The narrator of Taylor Swift’s “august” is trying to romance James.
The song presents a fictional girl involved with James, a teenage boy who is already connected to Betty. Their brief summer romance ends when James returns to Betty, leaving the narrator to recognize that the relationship was never truly hers.
This storyline is part of Folklore’s three-song love triangle. “cardigan” presents Betty’s perspective, “betty” presents James’s perspective, and “august” presents the perspective of the unnamed girl.
The narrator is not officially named in the song. Swift said she privately imagined names such as Augusta or Augustine, but those are descriptive possibilities rather than the character’s canonical name.