Taylor Swift released Folklore, the album containing “august,” on July 24, 2020.
The release was a surprise launch during the COVID-19 pandemic. Swift announced the album on social media shortly before its arrival, departing from the long promotional campaigns associated with several earlier albums. Republic Records issued Folklore digitally and physically.
“august” became especially associated with its calendar month because the song describes a temporary summer romance and returns to popularity around August each year. That seasonal listening pattern is a recurring trend, not the song’s original release date.
A common mix-up is confusing the album’s release with the later documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, which premiered in November 2020. The album itself arrived months earlier, in the middle of summer, despite its autumnal and woodland aesthetic.