James is the teenage boy at the center of Taylor Swift’s song “august.” The song describes a brief summer romance between James and the unnamed female narrator, who becomes emotionally invested even though James is already connected to Betty.
The story is part of a three-song narrative on Folklore. “august” presents the summer fling from the other girl’s perspective, “Betty” follows James’s viewpoint, and “Cardigan” centers on Betty.
A common mix-up is treating “August” as the narrator’s confirmed name. Swift said she imagined the character as Augusta or Augustine, but the song never names her directly. James, by contrast, is explicitly identified in the connected narrative.