James is the fictional boy involved in the summer love triangle in Taylor Swift’s “august.”
The song is told from the perspective of an unnamed girl who has a brief summer romance with James. He is already connected to Betty, and the relationship described in “august” ends when James returns to his former lover.
The story continues across three Folklore songs. “Cardigan” presents Betty’s perspective, “Betty” presents James’s perspective, and “august” presents the viewpoint of the unnamed third person. Swift created the connected narrative as fictional storytelling rather than a direct account of her own life.
A common mix-up is calling the narrator Augustine or Augusta. Swift said she imagined possible names for the character, but the song’s narrator is not explicitly named. James, by contrast, is the clearly identified male character in the linked story.