Taylor Swift Fans Reflect on Powerful Impact of ‘Folklore’ on Album’s First Anniversary

Taylor Swift Fans Reflect on Powerful Impact of ‘Folklore’ on Album’s First Anniversary

One year after its release, Taylor Swift’s fans are taking a moment to reflect on the life-changing impact of the superstar singer’s eighth album, Folklore.

Released on July 24, 2020, Folklore represented a surprise pivot towards indie-folk that proved a critical and commercial blockbuster for Swift, earning the album of the year Grammy and topping the Billboard 200 albums chart for eight nonconsecutive weeks.

On Saturday (July 24), Swifties celebrated the first anniversary of Folklore on social media with congratulatory messages alongside selfies with their favorite white cardigan, a nod to one of the album’s hit songs, and inspiring words on how the release helped them through the challenging COVID-19 pandemic.

“Happy one year to the album that is everything and quite literally saved so many of us during the chaos an uncertainty of last year,” one fan tweeted. “Love you and your team of folklorians so incredibly much.”

Another Swiftie wrote, “folklore feels like a warm blanket on a cold day, or a warm hug on an especially rough day. Thank you for creating this beautiful album that has saved my life and has made me feel understood. Please never stop making music. I love you.”

Swift herself celebrated Folklore’s first birthday by gifting fans an original version of the album’s bonus track, “The Lakes.”

“It’s been 1 year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler,” the 31-year-old singer tweeted on Saturday. “With tall trees & salt air. Where you can wear lace nightgowns that make you look like a Victorian ghost & no one will side eye you cause no one is around.”

She added, “To say thank you for all you have done to make this album what it was,” she continued, “I wanted to give you the original version of The Lakes. Happy 1 year anniversary to Rebekah, Betty, Inez, James, Augustine and the stories we all created around them. Happy Anniversary, folklore.”

In this week’s Billboard digital cover story, Jack Antonoff, who co-wrote and co-produced “The Lakes” with Swift, first revealed that the bonus song originally existed in a “big orchestral version,” before Swift decided to strip it down. In the days following the publishing of the interview, Swift fans on social media asked to hear the original version of the track.

“On one of my favorite songs on [Swift’s] Folklore, ‘The Lakes,’ there was this big orchestral version, and Taylor was like, ‘Eh, make it small,’” Antonoff says in the digital cover story. “I had gotten lost in the string arrangements and all this stuff, and I took everything out. I was just like, ‘Oh, my God!’ We were not together because that record was made [remotely], but I remember being in the studio alone like, ‘Holy s–t, this is so perfect.’”

See more tweets celebrating the first anniversary of Folklore below.

we had a MARVELOUS time listening to this incredible album with you on its first birthday and getting lost in the folklorian memories of this past year!

keep streaming the lakes (original version), out now, and we’ll see you again soon! https://t.co/cRN7X3SaIs

— Taylor Nation (@taylornation13) July 24, 2021

Happy one year to the album that is everything and quite literally saved so many of us during the chaos an uncertainty of last year. Love you and your team of folklorians so incredibly much #1YearOfFolklore

— Ali (@tucker_ali) July 24, 2021

To say thank you for all you have done to make this album what it was, I wanted to give you the original version of The Lakes. Happy 1 year anniversary to Rebekah, Betty, Inez, James, Augustine and the stories we all created around them. Happy Anniversary, folklore.

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 24, 2021

Folklore truly comforted me during lockdown and i feel literally so attached to this album, I love you so much, thank you @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 #1YearOfFolklore pic.twitter.com/SR9hrPJbmv

— Alex (@ithinkalexknows) July 24, 2021

happy one year to the album that saved me from my darkest days. thank you mom @taylorswift13 for creating this masterpiece. I love you to the moon and to saturn #1YearOfFolklore pic.twitter.com/I9oxoQywM3

— valeria (@anchorbarnes) July 24, 2021

i remember waking up a year ago and playing folklore for the first time. it felt like an old dusty book full of stories that i could discover whenever i feel bad, i always escape to the folklorian reality of the album. thank you @taylorswift13 #1YearOfFolklore pic.twitter.com/WWWN5w32PX

— agnes (@folkloreemind) July 24, 2021

folklore taught me more new vocabulary than 14 years of school ever did happy #1YearOfFolklore @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 pic.twitter.com/BYHY9XACvh

— pip FOLKLORE DAY (@cowgirllikeme13) July 24, 2021

@taylorswift13 folklore feels like a warm blanket on a cold day, or a warm hug on an especially rough day. Thank you for creating this beautiful album that has saved my life and has made me feel understood. Please never stop making music. I love you #1YearOfFolklore

— krob36 (@krob361) July 24, 2021

@taylorswift13 ty taylor for giving us a place to feel and cry when the world turned around. ty for being there on our darkest moments, when everything felt like giving up you gave us a reason to keep going. happy btay to the album that saved my+many lives <3 #1YearOfFolklorepic.twitter.com/3dq5a1TmSz

— hi (@ameliascorsones) July 24, 2021

one year of folklore and one year of me deep diving into @taylorswift13 music fully. The best decision I’ve ever made.

— Conor (@conorswift13) July 24, 2021