Jack Antonoff sent Taylor Swift the instrumental for “august” before she wrote its lyrics.
Antonoff and Swift had already worked together on earlier albums, including 1989, Reputation, and Lover. During the creation of Folklore, Antonoff produced the instrumental for “august” first and sent it to Swift. She then wrote the lyrics quickly and described the process as intuitive, building a fictional summer-romance scene around the music.
The song’s production includes reverberant vocals, guitars, keyboards, strings, and a swelling orchestral ending. It is often described through genres such as dream pop, guitar pop, and soft rock. Aaron Dessner also worked extensively on Folklore, which can cause confusion because he co-wrote and produced many of the album’s other songs.
Joe Alwyn is another important Folklore collaborator: he received co-producer recognition on some tracks under the name William Bowery. However, the instrumental-to-lyric origin story for “august” specifically identifies Antonoff as the collaborator who sent Swift the initial music.