Which two Taylor Swift songs join “august” in Folklore’s love-triangle story?

Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan” and “Betty” join “august” in Folklore’s love-triangle story.

The three songs explore the same fictional situation from different viewpoints. “august” follows the unnamed girl involved in a summer romance with James. “Betty” is written from James’s perspective as he reflects on his actions, while “Cardigan” centers on Betty and her relationship with him.

Swift developed the trilogy as part of Folklore’s fictional world. The songs are not presented as a literal account of one confirmed event in Swift’s life. Instead, they use imagined characters and overlapping details to show how the same relationship can be remembered differently by the people involved.

Listeners sometimes substitute “willow” for one of the trilogy’s songs because Swift performed “willow” in the same Grammy medley as “Cardigan” and “august.” However, “willow” belongs to Evermore and is not part of the Folklore love triangle. The trilogy’s correct three-song set is “Cardigan,” “august,” and “Betty.”