James is Betty’s former lover in Taylor Swift’s “august” storyline.
The three connected Folklore songs follow a fictional teenage love triangle. “august” is told from the perspective of the girl who has a summer romance with James, while James is already involved in a relationship with Betty.
The storyline continues across “cardigan” and “betty.” “cardigan” is associated with Betty’s perspective, and “betty” is associated with James’s perspective. The songs do not present the events in exactly the same emotional way, which is part of the album’s storytelling design.
James is therefore not the narrator of “august.” The narrator is the unnamed summer-romance character, often referred to as Augustine or Augusta in discussions of the song.