Taylor Swift’s folklore is the album that doesn’t stop giving. Filled with clever metaphors and interlinking, conceptual tracks, Swift has now revealed all the easter eggs we missed in the clip for ‘Cardigan’. And they’re good.
Recruited for Vevo’s Footnote series, Taylor Swift walks us through every frame of her self-directed ‘Cardigan’.
The Teenage Love Triangle (Tea)
So, not necessarily one for the film clip, but Swift does reveal there’s three linked songs on the album.
“There’s a collection of three songs I refer to as The Teenage Love Triangle (in my head). These three songs explore a summer love triangle from all three people’s perspectives at different times in their lives,” she says.
“It’s like this one event happened in their town and it affected them each differently.”
She’s seemingly talking about ‘Cardigan’, ‘Betty’, and ‘August’. Of course, she reveals that the forest is a metaphor. It represents that “evergreen beginning” in a relationship.
Meanwhile the ocean scene represents the fear when that relationship breaks down. Her return to the cabin is symbolic of returning somewhere safe, but she’s still soaked because she’s changed by what happened.
The Cabin ~Decor~
The clock on the wall has its hands pointing to one and three — 13, which is Swift’s fave number. The framed portrait is actually Taylor’s grandfather Dean, and the painting he’s sat next to was done by Swift herself during quarantine.
The Sheer Logistics
Swift filmed the clip during the COVID-19 lockdown and was committed to keeping the release top secret. It involved wearing an earpiece so no one on set could hear the song and the “folklore” text on the piano was actually edited in using special effects. As well as that, they were using UV lights and sanitising her piano between takes. They also used a “techno crane” to ensure social distancing. Wild.
Catch the ‘Cardigan’ Footnote video below.
