Three Folklore songs form the fictional love-triangle storyline involving Taylor Swift’s “August.” The connected tracks are “August,” “Cardigan,” and “Betty.”
Each song presents a different character’s perspective or stage of the story. “August” follows the unnamed girl involved in a summer romance with James. “Betty” is narrated by James as he tries to apologize after cheating. “Cardigan” presents Betty’s perspective on the relationship and its aftermath.
The songs are linked by recurring names, events, and emotional details, but they are not arranged as a continuous three-track sequence on the standard album. That is why listeners sometimes encounter the storyline in a different order from the order in which the characters’ experiences occurred.
Swift described the album’s characters and story arcs as fictional. The trio is often called Folklore’s teenage love triangle, and it became one of the album’s most discussed examples of interconnected songwriting.