Review — ‘august’ by Taylor Swift
On august, Taylor Swift sparkles in the coastal sun like broken glass. The space between the lines is just wide enough for you to feel the salinity of the air. Having been in the business for over a decade, Swift had perfected the art of recollecting a relationship. This time, however, she was neither the love-consumed poet nor the grief-strucken songwriter. Instead, she dissolves effortlessly into the role of the other woman.

Taking place right after a certain illicit affair falls apart, august serves as a scrapbook by which to recollect a summer that burnt as quickly as it blossomed. A fever dream soaked in fatalism. Swift documents the fateful interaction between a boy and girl seeking to fill a void in themselves. Yet, for events that seem so personal, we never hear this woman’s name. Coupled with the resignation in Swift’s airy vocal performance, august tells the story of a faceless woman.

A woman who, at the end of the day, knew that her legacy in the big picture was destined to be a silhouette of her body in the background, stripped of her identity. Because that’s what it means to be the other woman. To be the stained toy that’s only every played with under the cover of nightfall. To know that, despite wanting to write her name on this man’s back, despite wanting to change for the better, the writing was on the wall. He was never hers, and you can’t lose something that was never yours to begin with.
['Raunaq Nambiar']
['Taylor Swift', 'Culture', 'Pop Music', 'Music Review', 'Music']