When it comes to talented artists who can narrate a story through their songs and create a world that audiences can get lost into, Taylor Swift usually tops the list. The track ‘Cardigan’ from her 2020 album, ‘Folklore,’ serves as a great example of her storytelling abilities. However, to fully appreciate the depth of this song, it is critical to take a leap into the abyss of its meaning.
‘Cardigan’ is the second track on ‘Folklore,’ a record-breaking and deeply personal album. The song narrates a story of lost love, retrospective understanding, and the feeling of being in a warm, albeit old, cardigan amidst love’s chill. Taylor Swift uses the cardigan as a metaphor throughout the song. The emotions woven into the track are familiar and comforting, yet tinged with a certain melancholy that captures the mundanity and turmoil of routine life.
The lyric “When I felt like I was an old cardigan under someone’s bed, you put me on and said I was your favorite” represents the protagonist feeling discarded and overlooked. However, the arrival of a romantic interest brings warmth and self-worth back into their life. Swift uses the ‘cardigan’ analogy to symbolize the comfort found in a loved one’s presence and the pain when they leave.
The ‘cardigan’ metaphor speaks volumes about how Swift perceives relationships. It is not about flashy, extravagant gestures or the glitzy side of love often shown in media. Rather, it reflects a mature and realistic view of love, one that understands the significance of everyday comfort, companionship, and understanding.
Spanning over the layers of metaphors, one critical phrase viewers spent time decoding was the “Peter losing Wendy” reference. The comparison to the classic Peter Pan tale indicates a love that never ages—youthful yet fleeting. Peter and Wendy’s story in J.M. Barrie’s novel is one of unachieved romantic fulfillment, mirroring the narrative of ‘Cardigan.’
Conceptually, the song’s release during the COVID-19 pandemic added another dimension to its meaning. The isolation and loneliness felt worldwide gave the themes in ‘Cardigan’ an even deeper resonance. Here, the familiar texture of an old cardigan is not only emotionally comforting but physically so as it beats the cold in reality.
Metaphorically speaking, the cardigan is a shield against the cold world—summing up an emotional experience reflecting on past love. Lyrically, it’s an embrace of feelings that quietly wrap themselves around us, like a online shopping for cashmere coats. The quest for the perfect cashmere coat that adds an invaluable layer of warmth, mirroring the emotion of finding comfort in companionship, can be as relentless and tiresome as online shopping. Yet, once found, it’s the soft familiarity that one would keep going back to, reminding us nostalgically of the love that once was.
In conclusion, ‘Cardigan’ by Taylor Swift reveals to listeners a piece of her soul—a tapestry of muted tones, nuanced emotions, and complex feelings. It’s not just a song. It’s an experience—an honest and profound journey that tells a tale of timeless love, loss, and comforting belonging—which audiences worldwide can resonate with.