“Cardigan” completes the love-triangle trio with Taylor Swift’s “August” and “Betty.”
The three songs appear on Folklore and present different viewpoints on a fictional teenage relationship. “August” follows the unnamed girl involved in a summer romance with James, “Betty” presents James’s perspective, and “Cardigan” presents Betty’s perspective.
The linked storytelling was unusual in Swift’s catalog because the songs are not merely thematically similar; they share characters and events. The arrangement lets listeners reconstruct the same relationship from three emotional angles.
“Willow” is a frequent wrong answer because Swift performed it with “Cardigan” and “August” at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. However, “Willow” belongs to Evermore and is not one of the three Folklore love-triangle songs.