Folklore

 Folklore is Taylor's latest album, written during quarantine, which was released at midnight, EST (Taylor's favourite time) July 24, 2020, along with the video for her new single, "Cardigan". Notice all the song titles are in all lowercase except for two pieces; the 5th and 6th tracks, "Mirrorball" and "My Tears Ricochet". What does this mean? Her 7th album, reputation, was in all lowercase. Is it because the songs are dark? The album cover is also reminiscent of the " Safe and Sound" music video made for The Hunger Games (movie), which was definitely very dark.

After listening to the album, we realize that all the songs have very simple sounds with real instrument rather than fancy sound computers, not overproduced, quiet, nostalgic, and a telling old stories with memories feeling. As she says, "In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result. I’ve told these stories to the best of my ability with all the love, wonder, and whimsy they deserve. Now it’s up to you to pass them down. folklore is out now: https://taylor.lnk.to/folklore." on Twitter.

Taylor always leaves plenty of Easter eggs, right? No. here she is just like, "Oh some new music is coming in less than 17 hours." Or were there clues after all? The deluxe version of Lover includes 20 pages of journal entries. One of them, which she read aloud in the Lover Lounge countdown to album release. In it, she says, "I'm the girl you THINK is the one, and you meet the next girl and realize SHE is the one." This implies the same idea as her song on folklore, "the one". Was it an Easter egg?

One theory by many fans is that Joe Alwyn co-wrote with Taylor on this album. Why?

Well, when Folklore was announced, she thanked songwriters Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, Bon Iver, and someone named William Bowery on social media. Aaron Dessner is from band The National, Jack Antonoff has worked with Taylor in past songs quite frequently, Bon Iver might not be as well known but can easily found by Google and social media, and... Browery? Bowery was the only one whom Taylor didn't tag, and if you do some research, there are no registered songwriters or producers named William Bowery.

The first time they were seen in public together, Taylor and Joe were spotted outside the Bowery Hotel in New York City, in 2016, when they first started dating. Joe's Wikipedia page reveals that he is the great-grandson of English composer and musician William Alwyn, who was a prominent musician who won a Grammy once.

So, is William Bowery actually Joe Alwyn?

Fun fact: in "the last great American dynasty", she sings, "And in a feud with her neighbor, she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green." This song was about Rebekah "betty" Harkness, who used to own Taylor's house in Rhode Island, Holiday House. She did indeed dye her neighbor's pet lime green, but it was actually a cat.