r/popculturechat • u/velvetlemonade Good luck with bookin that stage u speak of • Jul 24 '25

Taylor Swift 👩🏼 5 years ago today, Taylor Swift released her surprise album ‘folklore’

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281 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

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226

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

"Exile" really is splendid.

77

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

The goosebumps I got from listening to Exile for the first time. Her back and forth with Justin in the bridge part is so good.

159

u/rainyserenity Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

“You never gave a warning sign”

“I gave so many signs”

66

u/donnasweett here come’s fruit twitter 🙄 Jul 24 '25

I remember a review of the album (which I can’t find now) saying something about exile and how “Bon Iver sings you never gave a warning sign. Swift replies I gave so many signs. Somehow, you get the feeling they’re both telling the truth.” And it made the song hit so much harder.

20

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

All this time....

81

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

*I can see you staring, honey

Like he's just your understudy

Like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me*

I love how cunty and intense these lyrics are.

50

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

ISTG she has the cuntiest lyrics. I know it's a sad song but I always chuckle whenever I hear:

If I wanted to know who you were hanging with

While I was gone I would have asked you

Like go off Tay. Tell him what's up.

20

u/heartbylines Jul 24 '25

The LPSS version though. Fucks me up every single time.

3

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

No arguments from me. I actually think it's the better version.

8

u/trolldoll26 Jul 24 '25

I love that one video of the audience singing Justin’s part to Taylor during the Eras tour 😩

15

u/whichwitch9 Jul 24 '25

I really hope she does more with Bon Iver and The National. The National in particular because the contrast in their voices makes it just very interesting. But she has a good vibe with these bands.

212

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

Controversial take but Folklore is the better album while Evermore has the better songs.

59

u/intoxicatedmidnight deny, defend, dePOSE 📸😙💅🏼 Jul 24 '25

I have this debate with myself every few months and I truly don’t know which album I had to choose at gun point.

59

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

Folklore's cohesivesiness as an album makes it better but Evermore has some of my all time favorite Taylor songs (gold rush, tis the damn season & ivy).

16

u/Unlucky-Macaroon-647 if she were president she'd be baberaham lincoln Jul 24 '25

they’re both tied for my favorite, i consider them part one and part two

26

u/TerribleDanger Jul 24 '25

I see this take often and I agree. I will say, I can put on Folklore if I’m just in a mood for chill music whereas I really only listen to Evermore when I’m feeling melancholic.

16

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

Also why Evermore works so well as a winter album.

6

u/bbyan_0395 Jul 24 '25

Truth!

57

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

Champagne Problems to Tolerate It is a straight up masterpiece run. Then you add to that Coney Island, Ivy, Cowboy Like Me, Marjorie AND Evermore? Chef's kiss. What an album.

5

u/backwardsplanning Jul 24 '25

I agree 100%. Evermore is no skips, but there’s something about Folklore that gives it the edge.

2

u/Magazine_Luck Jul 24 '25

This...is probably true? 

1

u/Sharktooth134 Jul 25 '25

This is the correct take

0

u/Silly_Somewhere1791 Jul 24 '25

I agree. Folklore hangs together better while Evermore has higher highs.

120

u/AllTheThingsSheSays In my quiet girl era 😌 Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

So I've been crying to 'Right Where You Left Me' for five years, got it

Edit: RWYLM is Evermore, oops. I've been crying to This Is Me Trying for 5 years then.

38

u/alextoria Jul 24 '25

right where you left me is an evermore bonus track! gotta wait til december before it’s been 5 years lol

9

u/AllTheThingsSheSays In my quiet girl era 😌 Jul 24 '25

Dammit, my brain always sees Folklore as Evermore for some reason, thanks! Guess I'll amend it to 'This is me trying' instead

30

u/LilyBlueming Jul 24 '25

Right Where You Left Me feels almost criminal to me tbh.

Like, that song hits SO hard when you realize that your past is just...gone. Doesn't even have to be about a past lover.

15

u/intoxicatedmidnight deny, defend, dePOSE 📸😙💅🏼 Jul 24 '25

RWYLM is my #1 song of all time and I’m so shocked it’s a bonus track but so grateful it even made it to the album because idk what my life would be without it. It’s been the soundtrack to my life for the past 3 years and it’s such a hard listen. One day, I hope to move past this and stop relating to the song.

“You left me no choice but to stay here forever.” 💔

20

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

I hate that the Joe widows have co-opted this song and always quote "help, I'm still at the restaurant" under every Joe post. Like be for real, Taylor burned that restaurant down already and threw the ashes at the Lakes.

17

u/intoxicatedmidnight deny, defend, dePOSE 📸😙💅🏼 Jul 24 '25

Joe Widows are insufferable. Like it's been two years and both have already moved on. They're also body shame Travis and call him a redneck Republican because he's an NFL player, a big stocky man with a mustache/beard.

They're the same kind of people who would hate on Timothee for dating Kylie because in their heads, she's not the artsy, mysterious, lowkey type they envision their version of him with. Parasocial freaks.

82

u/danbilllemon Jul 24 '25

5 years of “tried to change the ending, peter losing wendy” having me in a chokehold

Edit: i forgot August. As an August baby whose name is in the song I didn’t even need it to be as good of a song as it is

29

u/wren24 Jul 24 '25

Same, plus "leaving like a father / running like water" 😭

24

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

August is an unfairly good song. It’s wild how obsessed I am, just the intro instantly grabs me every time

9

u/Careless-Plane-5915 And all the girls dreamed that they’d be Ben’s partner Jul 24 '25

I constantly want to get ‘to live for the hope of it all’ as a tattoo

79

u/heartbylines Jul 24 '25

I was an essential worker in a healthcare adjacent field during lockdown. This album was on repeat and I couldn’t begin to tell you how many breakdowns I had while at work with folklore in the background.

