folklore
by Taylor Swift
  • Record Label: Republic
  • Release Date: Jul 24, 2020
User Score
9.0

Universal acclaim- based on 17537 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15,823 out of 17537
  2. Mixed: 241 out of 17537
  3. Negative: 1,473 out of 17537
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  1. BaoNguy
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    The best album of her career, my favorite album in this time, I really love it
  2. cnaicha
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    BEST OF THE BEST. Taylor having such a good time while in quarantine. She has a secret project and it called "FOLKLORE"
  3. pipugie
    Jul 24, 2020
    5
    Everything about this album is beyond beautiful. It’s pure magical down to each and every line.
    I loveeeeee it!
  4. Ohthehugevanity
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Her best, rawest and most honest album yet. Folklore shows her truely once on twenty lifetimes talent as a story writer and lyricist.
  5. kevkev26
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    The album is astonishingly beautiful and exactly what i wanted from Taylor. You won’t be disappointed.
  6. kyledens
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This album experiments with Taylor’s indie/alternative side perfectly. She does so with outstanding vocal layering and amazing production, which enhances every song it is put into. Her lyrical genius really shows in Folklore especially in tracks such as My Tears Ricochet, Cardigan, and many others throughout the album. Folklore is by far one of her best albums to date, and deserves highThis album experiments with Taylor’s indie/alternative side perfectly. She does so with outstanding vocal layering and amazing production, which enhances every song it is put into. Her lyrical genius really shows in Folklore especially in tracks such as My Tears Ricochet, Cardigan, and many others throughout the album. Folklore is by far one of her best albums to date, and deserves high critical acclaim for the quality it possesses.… Expand
  7. Jennts12
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    It is perfect, the sounds, the lyrics. Swift went to great lengths to give us a wonderful album in a critical situation for the world.For something it is and will be The artist of the decade ❤️
  8. Amethyst18
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Folklore is what Taylor does the best that is songwriting.... Amazing album Taylor never disappoints
  9. Nahdodjdbsbv
    Jul 24, 2020
    5
    I like it, but I don't think this is the best album of 2020 so far! And I love Taylor, but this isn't my favorite Taylor's album. So it's just my own opinion.
  10. rhodeobiebs
    Jul 24, 2020
    8
    read my official review here - https://jayanasmith.blog/taylor-swift-folklore-review/
  11. ilovedogs033
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Mystical and intriguing lyrics, filled with raw emotion! I would expect nothing less from Taylor!
  12. AndySwift
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    um album coeso e surpreendente. diferente de tudo que a Taylor já fez e se provando mais uma vez uma artista versátil e talentosa
  13. marisolgr
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This is Taylor Swift’s most beautiful, magical, body of art yet. This is unlike anything she has ever done and is by far her most mature and captivating album yet. She’s a lyrical genius!
  14. joellllll
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Legendary. Amazing. Spectacular. Incredible Brilliant. Magnificent. Outstanding. Marvelous. Exceptional.
  15. OllieFtna
    Jul 24, 2020
    0
    All songs are incredibly similar, vocals are nothing to write home about tbh old Taylor had it down pat
  16. str1302
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This album is just simply amazing. The lyrics, melody, instrumentals, the production, the story!!
    Definitely Taylor's most mature album and could be her best.
  17. nicholas9258
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    I have always been a fan of Taylor since I first heard Love Story. Throughout the years, I've stayed with her, most of the time out of loyalty. This record is exceptionally beautiful. It showcased her story-telling skills to a different level incomparable with her peers. I really enjoy this stripped-down, raw, immersive album.
  18. DavidG1
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a wonderful album with sounds delicates and gorgeous.
    Taylor's is the best singer and very talented    … Expand
  19. JedazionFuller
    Jul 24, 2020
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Boring songs that sound the same, lyrics were kinda good but we're wordy and very hard to interpret.… Expand
  20. chemma
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Luv luv luv this album!! I love the piano and just the mood it gives off. I’m so happy that Taylor has released this album so quickly after her other one. I was in shock.
  21. AmericaMorales
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    Lyrical masterpiece, her most cohesive and complex album ever. She has reinvented herself once again
  22. gelcpan
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    what a great album!!! taylor did it again. the stories she created for this album are all masterpieces.
  23. lilyevelyn
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    It has been fascinating to watch the genres Taylor has explored over the last 14 years - from country, country-pop, pop-rock, 80s synthpop, r&b and gospel-influenced pop, and now indie and folk-pop, with dreamy strings, soft piano and her voice at its most delicate yet strong floating over top.

    This album doesn't feel like an unnatural shift for her - as I listen, I'm reminded of (often    It has been fascinating to watch the genres Taylor has explored over the last 14 years - from country, country-pop, pop-rock, 80s synthpop, r&b and gospel-influenced pop, and now indie and folk-pop, with dreamy strings, soft piano and her voice at its most delicate yet strong floating over top.

