If you were cruising the internet anytime at all during the past weekend (especially Stan Twitter), then you already know Taylor Swift's newest surprise record Folklore, is the talk of the town. But though her eighth studio album is filled with all sorts of downtempo, folk-driven masterpieces, it's one song in particular—"Betty"—that has queer girls all over the world wondering exactly what the heck is going on, especially since it seems like Taylor is singing about a sad love story between women.
Well, after Queer Girl Twitter went absolutely crazy wondering who or what the eff "Betty" was about, and although Swift herself has yet to specifically address it herself, one of her Folklore collaborators, The National's Aaron Dessner is going on the record to talk about the song, and who he thinks it's about...kinda.
In a recent interview with Vulture where he breaks down the story behind every single track on Folklore, Dessner reveals how "Betty" came to be.
"This one Taylor and William wrote, and then both Jack and I worked on it," he said. "We all kind of passed it around. This is the one where Taylor wanted a reference. She wanted it to have an early Bob Dylan, sort of a Freewheelin’ feel. We pushed it a little more towards John Wesley Harding, since it has some drums. It’s this epic narrative folk song where it tells us a long story and connects back to "cardigan." It starts to connect dots and I think it’s a beautifully written folk song."
And when asked explicitly about whether or not "Betty" was written from a queer perspective, he had this to say...
"I can’t speak to what it’s about. I have my own ideas," he said, telling Vulture he can only give readers his own interpretations of Swift's songs and can't officially confirm whether or not "Betty" is queer. "I also know where Taylor’s heart is, and I think that’s great anytime a song takes on greater meaning for anyone."
While Dessner's answer kinda leaves us wanting a lot more specificity, and now we're more confused than we were going in, until Taylor addresses and speaks on the song for herself, we'll be holding on to the belief that Taylor gave us one of the decade's best, most emotional sapphic love anthems of recent memory.
Listen to "Betty" below. Folklore is available wherever you stream music.
