“august” was the first song Taylor Swift wrote in the Folklore trilogy featuring “august,” “cardigan,” and “betty.”
The three songs explore one fictional love triangle from different viewpoints. “august” follows the unnamed girl involved with James during the summer; “cardigan” centers on Betty; and “betty” gives James’s perspective.
Swift wrote “august” first while developing the characters and their overlapping story. The narrator is not explicitly named in the song, unlike Betty and James. Swift said she privately referred to her as Augusta or Augustine, but those names are not stated in the lyrics.
The order of composition is different from the order many listeners encounter the songs. The tracks appear as separate Folklore songs, and the narrative is reconstructed through their lyrics and perspectives rather than presented as a conventional chronological sequence.