    This album doesn't feel like an unnatural shift for her - as I listen, I'm reminded of (often underrated) songs like "I Almost Do", "Sad Beautiful Tragic" and "The Last Time" from Red, "It's Nice to Have a Friend" from Lover, "This Love" from 1989, and "Come In With the Rain" from Fearless, with poetic and vivid lyrics that evoke clear images of nature and the tangled complexity of relationships. On "folklore", Taylor takes a mature bent to themes like innocence, childhood, a woman's justified-yet-vilified anger, and the difficulty of admitting you were wrong.

    This album feels so familiar - I've listened to it twice through, and I already feel like I've known these songs as long as I've been singing along to her debut album. Despite new collaborators like Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver and production that sounds more like the 1975 and Imogen Heap than stereotypical Swift, it's still undeniably Taylor - the songwriting and mastery of metaphor is immediately recognizable.

    Sonically cohesive, many songs sound similar, but each has nuances and surprise elements (particularly the harmonica on "betty" and the wash of soft electronic tones on "mirrorball") that set them apart from each other and leave the listener captivated, waiting for the next innovation on the next track. (Speaking of innovation, this is Swift's first album to have an explicit version, and hearing her say "f*ck" should be more shocking than it is. Like the rest of the album, it feels familiar in a way that it logically shouldn't.)

    The narratives told are vaguer and less autobiographical than in albums like "reputation" and "Lover", with Taylor herself saying that she drew from many sources (including Rebekah Harkness, the widow who formerly owned Swift's Rhode Island mansion, and her grandfather's experiences in World War II) as well as creating fictional narratives that nod at the events of her real life. Songs like "invisible string", "seven", "mirrorball", "peace", "hoax", and "this is me trying" feel the most personal, while others (including the teen love triangle of "cardigan", "august", and "betty") are more fictional, though they all have moments and lines that read as especially authentic Taylor.

    Overall, "folklore" is outstanding, made even more so by the fact that it was written and produced entirely in isolation, so within the last 4 months. It marks a decided tilt to the side of Swift that is a grown woman, who recognizes that she isn't perfect and isn't afraid to admit it, in the most visceral way possible. It fits surprisingly perfectly into the rest of her discography, and is, in my personal opinion, her most honest record to date. Not honesty in the sense of "everything in this album has literally happened to me", but honesty in the sense that she's airing her dirty laundry, the side of her that has difficulty owning her mistakes and feels a desperate need to be liked by the world, in the most poetic and gritty way possible. I think when people look back on Swift's career, "folklore" is going to be one of her most enduring and timeless albums, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what she does next.    … Expand
  24. lucyY
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    whimsical. amazing. perfect. lovely. bewildering. astounding. astonishing. taylor swift.
  25. Layla1
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This album is honestly the best album Taylor Swift has ever released. It is heart-felt and honest, it is melancholic and sweet, it is so outstanding in every way. Lyrically and sonically incredible. This is absolutely my new favorite album and I will be streaming it non-stop until further notice :)
  26. Nicha
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's really good music. Her song are very interesting. I love this. She made me happy. It's sounds like the song that we have heard in the cafe.… Expand
  27. yenniestan
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    This is her best album since "Red". I can't believe she did that. I loved every single song.
  28. gabmerette
    Jul 24, 2020
    6
    It’s a fine album, most of the songs are forgettable, but august and epiphany were GREAT songs. I feel like this album is more like a  “background music” album than anything else.
  29. AlexLovesStuff
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    A work of art. Gorgeously delicate in all ways. So good. Probably her best work till now.
  30. Vdlnp
    Jul 24, 2020
    10
    I really love this album so much! When I listen to the whole album, I experienced all of the feelings. Happy, sad, confused, and excited. That is all i can say. Folklore deserves album of the year. Periodt.
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Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best Album of 2020
1
#1 Most Discussed Album of 2020

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Universal acclaim - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Uncut
    Aug 13, 2020
    90
    It's a sharp turn to the left for Swift and a fine reminder that she is more than just a gleaming pop phenomenon, but a remarkable songwriter too. [Oct 2020, p.36]
  2. DIY Magazine
    Aug 7, 2020
    90
    A modern-folk masterpiece which finds her moving from her previous pop bangers into stunningly simple yet sharp melodies, ‘folklore’ will be going down in Swiftie history as one of her most unexpected, and undoubtedly one of her best.
    Read full review
  3. The Observer (UK)
    Aug 3, 2020
    60
    These 16 tracks (17 on the deluxe version) play out quite pleasurably in their entirety, the joins between Swift, Dessner and Antonoff ultimately only of niche interest. But Swift’s powerful songs reach their climaxes with bittersweet orchestrations, rather than blows to the solar plexus or a ringing in the ears. Everything hovers; little truly lands.
    Read full review
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