6. folklore / Taylor Swift

Everything has been said and written about Taylor Swift’s surprise “indie” album folklore, a wistful and nostalgic late-summer record showcasing the strongest songwriting of her career.  Ten of the tracks were co-written by The National’s brilliant multi-instrumentalist Aaron Dessner, who shares stately piano/guitar arrangements alongside Swift’s sharp storytelling.  Longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff ably lends his meta-pop instincts to the other six tracks.  Justin Vernon shows up for a brilliant duet.  It is all grand and escapist and deeply magical.  The record was written and recorded remotely and only recently did everyone meet up to play the songs live from Dessner’s upstate New York recording studio.

The best moments, for me, are the lyrical climaxes in each song, where Swift’s narratives arrive at their emotional payoffs with perfect refrains: see “the last great american dynasty (“I had a marvelous time ruining everything!”); “exile” (“I gave so many signs”); “mirrorball” (“I’m still trying everything to keep you looking at me”); “august” (“For the hope of it all”); “this is me trying” (“At least I’m trying”); and “invisible string” (“All along there was some invisible string tying you to me”).  It's been a long time since our culture shared a musical moment together; folklore had tweens, college students, and dads in minivans across the country singing these same moments together.

In the years ahead, folklore will unsurprisingly top lists of Swift’s best albums.  It will also be remembered for being the record of 2020, when we needed something safe to run off with during the August of our unease, something reassuring and recognizable, which is what Swift is and was, daring us to dream for just a bit longer.