Pairing books with Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” Album

Hey everyone! A few days back I brought you the folklore book tag and told you to stay tuned for more Taylor content, so here we are. This post was actually planned before the tag but it took me a long time to get the songs right, to analyze each one and see which book (that I know of) fits it better.

Disclaimer: I know some of the answers might surprise you (cardigan’s more than any other), but just because I paired the song with the book doesn’t mean I love the book just as much as I love the song. Some of these books I have read, some not, and definitely those I’ve read are not all 5-star reads. I have explained in each song why did I chose that particular book to pair it with.

Without further ado, let’s begin!

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The 1 – Daisy Jones & The Six

For me, this song is about all the things that could have happened between two people but never did. This couple that could’ve been amazing but the circumstances didn’t let them be together. After looking through my shelves I decided Daisy Jones & The Six was the perfect choice because well, Daisy and Billy were something, don’t you think so?

Cardigan – After

DON’T CRUCIFY ME AND HEAR ME OUT FIRST.
This is one of my favorite songs of the album. I love how it tells an entire story in just four minutes. The good, the bad, the ugly, is all there and it’s so dramatic and you get invested in each verse of the song. It reminded me of the toxic and dramatic relationship Tessa and Hardin had in After, and when Taylor says “when I felt like I was an old cardigan, under someone’s bed / you put me on and said I was your favorite” it reminded me of how messed up Hardin was but Tessa loved him despite of that. After has a very toxic relationship that I don’t support, but when I read it I was very invested in everything that was happening and couldn’t stop reading.

The Last Great American Dynasty – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

This was one of the easiest pairings for me to do because the very first time I listened to the song I couldn’t help but thinking of Miss Evelyn Hugo. Like in the song, Evelyn’s story is set in the past, she goes from being nobody in Hell’s Kitchen to work her way to the top of the world, even when at some point she’s seen as the bad girl that “ruined everything” between her and Don. The song has a classy vibe that matches the book perfectly.

Exile – A Court of Thorns and Roses

A Court of Thorns and Roses comes to my mind because in the song, Taylor is saying how she gave so many signs that things weren’t right between the couple. Yet, Bon Iver is excusing his behavior and blaming it on Taylor: “You never gave a warning sign”. Exile is a story about how things slowly get worse between a couple until it comes to a breaking point where the other person it’s not the “safe place” it used to be anymore, and you walk out of the relationship. And that screams Feyre and Tamlin for me. Tamlin was never good for Feyre but she gave many warning signs that she wasn’t feeling good with him until he finally leaves.

My Tears Ricochet – Me Before You

Here’s what I think about this song: A couple that breaks up in very bad terms, to the point person A it’s like “person B is dead to me from now on”. The breakup destroyed person B emotionally and after some time, person A is feeling sorry and thinking they made a mistake but it’s too late.

What I love about Taylor’s songs is how ambiguous they can be, and in a more obvious perspective, this song might also talk about grief. So I thought about Will and Lou from Me Before You. I mean… “You had to kill me but it killed you just the same”

Mirrorball – Addicted After All

This is one of the sweetest songs of the album. I feel like Taylor is praising her significant other, saying that she’ll do everything to keep him happy and how that happiness makes her feel good as well. It’s the kind of energy I also get from Lily and Lo at the third book of this series, Addicted After All. They’re always showing how much they love each other and how they’d do anything in order for the other to be happy.

Seven – Ash

I almost choose The Cruel Prince for this one because duh, fairies. But you know what comes to my mind with this song? SAPPHIC. FAIRIES. When I listen to Seven I think about two fairies _{(or maybe a fairy and a human)} running away from everything and anyone and live freely in the forest. Ash by Malinda Lo is a Cinderella retelling that features sapphic fairies so I think it is fitting!

August – The Unhoneymooners

Summertime, time slipping by, “you weren’t mine to lose”… definitely The Unhoneymooners fits this book perfectly. The book is set in an island and the story happens in a very short period of time, as the main characters go on their sister and brother’s honeymoon when they get sick. And well, a part of the plot fits the line of the song I just mentioned very well, so… yep.

This Is Me Trying – We Are Okay

I feel like many of us can relate to this song in different ways. In general, is about someone who’s had it hard in their life but they’re still trying, still fighting to get out of whatever situation they’re in. In We Are Okay, they main character struggles with depression. I haven’t read the book yet but I couldn’t help but thinking of it while listening to this song.

Illicit Affairs – The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes

I JUST read this book and… you guys… if I’d tell you which illicit affair takes place in here it’d be a HUGE spoiler so I won’t. But it was angsty and definitely not meant to be and the lyric “two paper airplanes flying” fits perfectly for these two _{(though those lyrics are from Out of the Woods).} It broke my heart. It was everything that in a different time and place could’ve been perfect, but it wasn’t’. Go pick this book once it comes out and wait for my review of it on this month’s wrap up.

Invisible String – The Happy Ever After Playlist

“She said I looked like an American singer”… hence Jaxon Waters from this amazing book right here. This song is about two people that all along were meant to be, and that plus the hints of one of them being famous reminded me a lot of THEAP. Sloan and Jason were meant to be and found each other in the weirdest circumstances but they’re so cute together… like Taylor and Joe.

Mad Woman – The Female of the Species

This song has a lot of held back rage in it. It’s about standing up against what makes you furious even when people might see you as the villain for that. And that’s the exact same vibe I get from The Female of the Species, where the main character Alex is enraged by what happened to her sister and herself and won’t hesitate on taking revenge.

Epiphany – Lovely War

I haven’t any books set during the WWI and I haven’t read Lovely War but I definitely want to. Epiphany is definitely based on the need to hold on to something pure and beautiful to forget all the horrors a soldier has witnessed on the war. Lovely War tells two different stories set in WWI, and it’s narrated by GREEK GODS.

Betty – To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

This song is definitely about a guy cheating on his girlfriend and coming back asking for a second chance. I don’t read books with the cheating trope, it’s awful and I’m totally against cheating, but I think I remember that at some point during this trilogy Peter K messed up with Genevieve and had to come begging for Lara Jean’s forgiveness. I don’t remember if it was a misunderstanding or intentional _{(I read this in 2016 bear with me pls)}, but it’s the only book I can think fits this song.

Peace – Bone Crier’s Moon

This song questions whether a relationship can survive if one can’t offer peace to the other. Relationships are supposed to be someone’s “safe place” and in this case, it isn’t like that. It reminded me of Ailesse and Bastien from Bone Crier’s Moon because of the very difficult circumstances in which they’re in, holding them back from loving each other. When one is supposed to kill the other, “peace” is not on the equation…

Hoax – All The Bright Places

For me, this is the saddest song of the entire album. It quickly became one of my favorite Taylor songs ever, up there with All Too Well and Dear John. This song just screams grief, a heartbreaking love, a no-coming-back kind of situation. And I think it reflects what Violet felt at the end of this book. Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

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That’s all for this post! Do you agree with some of my answers? Let me know if you’d like me to do more posts like this one pairing books with albums, I had so much fun doing it.

See you in the next post!

    

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