In Taylor Swift’s “august,” the narrator yearns for a boy named James.
The song is one part of a fictional love triangle on Folklore. James is involved with Betty, but he also has a brief summer romance with the unnamed female narrator of “august.” When summer ends, James returns to Betty, leaving the narrator with an unfulfilled relationship.
“cardigan” is presented from Betty’s perspective, while “betty” is told from James’s perspective. Listening to the three songs together reveals overlapping versions of the same teenage-romance story rather than three unrelated tracks.
The narrator is sometimes called Augustine or Augusta by fans and in commentary, but Swift did not give her a name in the lyrics. James is the clearly named boy at the center of the song’s romantic storyline.