Taylor Swift’s song “august” appears on her eighth studio album, Folklore.
Folklore was surprise-released on July 24, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Swift presented it as a more indie-folk, alternative, and introspective project than many of her earlier pop-focused albums. “august” is one of the album’s fictional story songs, built around a summer romance that does not last.
The track became especially associated with the calendar month of August because its lyrics describe summer memories slipping away. Each year, social-media users revive the song in late-summer videos, often pairing it with photographs or short clips from their own August experiences.
A common mix-up is confusing “august” with “cardigan” or “betty,” the other songs linked to Folklore’s fictional teenage love triangle. All three belong to the same album, but “august” is the song most directly named for the month.