Taylor Swift’s “cardigan” provides Betty’s perspective in the Folklore love triangle. The story is completed by “august,” which follows the unnamed summer-romance narrator, and “betty,” which presents James’s perspective.
The three songs are connected by shared characters and events rather than by being a single continuous musical piece. They explore adolescent romance, betrayal, memory, and the different ways people interpret the same relationship.
Betty is James’s established romantic interest in the story. During the summer, James becomes involved with the unnamed narrator associated with “august,” then later returns to Betty. This structure explains why “august” feels wistful and unresolved while “cardigan” looks back on the relationship from Betty’s position.
Listeners sometimes assume that the woman in “august” is named August or Augustine. Swift described those names as possibilities in her imagination, but the character is not explicitly named in the song. Betty, by contrast, is directly identified through the title and lyrics of “cardigan.”