a
t
e
e
t
h
r s
c
r i explication joaquin arig
c
o
m
y
what about folklore and taylor swift? Folklore is Taylor Swift's 8th studio album, which came as a surprise release during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She describes the album as "a collection of songs that flowed like a stream of consciousness." For over 10 years, the criticallyacclaimed singer-songwriter has transitioned seamlessly from country music to pop (and both), bearing chart-topping hits "Love Story" (2008), "Shake It Off" (2014), "Blank Space" (2014), and "Lover" (2019) among others. Simply put, there is an implied pressure for Swift to produce hits — And Folklore did not disappoint. The album debuted by breaking the record for the biggest opening day on Spotify for an album by a female act. Several tracks of Folklore reached the top 10 of the record charts in many countries. Some of those included were "Cardigan", "The 1" and "Exile", the first being the album's lead single and marked Swift's 6th number-one song on the US Billboard Hot 100 (Wikipedia). Furthermore, this album deviated from the usual upbeat production of her previous albums (1989, Reputation, Lover). Folklore consists of mellow ballads driven by instruments in indie folk and alternative rock genres. The album was said to be influenced by loneliness during quarantine, resulting in glaring "themes of escapism, empathy, nostalgia, and romance" throughout. These themes were achieved by creating fictional characters, narratives, and stories or folklores, that will be more apparent if listeners go through the album in order, revealing a series of songs that would seem to tell a story. But perhaps, the most impressive thing about Folklore is how it flaunts Swift's mastery of lyricism, breaking away from norms in pop music writing style. The seemingly poetic lyrics and relaxed pace highlights the album's imagery — being in an urban environment, in the woods, and in an isolated cottage. For these reasons, the album received major critical acclaim. It won Album of the Year at the 63rd Grammy Awards, making Taylor Swift the first woman in history to win the honors thrice, the other two albums being Fearless (2008) and 1989 (2014).
1
Folklore carries amazing tracks, poetic lyricism, and a fresh genre in terms of its general theme (I can't speak for everyone). "my tears ricochet" is one song that immediately caught my attention when I first heard it, simply because I loved how it sounded but couldn't understand a single thing about what it meant. I also thought the title itself is interesting, specifically the word "ricochet." It isn't one of the album's "mainstream" songs per se, despite having 200M+ streams on Spotify. I like songs that aren't too mainstream.
you know I didn't want to have to haunt you but what a ghostly scene
If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes too
you're the hero flying around saving face
why, why my tears riochet
30
35 5
40
10 45
15 50
20
25
3
I'll begin my analysis of "my tears ricochet" by looking at its structure and the types of literary devices that were utilized. The song employs a free verse. Its type of rhythm is a rising duple, although the number of syllables per line is not consistent. The song utilizes metaphors, juxtaposition, symbolism, hyperbole, wit, irony, and detailed imagery. Furthermore, it also implemented some rhymes, particularly slant rhyme (e.g. gracebrave), alliteration (e.g. we-weeping), and assonance (saving-face). Taylor Swift also made great use of diction to enhance and be consistent with the song's appeal (e.g. weeping, wake, tears, haunt, ghostly, hell) contributing to its overall portrayal. Now, the title itself is interesting. Ricochet, in its verb form, is defined as "rebounding or bouncing one or more times off a surface." Tears simply don't do this in a literal sense, so we can infer that tears might mean something else in this context. When people think of ricochet, some might think of bullets. The "tears" in the title might be weaponized in some way, and the title implies that the speaker's tears might be something that affects the people around her. The song begins with an image of a funeral (lines 1-4). This 'funeral' connotes an end of something, which can be a relationship or something that is important to the speaker. Lines 3-4 supports the argument above, which shows how the speaker's sadness can affect people. The speaker also hints at bitterness toward someone (referred to as 'you') throughout the song in lines 5-6, 10-14, 21-23, 34-35, 42-43, and 47-53. But despite this bitterness, this person is someone the speaker deeply loved, and the speaker being someone this person valued (lines 7-8, 24-26, 29, 36-39). The degree of this relationship is emphasized by saying "I loved you, I swear I loved you." The effects of the ricocheting of the speaker's tears becomes more apparent as the person she is alluding to appears to "save face," was killed the same way, and "turned into his worst fears." While the title seems to make more sense as we read through, the relationship between the speaker and the person she is referring to remain ambiguous. It could be a lover, a family, or a friend. Or taking context into consideration, the speaker could be Taylor Swift herself, and she may be describing her former record label which generated a lot of drama, leading her to re-record her previous songs and albums.
my tears ricochet explained
my tears ricochet in folklore As how I described Folklore earlier, its seemingly poetic lyrics and relaxed pace highlights the album's imagery — being in an urban environment, in the woods, and in an isolated cottage. Given this premise, the album gives emphasis to nostalgia, romance, the nostalgia of romance, darkness, and every human emotion you might feel in the wilderness. "my tears ricochet' is not part of any song trilogy within the album that many fans, and even critics speculate (these songs being 'betty' 'cardigan' and 'august'), nor is it one of the more romantic or fun series of tracks (not that there's a lot anyway). But it's the dark contrast of each theme, or the darker of the already dark, of almost everything the album represents. But here is the most interesting fact perhaps: Taylor Swift said in an interview, that this song is the first one she wrote for the album. And it set the tone for all its imagery and feels.
5
Nevertheless, most songs in the industry are meant to be open-ended, and may be understood in different contexts by different people. It is also key to understand how one song fits in the context of the album itself. If you'd like give the album a listen, I've linked it through the QR code below.
folklore the 1 cardigan the last great amercian dynasty exile (ft. bon iver) my tears ricochet mirrorball seven august this is me trying illicit affairs invisible strong mad woman epiphany betty peace hoax the lakes (bonus track)
my tears ricochet explication