NYS Music 202​0

Tag: Folklore

  • Taylor Swift drops Second Surprise Album of 2020, “Evermore”

    Taylor Swift took to Twitter to announce her second surprise album of 2020. Out at midnight on December 11th, Evermore is the successor to Folklore. While the album’s contents are a mystery so far, it seems to have a similar aesthetic to Folklore, with continued collaboration with The National and Bon Iver. The video for “Willow,” Evermore’s opening track and lead single, drops at midnight alongside the album.

    Swift continued her announcement, saying, “To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.” ‘We’ refers to Aaron Dessner, frontman of The National, and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, both of whom co-wrote and produced the songs on Folklore.

    Evermore is Swift’s ninth studio album, and the first to seemingly retain the spirit of its predecessor. Up until now, her album releases have been very distinct “eras”: Reputation was her dark and dramatic album, Lover was pastel and political, and Folklore was cottagecore. Swift has never stuck with an album’s main themes or imagery for too long, which makes Evermore unique even if it came out less than five months after Folklore.

    Evermore

    Swift isn’t done with Folklore just yet—she released Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions on November 25, a concert film for Disney+. Filmed in the Hudson Valley, it was the first time she performed the album’s songs face-to-face with Dessner and Antonoff. Folklore garnered Grammys five nominations including Album of the Year and Song of the Year for “Cardigan,” breaking a short snub period. While the awards aren’t until January 31, 2021, Evermore won’t be eligible until next year.

  • Taylor Swift Spills “Cardigan” Secrets, Releases Bonus Track “The Lakes”

    Sure to delight English teachers everywhere, Taylor Swift has released a literary analysis of her “Cardigan” music video. A Vevo Footnotes exclusive, the singer long known for her hidden Easter eggs revealed them all at once. She also shared how she prevented the song from leaking, a rare feat for a pop star of her stature.

    The video begins in a dark cottage, with Swift sitting at a piano containing a C. S. Lewis-style magical woodland inside. Two pictures are hanging on the cottage walls, both of which she explained to Vevo Footnotes. The man in the photograph on the left is her grandfather, Dean, who landed on the beaches at the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. Later on in the album, Taylor tells his story on “Epiphany.” As for the painting of a white house on the right, Swift worked on it herself in the first week of quarantine. Also, the clock’s hands point to 1 and 3, representing her famed lucky number, 13.

    Taylor Swift Cardigan

    Swift wrote and directed the video herself, playing the song solely through an earpiece so the crew wouldn’t be able to hear it during filming. Highly discreet about the entire project, she didn’t add the “folklore” logo to the central piano’s fallboard until release day via special effects.

    Taylor Swift Cardigan

    Speaking on the album as a whole, Taylor said, “I view Folklore as wistful and full of escapism. Sad, beautiful, tragic. Like a photo album full of imagery, and all the stories behind that imagery.” Of course, “Sad, Beautiful, Tragic” is also a song from her 2012 album Red.

    In addition to spilling the secrets of “Cardigan,” Taylor released a lyric video for Folklore’s bonus track, “The Lakes.” The song references Romantic poet William Wordsworth, and partially grapples with being a public figure in the social media age. The themes and lyrics mirror those explored in her 2017 Reputation album, except softer and less embittered.

    “Cardigan” is the first single off of Swift’s eighth studio album Folklore. Both the single and album debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts to critical acclaim, with praise citing their lyricism, atmosphere, and mature direction. Folklore, including “The Lakes,” is now available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.

  • Taylor Swift Announces Surprise New Album “Folklore”

    Taylor Swift announced her new album, Folklore, to be released at midnight on July 24. This comes as a surprise to virtually everyone: no one, including her fanbase (the Swifties) who are known for their outlandish conspiracy theories, expected the move, and nothing leaked ahead of time. Folklore is arriving less than a year after Taylor Swift’s last album Lover, breaking her schedule of releasing an album every two to three years.

    Although her last three efforts have been fully pop, Folklore appears to be taking a more acoustic direction. Whereas Lover’s color scheme was pastel pink and blue with fantastical Wonka-esque music videos, all of Folklore’s visuals are black-and-white. The album’s only featured artist is Bon Iver on the song “Exile,” and Aaron Dessner of The National co-wrote 11 out of 16 songs.

    Taylor Swift previously explored a stripped-back folk sound on “Safe and Sound,” her single with The Civil Wars for the first Hunger Games soundtrack in 2012, as well as on her album Red released later that year. Fans have begged for a Stevie Nicks or Joni Mitchell-inspired album for years, and they may have finally gotten their wish. While not a New York native, Taylor Swift moved to the city before the release of 1989 in 2014. That album’s opening song was “Welcome To New York,” and she revisited the city on Lover’s “Cornelia Street” and “Daylight.”

    While Folklore hasn’t had an accompanying lead single announcement, Taylor Swift is releasing a music video for the song “Cardigan” alongside the album. There are eight collectible CD and vinyl covers in total, reminiscent of the four different diaries she released alongside Lover last year.

    Taylor Swifts’s last six albums, including Red and 1989, all debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. This time around, she’s facing competition from longtime rival Kanye West, who’s also releasing an album this week called Donda: With Child. Folklore has already sold 250,000 copies in China, and time will tell if she continues her #1 streak in the U.S.

    For more information visit Taylor Swift’s website.