Taylor Swift wrote “august” first among the three Folklore songs about the fictional James-Betty love triangle.
The connected trio consists of “august,” “Cardigan,” and “Betty.” Each song presents a different angle on the same imagined relationship: “Cardigan” is associated with Betty, “Betty” gives James’s perspective, and “august” follows the unnamed girl involved with James during the summer.
Swift created the songs as fictional narratives for Folklore rather than direct autobiographical confession. The “august” character is not given a formal name in the song, although Swift said she privately thought of her as Augustine or Augusta.
The writing order is easy to confuse with the album’s track order or the songs’ release prominence. “Cardigan” was the lead single, but “august” was the first of the three triangle songs Swift wrote.