicles of Narnia scrawl, complementary to the album's folksy atmosphere.[98][99]

The Folklore logo

In a December 14, 2020 interview, Jimmy Kimmel asked Swift about the presence of the word "Woodvale" on the cover artwork of the "Hide And Seek" edition of Folklore, which some suspected to be the title of a new album after Evermore; Swift denied the claim and stated that she did not reveal Folklore's title to anyone until just before its release, instead used "Woodvale" as a code name. She added that the name was included in an artwork as a reference, but was accidentally printed in the final products.[100]

Folklore marked the first time Swift strayed away from her traditional extended album rollout, instead opting to release the album suddenly because of her intuition; she stated that her gut feeling told her "if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world". Swift first announced the album on her social media, 16 hours prior to its release.[112] It was released to all digital music platforms at midnight on July 24, 2020; limited-edition deluxe CDs and vinyls featuring eight different alternate cover artworks, only available during the first-week, were sold on Swift's website exclusively.[2] The "In the Trees" (stylized in all lowercase) edition CDs of Folklore were released to retail in its third-week, on August 7, 2020,[113][114] while "Meet Me Behind the Mall" (stylized in all lowercase) CDs were made exclusively available at Target.[3] The formerly physical-exclusive Folklore deluxe edition, featuring the bonus track "The Lakes", was released to digital and streaming platforms on August 18, 2020.[38]

Beginning on August 20, 2020, a limited number of autographed Folklore CDs were delivered to a multitude of independently owned record stores across the US and Scotland to support small businesses during the pandemic.[115][116] Swift mailed replicas of her "folklore cardigan" to celebrity friends and well-wishers.[117] She released four six-song compilations of Folklore tracks on streaming platforms, explaining "the songs on Folklore fit together in different groups and 'chapters' based on how they fit together thematically". The Escapism Chapter, The Sleepless Nights Chapter, The Saltbox House Chapter and The Yeah I Showed Up at Your Party Chapter (all stylized in all lowercase) were released on August 21, August 24, August 27, and September 21, 2020, respectively.[118]

Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore, is a sequel to Folklore. They were marketed as sister projects, with Evermore being a surprise album announced hours before release, in the same fashion as its predecessor.[119]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.5/10[132]
Metacritic	88/100[133]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[134]
Chicago Tribune	[135]
The Daily Telegraph	[52]
Entertainment Weekly	A[85]
The Guardian	[47]
The Independent	[136]
NME	[42]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[44]
Rolling Stone	[50]
The Sydney Morning Herald	[48]

Folklore received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its emotional weight and introspective songwriting,[137] dubbing it as Swift's most subdued and sophisticated body of work yet.[138] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received an average score of 88 based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[133] Folklore is widely regarded as a pioneering album of 2020,[139] and is the best-reviewed album of Swift's career.[140]

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.[50] Also noting the vivid, well-crafted storytelling filled with imagination and American imagery, Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes considered the album a mature step in Swift's artistry while retaining her core as a celebrated songwriter.[44] Mark Savage of BBC classified Folklore as an indie record dealing with nostalgia and mistakes "that chimes perfectly with the times".[141] Katie Moulton from Consequence of Sound appreciated Swift's lyrical maturity on the album, particularly the employment of third-person perspectives that had been uncommon on her previous releases.[83] Others who were impressed with the album's lyricism include The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick,[52] i's Sarah Carson,[54] and The Sydney Morning Herald's Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen,[48] all of whom gave the album full score ratings. Describing the album as a bold attempt, Hannah Mylrea of NME praised Swift's ability to evoke vivid imagery with her songwriting, but found the 16-song run to be sluggish in places,[42] and listed it amongst the best autumnal records of all time.[142]

Several reviewers welcomed Swift's new musical direction. In the words of Chris Willman from Variety, the album is a reminder Swift is among the few pop stars who are willing to experiment with different musical styles.[43] The Guardian's Laura Snapes complimented the album for being both the most cohesive and the most experimental among Swift's releases.[47] Entertainment Weekly's Maura Johnston deemed the album a bold move for a pop star like Swift to challenge its audience.[85] Roisin O'Connor of The Independent praised the album's "exquisite, piano-based poetry" which she found unconventional for Swift's catalog.[136]

