Ivy

ivy: Taylor Swift's Hidden Gem and the Folklore Era's Emotional Depth

"ivy" is one of the most quietly devastating songs in Taylor Swift's catalog, a track that arrived as part of a sprawling and unexpected creative moment that redefined her artistic standing. The song appeared on "folklore," Swift's eighth studio album, which was released with minimal advance notice on July 24, 2020. The album's sudden arrival, announced just one day before it dropped, was itself a statement about the pandemic era of music, a period when conventional promotional cycles had been disrupted and artists were finding new ways to release work and connect with audiences.

"folklore" was produced almost entirely by Aaron Dessner of The National alongside Swift's longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. Dessner had not previously worked with Swift, and his involvement represented a significant departure from the glossy pop production that had characterized her most recent commercial work on "reputation" and "Lover." The album's acoustic, lo-fi aesthetic, full of layered guitars, intimate piano, and restrained arrangements, created the sonic environment in which a song like "ivy" could exist. Aaron Dessner co-wrote and produced "ivy" with Swift, and the track exemplifies the collaborative chemistry that made the album one of the most critically acclaimed releases of 2020.

The song was not released as a single, functioning instead as one of seventeen tracks on an album that was treated by listeners and critics almost as a unified artistic statement rather than a collection of individual songs designed for radio play. In the streaming era, this approach had become more viable, and "folklore" demonstrated its commercial effectiveness. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 846,000 equivalent album units in its first week, the largest single-week sales total of 2020 up to that point. It spent multiple weeks at the top of the chart and earned Swift critical recognition that extended well beyond her established fanbase.

Within the album, "ivy" occupies a particularly complex emotional position. It tells a story of forbidden or complicated love, drawing on imagery from nature and from gothic literary traditions. The use of ivy as a central metaphor, a plant that clings, grows, and can both beautify and consume, gives the song a structural elegance that rewards repeated listening. Swift had long been admired for her lyrical specificity and her ability to anchor emotional states in concrete images, and "ivy" exemplifies those qualities with particular intensity. The song builds gradually, its arrangement expanding to mirror the emotional escalation of its narrative.

"folklore" went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 63rd Grammy Awards in March 2021, making Swift the first woman to win that award three times. While "ivy" was not among the tracks most frequently cited in singles chart discussions, it became one of the most beloved songs on an album that fans treated with unusual devotion. The track accumulated hundreds of millions of streams across platforms, driven largely by fan recommendation and playlist inclusion rather than radio promotion, reflecting the changing dynamics of how album tracks reached large audiences in the early 2020s.

The recording process for "folklore" was entirely remote, conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. Dessner and Swift collaborated across distance, exchanging files and building tracks through digital means rather than in-person studio sessions. This method of working, while born of necessity, contributed to the album's intimate and somewhat withdrawn sonic character. "ivy" in particular sounds like a song that could only have been made in isolation, its introspective quality matching the circumstances of its creation. Swift spoke in interviews about the album representing a kind of imaginative escape, a turn toward fiction and storytelling at a time when the external world had contracted dramatically.

The song also represented an evolution in Swift's relationship to the musical traditions she was drawing from. "folklore" was widely discussed as her embrace of indie folk and alternative influences that had previously been present only at the margins of her work. Artists like The National, Big Red Machine, and the broader landscape of literary indie rock were audible touchstones. "ivy" sat comfortably within that genealogy while maintaining the melodic accessibility that had always been central to Swift's artistic identity. The combination drew listeners who had dismissed her earlier pop work and reinforced the loyalty of those who had always admired her songwriting. Critics at publications including Pitchfork, which had historically been skeptical of Swift's work, responded to "folklore" with considerable enthusiasm, and "ivy" was repeatedly cited as one of its highlights.