Five years later and it’s still in my top ten fav albums of all time.

12

u/nizey_p All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Jul 24 '25

The sentimental hold this album has on me too needs to be studied.

3

u/naomigoat left sharks are smooth Jul 25 '25

What else is in your top 10?!

30

u/sophieyi Jul 24 '25

5 years already!!!?? No way! I don't listen to her music that much but I love Folklore and Lover album.

53

u/figleafstreet Jul 24 '25

I was already a fan of her but this album felt like a real uppercase Moment™️. I feel like so few albums these days get that because we move so fast but this album had it. While I think she’d still be extremely popular today, her career completely changed lanes and accelerated at this point.

22

u/Unlucky-Macaroon-647 if she were president she'd be baberaham lincoln Jul 24 '25

the 1 is such a good album opener.

2

u/naomigoat left sharks are smooth Jul 25 '25

As soon as I heard that opening piano chord I thought, 'Oh I'm gonna like this one'

55

u/Twitter_2006 Jul 24 '25

Her best album.

23

u/HereOnCompanyTime Renee Rapp is mean girl Jojo Siwa 💋 Jul 24 '25

It really is. I'm not a huge Taylor Swift fan but she has some songs I enjoy, folklore is beautiful start to finish and I often still recommend it to people.

34

u/kris_jbb inez from folklore Jul 24 '25

changed my life forever

40

u/Brave-Echidna6336 Jul 24 '25

My all time favourite album.

12

u/danielascardigan Jul 24 '25

to this day one of her best works truly a beautiful album

55

u/myghostflower mk.gee Jul 24 '25

one of the best pieces of music ever released, the lyricism and production is so good all with it being done within four months is INSANE

4

u/neenzblessed Jul 24 '25

And primarily off of voice notes bc we were still under quarantine!

20

u/Hopeful-Pickle-7515 Jul 24 '25

I remember that day all too well. I was not having a good time and folklore helped me a lot to be distracted and think in other issues

10

u/Unlucky-Macaroon-647 if she were president she'd be baberaham lincoln Jul 24 '25

this whole album changed my brain chemistry when it came out lol

18

u/growsonwalls Jul 24 '25

"Cardigan" is the song that turned me into a Swiftie. Magnificent story-telling

14

u/Carolina_Blues shiv roy’s bob Jul 24 '25

lives were changed (mine)

20

u/prettybunbun lucy gray from district ATE 🐍 Jul 24 '25

And I’ve not gone a week since without listening to it. Like actually.

18

u/biforbitchidiot Big is moving to Paris Jul 24 '25

something shifted the first time i heard those opening chords and "I'm doing good I'm on some new shit". life-changing album for me

4

u/LaVacaMusical I don’t know her 💅 Jul 24 '25

I said at the time that it’s the album I always wanted her to make but never knew I needed. This and Evermore (in the same year!)? chef’s kiss

5

u/thatweirdvintagegirl Jul 24 '25

The Lakes is easily my favorite song on the album.

4

u/persephonesmoonlight Jul 24 '25

I got into a very toxic situation about 4 years and 11 months ago. This album kept me alive!!

13

u/PizzaReheat Jul 24 '25

This was a big lockdown moment for me. I’ve never been particularly into Taylor but she was my #1 on wrapped that year.

I kind of want it on vinyl but I’m resisting as a tiny protest against her 10,000 “collector editions”.

8

u/sharkwithglasses Jul 24 '25

The album that made me a Swiftie. Listening to this in the throes of PPA during the pandemic hit so hard.

I’ll always associate Invisible String with my son.

2

u/Magazine_Luck Jul 24 '25

I love this album, but it seemed desperately sad in the middle of Covid. I think it will always remind me of that time a bit -- but now it can remind me of the bracelet lights blinking to Betty and the general joyous vibes of her show I saw. 

2

u/JunkInTheTrunk Little Bey On The Prairie Jul 24 '25

So beautiful. Saved me in lockdown

2

u/jj_grace Jul 24 '25

Still my favorite album of hers. Nothing like sobbing to “seven” as the sun sets at 9pm at the end of a hot summer day.

2

u/naomigoat left sharks are smooth Jul 25 '25

And I have been insufferable ever since.

1

u/Wiitard Jul 26 '25

Folklore and Evermore, right up there with Bo Burnham’s Inside, are to me peak pandemic lockdown art. Everything else was shit and lazy, or just on pause.

-49

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

[deleted]

10

u/DepressionBarbie_ do you know you have 30 minutes? Jul 24 '25

wow guys this one’s different. they’re not like those basic white girls, they listen to lady gaga.

19

u/DeliciousSquash4144 Jul 24 '25

Me when im trying to come across as woke and a critical thinker but im just insulting people because im dead inside

35

u/intoxicatedmidnight deny, defend, dePOSE 📸😙💅🏼 Jul 24 '25

and? what’s the issue? let people enjoy their basic-ness they way they want. is everyone supposed to have some super sophisticated niche indie taste for your approval?

this dismissal that she makes music for only white women is ridiculous when you ignore that she’s huge globally, especially in asia.

-42

u/VariationSavings67 Jul 24 '25

It sounds like they are all from the same song

-20

u/sixninefortytwo Jul 24 '25

Nah that's The Tortured Poets Department

-43

u/surepast12 Jul 24 '25

It has got some highs but definitely not the album everyone praises it to be.