In Taylor Swift’s “august,” the boy who returns to Betty is named James.
James is one point in the fictional love triangle connecting three Folklore songs: “cardigan,” “august” and “betty.” “august” presents the unnamed girl’s perspective during a summer romance, while “betty” is narrated by James and “cardigan” centers on Betty.
The characters are not presented as direct autobiographical portraits. Swift described Folklore as an album built around stories and characters, allowing her to explore emotions through imagined situations rather than literal diary entries.
Listeners sometimes refer to the unnamed narrator as August, but August is the month in the song’s title, not the girl’s confirmed name. The song never gives her a personal name, while James and Betty are explicitly named elsewhere in the connected narrative.