folklore, first take:

Marvel publishes alternate-continuity comics called What If?, soon to be adapted as TV, about what would happen if significant Marvelverse events had gone differently

folklore is a What If? concept album on the theme “What if Taylor Swift’s life wasn’t a success?”

Like the 1 is “What if she never got over her bad breakups”, mirrorball is “What if she never learned to weaponize the bpd dynamic from Blank Space and it broke her?”, the last great american dynasty is “What if that period romance from Starlight didn’t have a happy ending”, there’s a few “What if she never escaped the undertow of small-town Pennsylvania adolescence?”

Also:

• it starts off as a bedroom pop album then in the middle turns into 90s VH1 chick-pop(!!!) mirrorball is dream pop, august is Natalie Merchant, I’m pretty sure mad woman is invoking Tori fucking Amos
• speaking of which, the vice element added this album is “cursing”
• none of the titles are capitalized
• It’s better than any of her other stuff than maybe Lover, but I still like Red better