James is the teenage boy involved in the summer romance in Taylor Swift’s “august.” The song is narrated by a young woman who becomes involved with James, even though he is already connected to Betty.
The song is part of a three-track narrative on Folklore. “august” presents the unnamed woman’s perspective, “cardigan” is associated with Betty, and “betty” gives James’s perspective. Together, the songs explore the same fictional love triangle from different angles.
James is described as 17 in the song’s narrative. He eventually abandons the summer relationship and reconciles with Betty, leaving the narrator to remember a romance that was meaningful to her but never truly hers.
A common mix-up is calling the narrator Augustine or Augusta. Swift said those were names she imagined for the character, but the boy in the story is explicitly James. The distinction matters because the song’s narrator and her love interest occupy different roles.