First Time Reaction to "the 1" from Taylor Swift's 'Folklore'

[@kristinotten8802]

Early in the pandemic when this surprise album dropped, it was so refreshing to hear Taylor open with the line “I’m doing good, I’m on some new shit.” There is something about this song that is so satisfying to me. Thanks for the review!

[@inmyReputation-Era]

Folklore is my comfort album. It dropped at a time when a lot of people really needed fresh music and the fact that she wrote, recorded, and dropped it within just a few months is incredibly impressive.

[@ElectricSonata]

Folklore, let’s gooo

[@_ferodriguess]

I looove this music, folklore is one of my fav albums

[@randystalnaker6700]

Well done gentlemen 👏 👏 👏 hope you guys also react to the Longpond Sessions...just her, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner in the studio, well worth it.

[@nimkiibinesiikwe]

Folklore is definitely one of her best albums 🩶🩶🩶

[@maggiepb4]

Loved the "alright now!" moment haha

[@emmavink]

2:50 I think she means professionally she's been saying yes instead of no. Even just the fact that she now swears when she wants to on whatever song she wants to was comparitibely really new in her career. I think she did the Lover album just for herself (one of my favourites because it's the first full TS album I gave a chance and I haven't looked back since). It's the first album with her new record label and the time she and Jack Antonoff really let themselves just play around and experiment with sometimes full-on quirky production on an entire project. She was also just coming out of the drama with her old record label who had controlled her image and the trajectory of her career in a very specific way until that point. Folklore is also the first move into real folk/indie music, the first time working with Aaron Dessner, the first time working with someone like Justin Vernon with Bon Iver. She said on the Long Pond Live Studio Sessions special that the pandemic could have been a time where she just let herself creatively stagnate. But saying yes to all of this new stuff really helped her through it (I'm paraphrasing...but I think that's the gist of what she was saying 😊).

[@wazeemahamed3182]

Letsss go the album of the decade

[@lubalethudube186]

Love the lyrics but it also feels so lovely to the ears. The alliteration☺️ “roaring twenties tossing pennies in the pool” love it

[@belonginsaturn]

great finally we re in folklore... pls post this is me trying

[@booluther]

Been a fan since debut and this is my fave of her albums ❤ followed by Evermore and Speak Now

[@musicfangirl7403]

The 1 is a grower. It was unimpressive to me at first too. You realize just how good it is after a handful of listens.

[@emmavink]

As others have said, this song is a grower for sure. I think the reason I personally really got into it later is that it sets the tone for the INCREDIBLE work with cadence and breath work that has become an iconic part of Taylor and Aaron's work together. The pacing of the songs they write and produce together, the focus on instrumentals, the flow of the lyrics and instrumentals with and against each other on so many songs. The canon that she does in the last part of So Long London incorporating the bell motif she sang right in the beginning as the backing vocals in a lower register at the end there... I've come to appreciate The 1 as the start of all of this work I've come to love the most from Taylor. And it's not like I don't LOVE so much of what Jack and Taylor do together. But Aaron and Taylor man....speak to my soul 😂 And the tracks that Taylor, Jack and Aaron write together? Absolute HEAVEN 😍😍😍

[@oh.sorry.dont.mind.meeeee]

I don't really understand where this idea comes from that her cursing sounds weird. I've never once thought that the way she sings a cuss word sounds odd, but that's me i guess 😅 🤷‍♀️ midnights is one of my top 3 favorite Taylor albums. Evermore being #1.

[@bensuanar7006]

I laughed so hard on alright now joke hahahah (maybe another invisible string...)

[@roxettenicolepcd]

React to Long Pond Studios since they explain the meaning of the song before playing it :)

[@emmavink]

1:41 I think the argument could be made anyway that there are strong links between Soul and Folk music. I know the US has a particular history with these genres... And now I'm wondering if Soul music is the folk music of African American history 😶 I don't mean to be flippant or offensive. I'm not from the US. But I do understand how deeply white appropriation and theft of black genres went/can still go. I suppose I'm also thinking of how maybe the Brits especially took inspiration from both genres later on and melded them. While bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen were Rock bands, both of them had songs that were heavily inspired by a folk/soul mashup. Anyone who tries to tell me that Somebody To Love isn't Soul can go jump from a dizzy height 😂 But maybe the songs I'm thinking of are all derivatives of rock...I'm not sure 😂 That being said, I understand that the history of Rock was heavily derived from soul/r&b/even jazz to an extent. Maybe all these thoughts and ramblings are just to say that I don't feel that it's a stretch to connect the two 😬

[@Violet316]

Pay attention to the tracklist, The One is the first track. Track 7 and 8 are the ones to figure out.

[@alliel9970]

this song grew on me and now I really like it. At first listen it wasn't really anything special to me. I really like the line, But we were something, don't you think so? Really drives home that idea about being able to look back and remember the good stuff, when so many songs are about remembering the bad.

[@johnseredey2858]

u both so cool, but the bald one ughh i love him❤

[@NinjaBooKitty]

Damn. He has a name. 😹😹

[@alexeusnicol]

Imma guess yall didn't like this album as much as the others based on this review. It's a much slower album (don't come at me for not subscribing to Patreon, I'm broke rn)

[@ChannelSee1]

@@alexeusnicol I actually particularly enjoyed the album. Especially the last 6 songs I think it was. There were only 2 songs in the middle I didn’t care too much for. - Cam

[@aasthasharma8392]

@@ChannelSee1 I think seeing Lond Pond sessions and listening to them talk about the context and the writing process will definitely help. It changed the way I look at some of these songs

[@ohheypaula3108]

You guys don’t understand the song and it shows. Calling the bridge mid is wild.