Three Folklore songs make up Taylor Swift’s James-Betty-August love triangle.
The songs are “Cardigan,” “august,” and “Betty.” Each presents part of the fictional story from a different perspective: Betty is associated with “Cardigan,” the unnamed summer-romance narrator with “august,” and James with “Betty.” Together, the songs show how the same adolescent relationship can look different depending on who is telling it.
“august” was the first of the three songs Swift wrote. Its narrator is not given a canonical name in the lyrics; Swift said she imagined names such as Augusta or Augustine privately. James is the 17-year-old boy at the center of the summer romance, while Betty is his former lover.
A common mistake is to describe the three tracks as a single continuous song or to assume the “August” narrator is officially named Augustine. The trilogy consists of three separate album tracks, and the narrator’s name remains unstated. The number three refers to the songs forming the narrative, not to the characters.