Taylor Swift’s “august” appears on her eighth studio album, Folklore.
Folklore marked a major change in Swift’s discography. Rather than building its identity around autobiographical pop, the album explored fictional characters, imagined settings, and interconnected stories. “august” is part of that narrative approach and presents the perspective of a girl involved in a short-lived summer romance.
The album followed Lover and preceded Evermore. Swift released both Folklore and Evermore in 2020, making the year unusually productive despite the disruption caused by the pandemic. Folklore was released first, on July 24, 2020.
A common mix-up is treating “august” as a standalone summer single. It was an album track, and its later seasonal resurgence came from listener behavior rather than from an original single campaign. Its growing association with August has nevertheless made it one of the most prominent songs from Folklore.