7 Times I Cried While Listening To Folklore

Let's be honest, I was crying the whole time. (This is for the editorial fellowship)

1. cardigan: "Cause I knew everything when I was young"

Taylor Swift / Via instagram.com

First thing's first: the fact that Taylor put out a music video that she WROTE/DIRECTED to this song the SAME NIGHT it was released gave me wings and sent me straight to the gods.

Something I noticed was that everyone was really hit by the line "when you are young they assume you know nothing" but the one that really got me was "cause I knew everything when I was young" because it shows that the speaker (Betty) knew more about what was happening around her than people realized.

HOWEVER, it did not make me cry until I listened to "betty" which will be explained later.

2. exile: "We always walked a very thin line"

Taylor Swift / Via instagram.com

"Haunted" (2010) vibes, anyone? The entirety of "exile" is so sad I want to stand in the rain for three years and cry about it but this line reminded me so much of Taylor's "Haunted" from Speak Now, which just made me sad and nostalgic at the same time.

The line from "Haunted" goes "You and I walk a fragile line, I have known it all this time but I never thought I'd live to see it break." Both of these lines hint at the fact that relationships can be delicate and the line from "exile" shows that the relationship in question has always been a bit fragile.

3. seven: "I hit my peak at seven"

Taylor Swift / Via instagram.com

Okay so for some this can be a deceiving line. In the first verse of "seven," Taylor describes a scene from her childhood where she is swinging over a creek in Pennsylvania (where she grew up). When she says "I hit my peak at seven," it kind of has a double meaning because while it could refer to the height she swings to over the creek, it is more likely referring to the fact that as a child she was carefree and she was never that confident or innocent again. Which, okay- tears.

4. august: "And then canceled my plans just in case you'd call? Back when I was livin' for the hope of it all, for the hope of it all"

Beth Garrabrant / Via instagram.com

"august" is the song that describes the summer romance between the "other girl" and James before everything went south. The fallout is heartbreaking because the song describes this girl who would drop everything for this person that she was seeing, James (whose gender is not confirmed), only to be dropped by them as soon as the summer was over. She's not even saying that she would cancel her plans if James called and wanted to get together, no, she was PREEMPTIVELY cancelling her plans just in case James called!! This girl was HOOKED which made the end of their summer romance that much sadder.

5. this is me trying: "And it's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound. It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you"

Taylor Swift / Via instagram.com

This song touches on a few aspects of mental health and I think that this line gets me because Taylor is trying to show how difficult it is to have to pretend to be happy when really she's hurting inside. A lot of people struggle to deal with issues like these on a daily basis so I think that Taylor mentioning this is just another reason that her songs are so relatable. And of course, the second sentence just adds a touch of love/heartbreak to an already sad line.

6. illicit affairs: "You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else"

Beth Garrabrant / Via instagram.com

So, while this line in itself is not visibly sad, it does make you think about how when a relationship ends, the "secret language" that you and your partner had just dies. You can't speak that language with anyone else because only the two of you have all of the memories, inside jokes, or funny anecdotes from your time spent together. No one else will every understand how that felt and so when the relationship ends, the language is lost.

7. betty: "would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing? I'm only seventeen, I don't know anything"

Taylor Swift / Via instagram.com

HERE IT IS. Here is what ties everything together for me and this line is the reason that I cry during "cardigan" when Betty says "cause I knew everything when I was young." This song is told from the point of view of James, who is trying to explain away their summer affair to Betty. Throughout the song, James makes excuses to try to cover their faults by blaming Betty for dancing with someone else. James uses this to justify their ditching Betty at the dance and cheating on her with another girl. James says "I'm only seventeen, I don't know anything." However, in "cardigan," Betty says she knew everything when she was young, basically meaning that she does not believe that their age excuses James' behavior.