Taylor Swift’s Folklore songs “august,” “cardigan,” and “betty” form a love triangle.
The three songs explore the same fictional situation from different viewpoints. “august” follows the unnamed girl who has a summer romance with James. “betty” is associated with James, who reflects on his relationship and mistakes. “cardigan” presents Betty looking back on the relationship later in life.
Swift used the connected songs to experiment with character-driven storytelling. Rather than writing three straightforward autobiographical tracks, she created imagined people, timelines, and story arcs. That fictional framework is one reason the songs are often discussed as a trilogy within Folklore.
The songs are related, but they are not a formal three-part suite with consecutive titles or a single continuous recording. They are separate album tracks whose shared characters and events create the connection. “august” was the first of the three songs Swift wrote.