I Am Ash from your Fire: Narración, Imágenes y Performance de la Música Folk en el Disco folklore de Taylor Swift

Authors

  • Vanesa Sara Venditti Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Keywords:

folklore – Taylor Swift –performance- lyrics

Abstract

English folk music motifs have been passed down through generations and they can still be found in current songs. However, they are less likely to be found in the lyrics of artists who are as popular as Taylor Swift. What is more, folklore is an album that is markedly different from her previous productions in this approach to alternative/indie music. Those folk music motifs that are studied in this paper are the narration of stories from multiple points of view and their narrators; the type of language used in the lyrics, which is closely related to historical nostalgia and the search for a return to nature; and the performance of a particular aesthetic known as “cottagecore”. The influence of a distinct production frame given social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic is critical to explain the drastic change in the artist’s lyrics and aesthetic in this production and how the album came to be promoted. In this way, different narrative and performative aspects account for the transmission of a palpable wish to transcend the contemporary and reach a legacy state for future generations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Vanesa Sara Venditti, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata

Venditti, Vanesa Sara. Traductora Pública y Profesora de Inglés. Ayudante de Literatura Contemporánea de Inglaterra y Estados Unidos y Literatura Comparada (UNMDP). Estudiante de la Maestría en Literaturas Comparadas (UCA)

References

Bell, K. (2020). “Despite Her Best Efforts, Taylor Swift's 'folklore' Is Still a Pop Album.” Exclaim! https://exclaim.ca/music/article/taylor_swift_folklore_album_review

Cohen, J. (2020). “Taylor Swift's Folklore Album Lyrics Decoded: Love, Loss and a "Mad Woman"” E News. https://www.eonline.com/news/1173453/taylor-swifts-folklore-album-lyrics-decoded-love-loss-and-a-mad-woman

Frith, S. (2014). "Performance". Ritos de la interpretación: Sobre el valor de la música popular. Buenos Aires: Paidós, pp. 355-393.

Huber, E. (2020). “Folklore Fashion, According To Taylor Swift.” Refinery29. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/07/9931460/taylor-swift-folklore-fashion-clothing-trend

Huff, L. (2020). “Taylor Swift unveils William Bowery's identity, and more revelations from Folklore concert film.” Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/music/taylor-swift-folklore-concert-film-revelations/

Karjalainen, N. (2015). “Nostalgia in the Media Representations of Female Folk Singers.” VAKKI symposium XXXV. Vaasa 12–13. http://www.vakki.net/publications/no4_fin.html

Keegan-Phipps, S. (2017). “Identifying the English: essentialism and multiculturalism in contemporary English folk music,” Ethnomusicology Forum, 26:1, 3-25, DOI: 10.1080/17411912.2017.1302809

Kornhaber, S. (2020). “Taylor Swift Is No Longer Living in the Present.” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/taylor-swift-folklore-review-power-storytelling/614698/

Opperman, J. (2021). “Taylor Swift Is Singing Us Back to Nature.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/opinion/taylor-swift-grammys-nature-lyrics.html

Roy, W. (2002). “Aesthetic Identity, Race, and American Folk Music.” Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 25, No. 3.

Shuldiner, D. (1978). “The Content and Structure of English Ballads and Tales.” Western States Folklore Society, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 267-280. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1499206

Suskind, A. (2020). “Taylor Swift broke all her rules with Folklore — and gave herself a much-needed escape.” Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/music/taylor-swift-entertainers-of-the-year-2020/

Swift, T. (2020). folklore. Republic Records y Taylor Swift Productions, Inc.

---------- [@taylorswift13] (24 de julio 2020). In isolation my imagination has run wild and this album is the result. I’ve told these stories to the best [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1286513561553047557

Taylor, D. (2012). “Introducción: Performance, teoría y práctica”. Performance. Buenos Aires: Asunto Impreso ediciones.

Titon, J. T. (1992). “Music, Folk and Traditional.” Folklore, Cultural Performances, and Popular Entertainments: A Communications-centered Handbook. Bauman, R. (ed). New York, Oxford University Press.

Wisdom, S (2011). "Ballads, Culture and Performance in England 1640-1660." Thesis, Georgia State. University. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/history_theses/50

Published

2023-12-01 — Updated on 2023-12-03

Versions

How to Cite

Venditti, V. S. (2023). I Am Ash from your Fire: Narración, Imágenes y Performance de la Música Folk en el Disco folklore de Taylor Swift. Bridging Cultures, (8). Retrieved from https://e-revistas.uca.edu.ar/index.php/BRID/article/view/4929 (Original work published December 1, 2023)

Issue

Section

Artículos