“August slipped away into a moment in time, cause it was never mine.” These are my favorite lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song, “August,” debuted in her 2020 surprise album Folklore. The song lyrics describe how you can lose something that was never yours to begin with as the song. “August” focuses on youth romance as Swift takes a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the time she spent with her love during the past summer.
“Salt air, and the rust on your door. I have never needed anything more. Whispers of ‘Are you sure?’ ‘Never have I ever before.’ The lyrics of this song start off with the unnamed narrator of the song confessing her love for the boy she was with–she “has never needed anything more” and she is willing to do anything for him.
In the chorus of the song, Swift sings about how now all she has now are memories of August as“August slipped away into a moment in time.” Throughout the whole song, Swift sings about memories and how fast time went by–a universal sentiment.
I always feel as if time is always flying by. Sometimes I remember an event from a while ago but am able to remember and recall every single detail about it, similar to how Swift is remembering her young-love summer.
The second verse of the song goes “Your back beneath the sun, Wishin’ I could write my name on it. Will you call when you’re back at school? I remember thinking’ I had you.” Taylor recounts the final memories of the boy she hung out with and wonders if he will ever call her again when they have parted ways.
The bridge of the song is “Back when we were still changin’ for the better. Wanting was enough. For me, it was enough. To live for the hope of it all… So much for summer love and saying “us” ‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose.” Essentially, Taylor feels foolish thinking that the boy liked her, especially after she went out of her way to cancel plans for him in response to her in stence love.
To end the song, Taylor comments on how hopeful she was of her relationship with the boy, expecting more to happen between them and feeling hurt when nothing did. Yet, the song remains hopeful in its melody and tells us, not all is lost.
Overall, I would give this song five out of five stars. In my opinion, Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff did a great job of composing the lyrics and expressing youth romance in the song, and is a sad yet hopeful reminder against teenage angst . I love the melody and the overall vibe I get from the song. I am really happy whenever I shuffle my Spotify playlist and “August” starts playing or when I hear this song playing on other social media platforms. I would recommend it to everyone.
