Taylor Swift has been dominating pop culture since her first album was released back in 2006, and is showing no signs of slowing down. The Grammy winning artist wrote a new album folklore during isolation, and her mass of fans have been combing through the lyrics to find out Swift's true intentions with each track. The song "betty" actually revealed Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's baby name, although now the songwriter has clarified that it's not a queer love story.
A number of folklore tracks have been dissected and discussed by the public since its record breaking release. Chief among them is "betty", which is part of a three-song love story told throughout the course of Taylor Swift's new album. But some fans interpreted the lyrics as a same-sex love story, with Swift coming out in the process. Now she's clarified the meaning of "betty", which is told through the perspective of the character James. As she put it:
[James] has lost the love of his life basically and doesn't understand how to get it back. I think we all have these situations in our lives where we learn to really, really give a heartfelt apology for the first time. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody really messes up sometimes and this is a song that I wrote from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy. I've always loved that in music you can kinda slip into different identities and you can sing from other people's perspectives.
Well, that certainly clears things up. Because while Taylor Swift often writes songs based on her personal experiences, "betty" isn't about a crush or unrequited love she had with a woman. Instead, it's just one part of the trilogy of songs based around characters, some of which were named after Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' kids.
Taylor Swift's comments to Billboard helps shut down at least one rumor about folklore and the meaning behind the various songs. The album's arrival basically broke the internet, with the songwriter showing off a different side to her musical capabilities. The lyrics were also poured over, including possible references to her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. But as for rumors of her same sex crush, those seem inaccurate.
Taylor Swift wrote a teenage love story into three songs on folklore. The arc starts with "cardigan" , with "august" and "betty" wrapping up the fictional love triangle. And as Swift mentioned, she named the characters after her friends' babies. All three of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's kids names make it into folklore, namely James, Inez, and Betty.
You can stream folklore in all major services, and check out Taylor Swift's recent film role in the infamous Cats movie. In the meantime, check out our 2020 release list to plan your next movie experience.
