“Cardigan” gives Betty’s viewpoint in the Folklore love triangle connected to Taylor Swift’s “August.”
The three-song story also includes “Betty,” which is told from James’s perspective, and “August,” which follows the unnamed girl involved in a brief summer romance with him. The songs are fictional rather than a straightforward account of Swift’s real-life relationships.
In the narrative, James dates or becomes involved with the unnamed “August” narrator while still connected to Betty. The summer relationship ends, and James later reconciles with Betty. This structure lets the album revisit the same emotional situation from different viewpoints.
Listeners sometimes identify “Betty” as Betty’s song because its title uses her name. In the story’s perspective framework, however, “Cardigan” is associated with Betty, while “Betty” is James’s song.