In Taylor Swift’s “august,” the narrator becomes involved with a boy named James during a summer romance.
James is one point of the fictional love triangle running through three Folklore songs. “august” presents the story from the perspective of the unnamed girl who falls for him. “Cardigan” follows Betty’s perspective, while “Betty” gives James’s perspective and his attempt to address the aftermath.
James is already connected to Betty, so the summer relationship in “august” is temporary and uncertain. When summer ends, James returns to Betty, leaving the narrator to understand that the relationship was never truly hers to keep.
Listeners sometimes call the narrator Augustine or Augusta, but Swift said she did not give the character a definitive name. Those names are interpretations or names Swift imagined privately, not the character’s established name in the lyrics. James, however, is explicitly named in the broader Folklore storyline.