"Cardigan" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her eighth studio album, Folklore. It was serviced by Republic Records to radio stations on July 27, 2020 as the lead single from the album. The song was written by Swift and Aaron Dessner and produced by the latter. "Cardigan" is a moody, slow-burning, folk and soft rock ballad that sees Swift singing about a romance lost in memories, over stripped-down instrumentals consisting of a tender piano and a clopping drum sample. Upon release, "Cardigan" received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised the vivid songwriting and the laid-back arrangement. The song debuted at number one on the global Spotify songs chart, receiving over 7.742 million streams, garnering the biggest opening-day for a song in 2020. An accompanying music video for the song—written, directed, and styled by Swift—was released alongside album launch. The dreamy video presents a cottagecore aesthetic and features Swift in three different settings: a cozy cabin in the woods, a magical moss-covered forest and a dark stormy sea. An acoustic "Cabin in Candlelight" version of the song was released in digital, streaming, and physical formats on July 30, 2020.
Composition and lyrics
"Cardigan" is a wistful, slow-burning, folk and soft rockballad driven by a stripped-down arrangement of a tender piano and a clopping drum sample, over a moody atmosphere. The production also involves a melancholic violins and a buoyant Mellotronriff. The lyrics display confidence, but are also "slightly embittered". Swift told her fans that "Cardigan" is about "a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories". It is one of the three of the tracks on the album that depict the same love triangle from three different perspectives at different times in their lives. In the song, Swift sings from the perspective of a fictional character named Betty, who recalls the separation and enduring optimism of a relationship with a man named James. Swift also mentions Peter Pan and High Line in the song, and uses a cardigan as a metaphor for a "lingering physical memento" of the relationship. While promoting the limited edition version of the single, Swift told fans on her Instagram story that she sent the original songwriting voice memo to Aaron Dessner on April 27, 2020 after hearing the instrumental tracks he created. Dessner said "Cardigan" was the first song written in their collaboration. According to Dessner, Swift wrote the lyrics to his music in around five hours.
Music video
Synopsis
An accompanying music video for "Cardigan"—written, directed, and styled by Swift—was released along with the album. The "homespun" and "dreamlike" video starts out with Swift sitting in a candlelit cottage in the woods, wearing a nightgown and playing a vintage upright piano. When the soundboard starts glowing, she climbs into it and is magically transported to a moss-covered forest, where she plays the song on a grand piano producing a waterfall. The piano bench starts to glow and she climbs into it. She gets transported to a dark stormy sea, where she holds on to a floating piano. The piano soundboard glows and she climbs in, and she returns to the cottage, where she dons a cardigan. The video is characterized by a prairie, cottagecore aesthetic.
Production
Swift contacted cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto in early July to work on the video; Prieto had previously worked on the music video for "The Man", Swift's official solo directorial debut. As the director, Swift worked with assistant director Joe Osborne and set designerEthan Tobman. Swift developed the concept for the video, which Prieto described as "more ambiguous", "more personal", and "more of a fantasy" than "The Man". Ahead of filming, Swift drafted a shot list of the video, detailing the video's scenes with specific time sequences in the song, and sent visual references to Prieto and Tobman to communicate her vision of the video. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges to filming, and extensive safety standards were enacted. All crew members underwent COVID-19 testing, wore masks at all times, and practiced social distancing as much as possible. An onsite medical inspector supervised COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. As Swift had to remain unmasked for large amounts of time while filming, crew members wore color-coded wristbands to denote those allowed to come within close contact with her. Additionally, the entire video was filmed from a camera mounted to a robotic arm controlled by a remote operator, a technique usually reserved for crane shots and establishing shots. Aside from directing and acting, Swift also did her own makeup, hair, and styling for the video. To keep the song a secret, Swift wore an earpiece and lip-synced to the song. The video was filmed indoors over one day and-a-half.
Critical reception
The song received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Callie Ahlgrim of Insider dubbed the lyrics of "Cardigan" as an "effective way" to "evoke young love and innocence lost", describing them as simple, sharp and extremely poignant. Pitchfork's Jillian Mapes wrote that the song's "overlapping details and central framing device—of a cardigan forgotten and found without a second thought—are pure Swift". Courteney Larocca of Insider opined that the song has Lana Del Rey influences. Laura Snapes of The Guardian described the song as "cavernous and shimmering as a rock pool in a cave". Jill Gutowitz of Vulture characterized "Cardigan" as "adorable, and yet, again, hurtful". Caragh Medlicott of Wales Arts Review deemed the song as "a resurgence of self-worth discovered, somewhat ironically, through the love of another". Uproxx's Philip Cosores stated that "Cardigan" is "rooted in the vivid details and melodic warmth that characterizes much of music". Entertainment Weekly's Maura Johnston termed the song's lyrics as "confident" but "slightly embittered". Roisin O'Connor of The Independent compared the song to "Call It What You Want" from Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation, while Spin's Bobby Olivier compared it to "Wildest Dreams" from her fifth studio album, 1989.
Commercial performance
"Cardigan" debuted at number-one on global Spotify songs chart with over 7.742 million streams, garnering the biggest opening-day for a song in 2020. The song hit number one in Australia, becoming Swift's sixth chart-topping single in the country and her first since 2017's "Look What You Made Me Do". It was one of the five songs that debuted in the top in the country making Folklore the album with the most top 10 songs of 2020 in the country. In the UK the song debuted at number 6 with two other songs from the album also debuting in the top 10 taking Swift's total UK top-ten hits to sixteen and making her the first woman in UK history to debut three top-ten songs simultaneously. In Ireland the song debuted at number 4 along with tracks "Exile" and "The 1" also debuting in the top 10 of Irish Singles Chart, bringing Swift's career total top-ten hits to fifteen. In New Zealand the song debuted at number two with "Exile" and "The 1" again debuting in the top 10 bringing Swift's total top ten hits in the country to nineteen.
