Now before I go deep into this album review I just want to throw out there that I am not a big Taylor Swift fan, a matter of fact before listening to “Folklore” the only Taylor Swift song I knew definitely was 2014’s upbeat pop hit, “Shake It Off” which stayed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a consecutive FIFTY weeks. Despite that admission, I think “Swifties,” as I have learned Taylor Swift fans called themselves, will enjoy this album review of “Folklore”, T-Swift’s eighth and latest studio album to enter the music waves. “Folklore” in its entirety was written during the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked to describe, Swift described it as, “wistful and full escapism” that is also, “sad, beautiful [and] tragic”, which those last three words pretty much sum up 2020 as a whole!

The entire album, on top of Swift’s description of it, also has a grandeur sound to it, a sound that builds from the beginning of each song and explodes into a royal yet controlled open-air chorus that one cannot help but start to sing along with. Songs like “The 1”, “The last great American dynasty”, “Exile” (my personal favorite on the album), “This is me trying”, “Mad woman” and “Epiphany” really build on this grandeur chorus vibe.

In addition to this, Swift gives amazing storytelling through her album too through the irresistible charm of her voice. Nowhere on “Folklore” is this more apparent than during the song “The last great American dynasty”, where Swift gives an oral history of Rebekah Harness, the founder of the Rebekah Harkness Foundation and the previous owner of a mansion in Rhode Island that Swift bought in 2013 that was known as the Holiday House. Another great song, “Illicit affairs”, tackles infidelity and the high it brings one or both parties involved along with the inevitable sorrow it brings in the end. Another song that does this well is “Invisible string” where Swift with the help of a string guitar chorus expresses gratitude for past romantic relationships and their ending eventually bringing her to her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn.

Indie-folk player Bov Iver appears on the album as the sole featured artist on the majestic song, “Exile” which as stated before follows the slow-building grandeur approach that many of the songs on “Folklore” take and develop on their own.

Overall “Folklore” is a fantastic album and in a time where many tumultuous events are taking place in this country and the world its refreshing to here a timid yet fierce sounding voice in that of Taylor Swift that helps to reassure us during these most unexpected and most uncertain of times. As Taylor Swift described “Folklore” herself, it is indeed a product and sound of wistful escapism.

Christians Album SCORE: 5/5

Christians’ Top 3 songs:

1. “Exile (feat. Bon Iver)”
2. “This is me trying”
3. “The last great American dynasty”