Exactly one year since the release of “The Archer,” Taylor Swift announced she had a surprise album, “folklore,” dropping at midnight (7/24). As many others did, I stayed up until it was out and stayed up listening to the whole thing and even listened to a few on repeat until I just had to sleep.
With the timing of the release falling exactly on the anniversary of one of the hardest blogs I ever wrote as well as things going on in my life currently, I knew that this album would be exactly what I needed right now. What I did not expect was for some of the songs to hit me so hard that all I could do was cry as I felt seen by a complete stranger. Which brings me to the reason for the blog: her writing. I've always said that Taylor is a fantastic writer. Whether you're a fan of her music or not, you can't deny the girl's got some mad skills when it comes to lyrics. The way she's able to show you a glimpse into her life, her mind, and her absolute raw emotions in the short time span of a song is something that should be appreciated by all. I know that I definitely do, especially as a writer. According to her social media posts, “folklore” was an album created in isolation thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. As the world locked down, she poured her time (heart, soul) into writing. In the classic Prologue to the album, which she posted on her social media last night, she states “It started with imagery. Visuals that popped into my mind and piqued my curiosity.” A process that is all too familiar to writers. Later, she states, “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.” That statement tells us that a good portion of this album is likely fiction with truth laced throughout. Ask any writer (myself included), that's how we work. That hasn't stopped the Internet from going absolutely wild wondering about what parts may be true, though, and what that truth could mean. Which, if you read the whole Prologue, is kinda her point. “A tale that becomes folklore is one that is passed down and whispered around...The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible.” Gah! I love it. Every detail she creates is done so purposefully. She absolutely left us guessing on purpose. Now let's talk about the fact that she wrote this all during quarantine. That in itself is a huge feat. It's easy to say that she had the time, so why not? I can't speak for her, but I do know that I, and many other writers I know, have had a very hard time delving into anything creative or fiction in a reality that feels too much like fiction. We are living in a very difficult time, and simply being forced into having the physical time to do something doesn't mean our brains are able. Somehow, Taylor was able to sit down and create entire worlds (possibly to escape the real one). She (probably not-so) simply decided she wanted to write and wrote. As a writer who has struggled to write during a pandemic, it's downright impressive! So here we are, almost 12 hours since the album released. Personally, I've listened through a couple of times and plan to continue doing so today. And with each playback, I'm sure I'll find a new detail that will cause me to compare to other songs she could be referencing, while also finding my own circumstances in her lyrics. And that's what's so magical about her writing: we can sit all day, write ourselves into the lyrics and wonder how she could possibly know intimate details of our lives, and we can theorize about her own life, but at the end of the day, this album could simple be what it states: folklore. She is a storyteller, and she wears the title well.
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AuthorHello! I'm Lindsey. I'm a writer with a ton of random thoughts bouncing around in my head. So I share them here in hopes that they reach others with these thoughts. Archives
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