Folklore: Taylor Swift’s Quarantine Surprise

On July 24th, 2020, popular artist Taylor Swift recently came out with a new album, Folklore. This Republic Records album has 16 songs that caught the attention of Swifties everywhere. 

 Folklore falls under the  Indie/Alternative genre which is a new genre for Swift who, until this album, has focused on country and pop music. Taylor’s new album also includes a secret song, “The Lakes” which can only be streamed with the deluxe version of the album.

Just days after Taylor released her new album, it achieved the most day-one streams of an album on Spotify after being streamed 80.6 million times. In addition to Spotify, Folklore set a new record of being streamed 35.47 million times on Apple Music within the first 24 hours of it’s release. 

Within the first three days, there were 1.3 million copies of Folklore sold in the United States, which is the highest this year. Her new album had over 72 million on-demand audio streams in the U.S. breaking the previous record which was Ariane Grande’s, “Thank U, Next,” which had roughly 55.9 million streams.

Taylor wrote and recorded Folklore while in isolation due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and she created stories about past breakups and tragedies through this album. 

Taylor did not give any notice that she was planning on releasing an album until she posted a caption on Instagram that read “Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening, but there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen. And that is my 8th studio album, Folklore. Surprise! Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. I wrote and recorded this music in isolation but got to collaborate with some musical heroes of mine” and then goes on to list everyone who helped make this album happen. 

Sophomore Katelyn Smith says, “I really liked the lyrics and how each song related to one another but it was a little slow paced for my liking. I didn’t really like most of the songs my first time listening. They were very slow and felt dreary at times. The album was good but it definitely isn’t my preferred genre.”  Not all Swifties enjoyed the shift in genres.   

Jadyn Major, a sophomore, felt differently: “I really like that these songs aren’t what she usually does, it’s like she stepped out of her comfort zone and tried something new.  While listening to the album, it made me want to have a dance party, I would overall give this album a 9/10.” 

Taylor definitely worked hard on this album and should be proud of herself. This album has been a huge success so far and I hope she plans to make more music in the future. Everyone has their own opinions about Swift’s new album, but most of them seem to be positive considering the record breaking success. Taylor keeps impressing her fans and I can’t wait to see what’s next for her.