As school begins, the air turns crisp, the leaves start to change, and some Taylor Swift albums perfectly set the mood for fall. Three albums I think capture this feeling flawlessly are Red, Folklore, and Evermore.
Some songs on Red have arguably the best story-telling for the fall time. Red has many songs, Such as “All Too Well 10 Minute Version,” “I Bet You Think About Me,” “The Very First Night,” and more that reflect on past relationships and the nostalgic, bittersweet, and sentimental feelings of fall. Swift uses vivid imagery and figurative language with lyrics like, “I walked through the door with you/ The air was cold/ But something about it felt like home somehow” and “Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place/And I can picture it after all these days.” These lyrics allow you to almost see and feel the fall air. Both of these lyrics are from the impressive song, “All Too Well 10 Minute Version,” which essentially walks you through an entire story within the span of 10 minutes.
The second album that Swift released that truly feels like fall is Folklore. This album is unique compared to others because it was her first time creating her own full, elaborate stories using only her imagination, not real experiences. The “Folklore Love Triangle” is represented by the three songs “Cardigan,” “August,” and “Betty,” and tells an intricate story. “Cardigan” is from the made up character Betty’s perspective, “August” from Augustine’s perspective, and “Betty” from James’ perspective. To put it briefly, in this story James is originally with Betty, but cheats on her with Augustine during the summer. There is also a lot of imagery within the lyrics of this story line, as well as various parallels between the different songs. These three songs show the transition into fall after summer love.
There are also many other songs on Folklore that capture the essence of fall. For anyone who struggles with going back to school, overwhelmed by the work and constant feeling to be better, “Mirrorball,” and “this is me trying” truly represent those feelings, with lyrics like “I’m still a believer but I don’t know why/ I’ve never been a natural/ All I do is try, try, try” and, “I’ve been having a hard time adjusting/I had the shiniest wheels, now they’re rusting”… “I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere/Fell behind all my classmates, and I ended up here” (“this is me trying”). Overall, Folklore highlights some sad and uncertain aspects of this transitional time of year.
Lastly, Evermore continues the journey of mixed emotions in this season. I personally feel like this is the saddest album out of the three because it focuses on heavier themes like grief, betrayal, and overall melancholy. However, many of them show the process of moving forward and growing through sad events. As the other albums did, this one also provides strong imagery that gives off the essence of fall. It’s important to note that this album was released mid-pandemic, which was an extremely strange time for everybody, giving it a somewhat ominous vibe. The song “Right where you left me” discusses the state of feeling stuck in time after a difficult event,and not being able to move forward. “Evermore” (feat. Bon Iver) describes feeling lost and regretful of past choices. However, the overall lesson is that the bad things will pass, with the ending being one of hope. All of the songs in this album show their own essence of fall and have a similar mood. The last example I will share comes from the song “Happiness.” I believe this song represents the theme of “nothing will last forever” the best out of any song ever. A repetitive lyric in this song is “There’ll be happiness after you/ But there was happiness because of you.” This song perfectly describes what it’s like moving past someone or something and gaining strength from it. Just like dead leaves fall off trees every year, there is always a spring of growth sure to follow. These specific songs, and the rest on the album, align with the same feelings and themes of fall time.
To sum it up, these three albums truly encapsulate fall through story-telling, nostalgia, imagery and lyrics with extremely powerful lessons. I believe Swift’s best “poetry”-like lyrics and metaphors are in these albums. Each individual album provides unique aspects and emotions on this season, but a playlist with the combination of all three is my personal favorite for this strange, transitional time of year.
