Three Folklore songs form the teenage love triangle involving “august.”
The connected songs are “cardigan,” “august,” and “betty.” They tell related events from different viewpoints: Betty remembers her relationship with James, “august” presents the perspective of the girl involved in James’s summer romance, and “betty” gives James’s account. The three-track structure is one of Folklore’s best-known narrative devices.
The characters are fictional, even though the songs use emotionally realistic details. Some listeners also refer to the unnamed narrator of “august” as Augustine, a name associated with Swift’s later explanation of the story. That nickname does not change the count: the triangle is represented by three songs, not three named songs containing the word “August.”