James is the 17-year-old boy in the summer romance described in Taylor Swift’s “august.”
The song presents a female narrator who becomes involved with James during a brief summer relationship. James is already connected to Betty, and the romance eventually ends when he returns to his former lover. This places “august” within the fictional love triangle created across three Folklore songs.
“cardigan” is associated with Betty’s perspective, while “betty” follows James’s perspective. “august” gives the third viewpoint to the girl involved with James. The three songs are linked by characters and events, but they are not a literal autobiographical account of Taylor Swift’s life.
A frequent misunderstanding is treating “Augustine” as the boy’s name. Augustine is the name Swift used privately for the female narrator; James is the male character at the center of the romance.