August

"August" (stylized in all lowercase) is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her eighth studio album, Folklore (2020). Swift wrote and produced "August" with Jack Antonoff; Joe Alwyn was credited as a co-producer. The track is a dream pop and guitar pop ballad, with a production featuring soft rock guitars, strings, and vocal reverberation. Journalists consider "August" the signature song of the month of August, as the song experiences resurgence on various charts during the month. Alongside fellow tracks "Cardigan" and "Betty", "August" constitutes a fictitious love triangle involving three points of view: those of Betty, James, and an unnamed female character. The song is written from the latter's perspective, depicting her sorrow over her derailed summer romance with James, who abandoned her and reconciled with Betty. Swift, in her 2020 concert documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, said that she personally calls the unnamed narrator "Augustine" or "Augusta". Critics lauded the song's instrumentation and lyrics, with some of them picking it as a standout on Folklore and a career highlight for Swift. "August" has charted within the top 40 of the singles charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. In the US, the song peaked at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs. At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on March 14, 2021, Swift performed it as part of a medley with "Cardigan" and "Willow", the lead single off of Folklore sister record, Evermore (2020). Background and production Taylor Swift and producer Jack Antonoff had written and produced songs for Swift's previous studio albums 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), and Lover (2019). They collaborated again on Folklore, which Swift surprise-released amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Folklore was released on July 24, 2020, through Republic Records. Swift wrote or co-wrote all songs on the album, and Swift and Antonoff produced six, including "August". For the song, Antonoff produced the instrumental first, and sent it to Swift who wrote the lyrics "on the spot; it just was an intuitive thing". As with other tracks of Folklore, Swift created "August" based on a fictional narrative with imagined story arcs and characters.