By Nethmie Dehigama   You have probably heard about Taylor Swift’s highly successful indie-gothic-pop sister albums that she wrote and released during the pandemic, with Folklore coming out in July 2020, and Evermore in December of the same year. However, if you are yet to listen to these (why haven’t you already?), here’s a mini guide on what to expect and look out for – and how it’s different from Swift’s other albums. Both albums were surprise drops with absolutely no build-up promotion – which would generally sound like a recipe for failure if not for the fact that the Swiftie fanbase is strong, and Taylor’s impeccable songwriting and storytelling craftsmanship never fails to make a mark and was the very reason why both albums received critical praise. Folklore was the highest selling album of the year even though it was released six months into 2020 and ended up winning the Album of the Year award at the Grammys amongst other awards, while Evermore had the highest number of vinyl sales especially in the first week of its release. Evermore also holds a Guinness World Record for ‘Shortest Gap Between Number 1 Albums on the US Billboards’. As Shreyas Banerjee wrote in The Observer: “While the two certainly go together stylistically, Evermore experiments further with the current escapist persona Swift has currently created for herself and pushes her work in both new and old directions… If Folklore was about acknowledging one’s inner pain and mistakes, Evermore is about moving on from these struggles and knowing that you can heal.” Folklore spins easy tales of different experiences, while Evermore has a deeper, darker side to it. Swift after all mentioned that she sees the former as a ‘summer’ album, while the latter is a ‘winter’ album. Both albums focus on painting pictures of various stories, using rich imagery to do so. She steps away from her usual autobiographical work into weaving tales that aren’t her own by stepping into the shoes of various different characters, either inspired by TV shows, books, or even her friends. For instance, the song ‘Tolerate It’ was inspired by Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, a gothic novel about a girl who gets into a hasty marriage only to be haunted by the husband’s late wife’s ghost. She finds herself doing everything she possibly can for her husband’s approval, only to have him simply ‘tolerate it’. As Taylor continues her fondness for easter eggs with this project, is it then no surprise that she also plays with the track listings, i.e., the placement of the songs on the track list are sometimes on purpose. For instance, track 13 on Folklore – ‘Epiphany’ – is about Taylor’s grandfather who fought in the battle at Guadalcanal in World War II, while ‘Marjorie’ – track 13 on Evermore – is about her late grandmother who was an opera singer (and fun fact, her operatic vocals have been added to the song, too). Also it must be mentioned that 13 is Taylor’s lucky number – so of course she would place songs about two important people in her life as track 13! The track 10s of both albums – ‘Illicit Affairs’ and ‘Ivy’ are both about clandestine affairs. Songs like ‘Invisible String’ are continued on in ‘Willow,’ where an invisible string ties the narrator to her one true love over time. This is especially visually depicted in the ‘Willow’ music video. Furthermore, Taylor also infamously placed a love triangle within Folklore – ‘Cardigan,’ ‘Betty,’ and ‘August’ all depict one high school love affair with three different perspectives. In ‘Cardigan,’ Betty writes about the heartbreak she felt when her partner cheats on her, in ‘Betty,’ the partner laments over his mistake and asks for her forgiveness, while in ‘August,’ the girl he cheats on Betty with talks about her own innocent excitement and subsequent heartbreak – after all, “he was never mine”. All of this is not to say that Taylor does not touch on her personal life at all. ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’ describes the previous owner of Taylor’s Rhode Island house, who was the divorcee of an oil mogul in the US. She threw wild parties and painted her neighbour’s dog key lime green – people living in town called her loud and crazy – only to have Taylor purchase the house 50 years later. ‘My Tears Ricochet,’ ‘Mad Woman,’ and ‘Closure,’ are all songs touching on her experience with her previous label Big Machine and its owner Scott Borchetta, who sold Taylor’s entire discography to Scooter Braun without letting Taylor purchase it. The songs are heartbreaking, describing the painful separation she experienced with her life’s work as well as the betrayal she went through. And, songs like ‘Gold Rush,’ ‘Peace,’ and ‘Long Story Short’ are about her long-time partner Joe Alwyn – who in fact co-wrote some of the songs on the album with her under the pseudonym William Bowery. Evermore and Folklore remain a visceral experience for listeners, especially as they came out during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which probably is another big reason as to why these albums hold a different, more unique place in people’s hearts compared to the average pop album. Listening closely to each track would certainly not be a waste of your time, as the lyrics, melodies, and products are so delightfully crafted. No wonder they are well-loved by fans and literary students alike!   PHOTOS © TEEN VOGUE, PINTEREST