Some reviewers were more reserved in their praise. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine was overall positive towards the album but felt the new musical styles of the album not "precisely new tricks" for Swift.[134] Sharing the same viewpoint, Annie Zaleski from The A.V. Club deemed the album not completely experimental, but still showcased a new aspect of Swift's artistry.[89] In a mixed review, The New York Times critic Jon Caramanica praised Swift's songwriting but felt the songs occasionally end up burdened with formulaic, clichéd indie pop that turned out to be "frail and unversatile".[143] In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau was most impressed and touched by youth-themed "Seven" and "Betty" than the more adult songs, which he summarized as "yet another bunch of melodically fetching, lyrically deft pop songs that are fine as far as they go". Despite being "striking", he singled out "The Last Great American Dynasty" as the only intolerable song for how it reminds him "all too much of Taylor Swift the showbiz plutocrat".[144]

At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Folklore and its tracks received five nominations: The album is nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, marking her fourth nomination in both categories. The lead single, "Cardigan", is nominated for Song of the Year, making Swift the most nominated female artist in the category's history with five nominations. "Cardigan" is also nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance, while "Exile" is nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Antonoff received a nomination for Producer of the Year, for his work on Folklore tracks "Mirrorball", "August" and "This Is Me Trying".[258][259]

At 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,[260] extending her record as the most awarded artist in the show's history with 32 American Music Awards.[261] 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.[262] At the BreakTudo Awards 2020, Folklore was nominated for Album of the Year, while Swift was nominated for International Female Artist.[263][264] She scored three nominations at the 46th People's Choice Awards, including the Album of 2020 with Folklore, and the Female Artist of 2020.[265]

Folklore amassed over 80.6 million global streams on Spotify within its first day of release, earning the Guinness World Record for the most opening-day streams for an album by a female artist, breaking the previous record held by Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next,[266] and the biggest opening day for an album in 2020. It claimed eight of the top 10 spots of the global Spotify chart; "Cardigan" placed first with 7.742 million streams, marking the biggest opening day for any song by a female artist in 2020.[272] The album also broke the Apple Music record for the most-streamed pop album within 24 hours with 35.47 million streams, occupying the top eight positions on the platform's chart,[273] and the Amazon Music indie/alternative streaming record both in the US and worldwide.[274]

Republic Records reported that Folklore sold around 1.3 million units worldwide on its opening day[275][276] and over two million units in its first week.[277] Rolling Stone highlighted how the album attracted more streams than Lover despite having less tracks than the latter, and noted that Folklore's streams are "far more evenly spread" amidst its tracks unlike other 2020 albums.[278] In December 2020, Spotify listed Swift as the year's second most-streamed woman on the platform, behind Billie Eilish.[279] Swift was 2020's top streamed act on Amazon Music across all genres.[280]

United States

On-demand first-day streams for Folklore was 72 million in the US, a record surpassing Thank U, Next (55.9 million).[278] The album sold more than 500,000 units—including 400,000 sales—in its first three days of release alone, becoming the first album since Swift's own Lover (2019) to move half a million units in a week.[281] 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 on-demand streams, it marked the largest sales week and streaming figures of 2020 (surpassing Juice Wrld's Legends Never Die) and the largest since Lover. Folklore's first-week sales alone were enough to make it the year's best-selling album, surpassing BTS' Map of the Soul: 7. Swift became the first woman to have seven albums debut at number one on Billboard 200, and tied Janet Jackson for the third-most chart-topping albums.[282] 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,[282] and the first woman since Barbra Streisand to have six albums spend multiple weeks at number one.[283] The album earned Swift her first entry on the Alternative Albums chart, topping it and marking the biggest debut in its history.[284]

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.

Folklore became 2020's fastest album to move a million units.[285] It became the longest-running number-one album by a woman on Billboard 200 since her own Reputation,[286] and the first to spend its first four weeks atop Billboard 200 since Adele's 25 (2015);[287] Swift became the first act in 21st-century to have six albums each spend four weeks atop the chart.[288] She also became the first solo/female artist (after The Beatles) to have five albums each top the chart for six weeks or more.[289][290] Billboard attributed the album's long reign at number-one to its timing, pandemic-suited songs and Swift's ability to connect with listeners.[291] The album made Swift surpass Whitney Houston as the woman with the most weeks atop Billboard 200 ever (47 weeks).[292] By October 2020, Folklore surpassed one million pure copies sold in the US, becoming the only 2020 album to do so and Swift's ninth project to reach the mark.[293] When Evermore topped the Billboard 200, Folklore rose to number three with 133,000 units, making Swift the first act to have two albums each move 100,000 units in the same week since Prince in 2016,[294] and the first woman ever to chart two albums simultaneously in the top-three.[295]

