Taylor Swift wrote “August” first among the three connected Folklore songs “August,” “Cardigan,” and “Betty.” The songwriting order is separate from the order in which the songs appear on the album or the order of events in the fictional story.
Swift developed the three songs around a shared love triangle involving James, Betty, and the unnamed girl in “August.” Although “Cardigan” is track two and “Betty” is track fourteen on the standard album, “August” was the first of the trio that she wrote.
The song’s initial concept came from an imagined late-summer scene and an undefined relationship. Its narrator hopes a brief romance might become meaningful, even though James is already connected to Betty.
Listeners sometimes infer chronology from the album’s track listing, but the record does not present the trilogy in writing order. “August” being written first is a behind-the-scenes fact about the creative process, not a claim that its narrator is the first character chronologically in every interpretation.