Taylor Swift’s new album, Folklore, has finally dropped. The 10-time Grammy winner dropped her eighth studio album at the stroke of midnight on Friday, after announcing it just hours earlier.
Folklore is an emotionally raw album that showcases Taylor Swift exploring a new soft rock/folk sound; which you can in her new single Cardigan.
Swift also released the self-directed music video for Cardigan on Friday. The video was shot in observance of COVID-19 safety guidelines; featuring a portion where the singer appears to be stranded in the middle of the ocean.
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True to Swift’s signature style, the music video for Cardigan is a magical story rife with symbolism. This time, the metaphors are about growing up, finding love, breaking up, and finding each other again.
The music video opens in a sepia tint with Swift wearing a long flowing white nightgown. She plays at her piano next to the roaring fire; while he melancholy lyrics speak of being brushed off because “when you are young they assume you know nothing.”
She is then transported by luminous gold light to two different locations. One area is a lush green forest covered in moss with a waterfall spewing from the piano; symbolizing a new love. Then the breakup happens, tossing her into stormy waters with only a piano to cling to.
The music video ends with the golden light bringing Swift back at home, where she sits next to a warm cardigan and sings, “And when I felt like I was an old cardigan/ Under someone’s bed/ You put me on and said I was your favourite.”
Watch the video below:
Swift, 30, wrote on Instagram on Thursday that she wrote and recorded Folklore “in isolation,” and added that she “poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings” into the songs.
She added that she worked on the album, which includes 16 songs and a bonus track on the deluxe edition, with some of her “musical heroes,” including Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver, and Aaron Dessner of the indie rock band The National.
There will also be eight deluxe CD editions and eight vinyl editions available for one week to honour the fact that Folklore is Swift’s eighth studio album. The album is available for streaming on all platforms, including her personal website taylorswift.com.