All of its 16 tracks debuted simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100, giving three top-10, five top-20, and 10 top-40 hits. The lead single "Cardigan" debuted atop the chart, becoming Swift's sixth number-one single, making her the first act to debut atop both Billboard 200 and Hot 100 in the same week. 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 simultaneously on the Hot 100, following Lover.[296] Swift became the woman with the most simultaneous Hot 100 debuts ever (16 debuts), breaking her own record set by Lover, and surpassed Nicki Minaj as the woman with the most Hot 100 entries, with a total of 113.[297] 11 of the tracks charted on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, setting the record for most top-10 entries by an artist, with eight.[284]

On the 2020 Billboard Year-End charts, Swift was the top female artist of the year, for the fifth time in her career. She was the only woman inside the top-10 of the year-end Billboard 200 albums list.[298] Swift or Folklore further 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 artist or album.[299] Swift ranked as US Spotify's most streamed female artist of 2020,[279] and was the year's most consumed artist, totaling 3.5 million units (including 1.3 million sales).[300] The best-selling album of 2020 in the U.S., Folklore earned 2.3 million units consisting of 1.276 million pure sales.[301][302] The album made Swift the first act to have the best-selling album of a calendar year for five times, following Fearless (2009), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017) and Lover (2019).[303]

Folklore was contextualized as a lockdown project upon release,[332] and earned a reputation as the archetypal quarantine album.[333] The Guardian opined that Folklore was a respite from chaotic events, converting dark emotions into something beautiful.[62] The Daily Telegraph called it "an exquisite, empathetic lockdown triumph".[52] NME wrote the album will be remembered as "the quintessential lockdown album" that "felt like the perfect accompaniment for the weird loneliness" of 2020.[334][213] Echoing similar sentiments, Insider stated that Folklore would be known as "lockdown's one true masterpiece".[193] Rolling Stone predicted that the album may go down in history as "the definitive quarantine album" for providing comfort and catharsis "just when we needed it most".[228]

Billboard proclaimed that it would be cherished as one of Swift's most influential albums for transcending the unprecedented times and freeing listeners from a monotonous, socially distant life.[7] Uproxx noted how Folklore changed the tone of music in 2020,[335] and added that its impact on the year's cultural landscape "can't be measured".[245] Clash credited Swift with softening the tragic start of 2020s, by using a "wintery album released smack in the middle of summer" that "forces us to slow down and take stock of where we are now in love and life".[336] In a list awarding the most creative works that shaped quarantine, Vulture labeled Folklore as 2020's "Best Breakdown in Musical Form": An album that speaks to loneliness, rich with "the kinds of thoughts we try to keep to ourselves".[337] Vogue also listed the album amongst the best moments of lockdown culture.[338]

The Week called it "the first great pandemic art" for being the first prominent body of work from popular culture, with Swift setting high standards for future pandemic projects.[339] In agreement, Financial Times called Folklore "the first great lockdown album",[340] while Hot Press termed it "the first great album of the lockdown era".[189] Judging from its acclaim and commercial success, Tom Hull concluded that Swift "caught the spirit of the times" with Folklore's "long, pleasant, intricate songs".[341] Billboard named Folklore and Evermore as the best examples of innovative albums from artists who were compelled to amend their creative process during the pandemic, and highlighted Swift's unconventional approach in creating Folklore.[342] Yahoo! wrote Swift became the voice of 2020 by touching "the core of a cultural crisis" with two albums that embody the sensation of a historic pandemic, and pondered whether "we will be able to listen to Folklore and Evermore without being reminded of 2020".[139]

According to SEMrush, 50% of 2020's top trending albums were released after the mid-March lockdowns, and Folklore was one of the year's three most googled albums, garnering 1.2 million monthly searches after its release in July.[343] Folklore was the most popular album of 2020 on Genius.[344] Swift was also 2020's top searched artist on the platform, with her lyrics amassing 31 million total views.[345] In January 2021, Hayley Williams of Paramore released her second studio album, Flowers for Vases / Descansos, which she described as her Folklore.[346] Phoebe Bridgers suggested that her next record could be inspired by the album.[347] Critics noted influences of Folklore in Olivia Rodrigo's debut single "Drivers License".[348][349]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[350]

Credits are adapted from Pitchfork[18] and the album's liner notes.[350]

• List of 2020 albums
• 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 China