“August” was the first of Taylor Swift’s three Folklore love-triangle songs to be written.
The connected group consists of “august,” “cardigan,” and “betty.” Together, the songs present different perspectives on a fictional triangle involving Betty, James, and an unnamed young woman associated with August. Swift wrote “august” first, then developed the other viewpoints within the same imaginative world.
The songs are not presented as three chronological chapters from one narrator. “Cardigan” is associated with Betty, “betty” with James, and “august” with the unnamed girl’s experience of a brief summer romance. Their connections come from recurring characters and details rather than a single straightforward narration.
Swift created these stories as fictional narratives during the making of Folklore. Fans sometimes call the unnamed character Augustine or Augusta, but those labels are not the song’s official title. The official track remains styled simply as lowercase “august.”