If you have been following my writing for a while, you know me.

You know that I have a huge heart in music. I believe it heals the soul. It reminds us of what is most important in this world.

Once again, Taylor Swift shows us this. She makes us slow down, escape from peril around us, and listen. Released on July 24, her eighth studio album folklore joined a world in the midst of a frenzy.

Man, was it a home run.

Personally, I was immediately drawn to it. I had listened to Lover and reputation for the majority of my late-high school and college career and knew that whatever Swift had to say was powerful and had the opportunity to shift minds and perceptions.

We rocked to reputationand fought for the right to have music that made women feel like they were empowered.

We stopped and remember how to feel with Lover, as well as what Swift was put on this Earth to do: write music.

Yet, with this album, it seemed as if it was the life raft that had been tossed out at the population of people drowning in the uproar of a tumultuous society. Pandemics, riots, elections, supremacy. Each world used to describe 2020 has coincided with negative connotations.

A lack of positivity.

folklore brings back that positivity and stillness that was missing from what the world remembered was good. I have listened and listened and every time, I feel as though I have absorbed more knowledge of the world around me, but also knowledge of myself and who I want to be in this world.

Some of the songs have really stuck out and pierced my heart in the best way possible. They have made me smile and feel transported away from the chaos:

the last great american dynasty

"she had a marvelous time running everything"

I absolutely love a song that transports me. A song that tells a story. It makes me feel as though I am standing there during the story writing process. It is said that this song is based on the home Swift bought a couple of years back. It is known as "Holiday House" and was owned by Rebekah Harkness, an American heiress. The lyrics are simple and tell the prose of a love story and the empowerment of a woman, who gains it all overnight.

my tears ricochet

"cursing my name, wishing i'd stayed, look at how my tears ricochet"

THIS. IS. MY. FAVORITE. SONG. I did not know what I was in for when I began to listen to this album, but I decided to choose a random song on the list. The melody at the beginning of the song makes me feel as though I am floating above the clouds. Swift describes the song as the negative relationship between a man and a woman, who even after death, control each other. It displays why toxic relationships continue on as long as they do. Each person seems to be attached to the concept that pain is normal. It is written beautifully.

this is me trying

"they told me all of my cages were mental"

I relate this most to these lyrics. Growing up as both a Scorpio and an Enneagram Type 2, I tend to feel like an outsider looking in. Along with that, I would rather care for other emotions rather than share anything about my own. Swift depicts those thoughts perfectly, this hauntingly, gorgeous song. A woman, who falls deeply in love, wants to express herself but is held back by the overwhelming thoughts in her mind. Instead, she feels as though a downfall is easier then self-expression. But, at least she is trying.

exile (ft. bon iver)

"i think I've seen this film before, and i didn't like the ending"

I can feel the emotion in this song. Both from the voice of Swift and the idyllic voice that accompanies her, which belongs to Justin Vernon, better known as Bon Iver. Their voices mesh so well, it is what I image honey falling off the comb sounds like. The song depicts a break-up, but something both person I saw before. Their break-ups are repetitive, for they cannot live without one another. They have both given and given to a love that was doomed from the beginning.