James is the boy at the center of the story in Taylor Swift’s “august.”
The song presents a fictional summer romance from the perspective of an unnamed girl who falls for James. He is already connected to Betty, so the narrator’s relationship with him is temporary and ultimately unrequited.
James is not introduced only in “august.” He appears across Folklore’s three-song teenage love triangle, which also includes “cardigan” and “betty.” Each song shifts perspective and time, allowing the same emotional conflict to be seen by the unnamed narrator, Betty, and James.
Listeners sometimes assume the narrator herself is named August. Swift has said she imagined names such as Augusta or Augustine for the character, but the song does not give her an official name. James, however, is explicitly identified in the wider Folklore story.