This is a more digestible portion of my album analysis:
This is a more digestible portion of my album analysis:
Here, I have tried to analyze what and who each track of Folklore is about. Which is complex because it’s not in a linear order. Names are obscured. Facts may be reality or story. The narrator is unreliable. And this whole thing is going to be from a Kaylor perspective, because that’s how the songs, and Taylor Swifts catalog as a whole makes the best sense to me. I’ll show you what I mean.
16. Hoax.
This song is difficult for me to listen to. It’s just so bleak. And I can’t believe Swift ended this album on such a hopeless note (and no final voice memo or anything). Maybe The Lakes will be lighter–I haven’t received my merch yet.
“My only one” The first song, The One told us Taylor was looking back at her choices. now she says the subject of this last song is “my ONLY one”. I think even more than being about 1 person this song is the bookend that shows bittersweet of what her life DID turn out as after all these choices, endings, breakups… This is the conclusion to the album.
“Smoking gun” is the clue that unlocks a mystery. When Taylor is with Karlie, it’s impossible NOT to see their love. And they got caught kissing. Karlie outs Taylor because their love is evident.
“My eclipsed Sun.” The sun again symbolizes Karlie, but also Daylight where Taylor can come out and be openly queer. Taylor is saying that she is still in shade, because she’s afraid to come out of the closet. And also Karlie is eclipsed under the shadow of the fake Kushner marriage, and is also partially in the shadows since Kaylor has a hidden, closeted relationship.
“Your faithless loves the only hoax I believe in.” Faithless, because Karlie is cheating on her “husband”. “Your sleight of hand” is Karlie acting like her marriage to a man is real–when it isn’t.
“My best laid plan” is Taylor’s Lover era where she was going to come out. But circumstances prevented it.
She’s also telling that her situation is bittersweet because to be authentic to herself, Taylor has some hard choices that she must follow through with.
“Don’t want no other shade of blue but you, no other sadness in the world would do.” Taylor, despite all the sadness and complication of all the bearding and closeting and being gay. She would choose Karlie because it’s authentic and true, but it has taken a toll.
Such a bummer. And really lends credence to the Kaylor breakup theories. The only thing that tells me they’re still together are Karlie’s spoiler/promo pics 13 days prior to the secret album release. She HAD to know, know. We’ll see what follows in real life.
+++Addition+++
I finally got The Lakes, and as such needed to add my analysis to the main post. And you really can’t without discussing Hoax too. They’re companion songs, yin and yang, can’t have one without the other.
Hoax: I’m glad Taylor released an additional song, because I think this one is too negative and depressing to end an album. It is melancholy and Taylor sounds a little defeated in it. She basically says she’s sad, but nothing else will work, she is going to live with the sadness because her heart is taken with this person. It’s a little bit, ‘victim of domestic abuse’ a mentality. “This has frozen my ground”–pay attention, this becomes important later. The piano and strings are beautiful, but the lyrics are just so dreary. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good song–I just wish Taylor was happy, and the subject was not hurting her.
The Lakes: The first sounds remind me of when a movie shows a record player. A litter antiquated and slightly degraded. I think this song is chock full of poetry references, but let me be honest–that is not where my interests lie, so I didn’t take the time to do a true analysis. The musical backing sounds much more optimistic than the prior couple of songs on the album (Peace and Hoax). And Taylor makes sure to indicate she wants to leave her life for this dreamscape–but not without her muse. “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen grounds…” is a good symbol for the barren loneliness and horribleness that Taylor’s relationship with her lover grew out of. Things were bad and cold and icy, but from that stemmed (pun!) a beautiful red flower (glitch rose, Klossy?).
Since it follows the depression of hoax, it shows Taylor has come through all of that negativity, that’s not where the story ends (a break up and toxicity) afterall. It’s a more optimistic closer–thank goodness. Also, Taylor is known to start the next album from the last song of the previous so this gives the listener a hint maybe the next album will be from some English chateaux where Taylor is holed up with her lover, doing what she does best–writing.
