What Does Taylor’s “cardigan” Really Mean? Full Lyrical Analysis
Ah, cardigan. The metaphor that turned into real-life merch!
cardigan was the first single for the folklore release, and it came at a time when we were all hunkered down in the midst of the pandemic. There was nothing cozier than putting on a soft sweater and snuggling up to new Taylor music.
But is this song really as cozy as it seems at face value?
What does the cardigan symbolize? What are the most important lyrics, and whose perspective is the song written from?
Here’s my complete English teacher analysis of Taylor’s cardigan meaning, line by line.

cardigan by Taylor Swift
- Title: Cardigan
- Written by: Aaron Dessner, Taylor Swift
- Track: 2, Folklore
- Pen: Fountain
- Lyrics from Genius
cardigan Narrative Summary
- Setting: 20-30 years later, looking back.
- Characters: Narrator (Betty, through Taylor), Subject (James, “you”)
- Mood: Bittersweet nostalgia.
- Conflict: James cheats: she loses him, and he comes back.
- Inciting Incident: “Chase two girls, lose the one.”
- Quest: Rehash memory to figure out what she knew when, and what she knows now.
- Symbols & Metaphors: “cardigan”, knowing vs. not knowing, old vs. new (“Vintage tee” vs “brand new phone”, et al), “sensual politics,” “playing hide-and-seek,”
- Theme: Contrasts: old vs. new, past vs. present, love vs. loss.
- Imagery: “Vintage tee, brand new phone / High heels on cobblestones”, “Sequin smile, black lipstick,” “Dancin’ in your Levi’s / Drunk under a streetlight,” “Hand under my sweatshirt,” “like I was an old cardigan / Under someone’s bed,” “heartbeat on the High Line,” “You drew stars around my scars / but now I’m bleedin’”, “Marked me like a bloodstain,” “Running like water,” “linger like a tattoo kiss,” “The smell of smoke would hang around,” “Chasin’ shadows in the grocery line,” “standin’ in my front porch light.”
- Lesson: Love hurts, and it also heals.
What Does cardigan Mean?
cardigan is about young love: what finding it feels like, and what losing it makes you feel like.
Taylor explained, “[Cardigan] is about a lost romance and why young love is often fixed so permanently within our memories. Why it leaves such an indelible mark.”
The central metaphor of the cardigan represents how you can feel forgotten and neglected (like a lost cardigan under a dusty bed), and then all at once feel like the most special person in the world (when you’re found, and someone “wears” you as their favorite item of clothing).
Who is cardigan About?
According to Taylor, cardigan is from the perspective of Betty from the folklore love triangle. As she told us in the folklore prologue, some of the album’s songs are written from the perspective of fictional characters.
The basic plot of the love triangle is this: Betty and James are high school sweethearts.
James starts sleeping with August (or Augustine), and three folklore songs each narrate their individual perspectives on these messy romances. cardigan is Betty’s perspective, august is Augustine’s perspective, and betty is James’ perspective.
In cardigan, Betty narrates how James made her feel when they first got together using the central cardigan metaphor: she felt like a disused sweater before they met, forgotten under a dusty bed.
She then felt renewed when they began seeing each other, but then felt forgotten again after he started cheating.
cardigan Song Meaning: Line by Line

Disclaimer: Though Taylor has said that this song is from Betty’s perspective, it was still written by Taylor and cannot help but be infused with her own emotions. I use “Betty” and Taylor interchangeably in my analysis. Take from it what you will, and form your own interpretations.
Immediately, Taylor sets up a huge contrast in this track: “vintage tee” vs. “brand new phone.” It’s the old vs. the new and childhood vs. adulthood. These themes run throughout the song and the album.
“Brand new phone” alludes to the popular meme “new phone, who dis?”, meaning she (Betty or Taylor, or both) is avoiding whomever is trying to reach her. The slate is clean, and she’s starting over.
“High heels on cobblestones” feels precarious, like she needs to watch her step. And she does teeter throughout the song, between the past and the present, between security and loss. (Cobblestones also appear in betty, and they point to one particular night in the narrative).
Then we’re thrown back into the contrast of old vs new: “When you are young, they assume you know nothing.” Present-day Taylor/Betty is looking back at her younger self, comparing and contrasting versions throughout the song.
“Sequin smile” means something shiny, but it also alludes to a facade. You put on sequins for decoration; for distraction. Shiny things can reflect away from the darker truth. Is this Augustine’s “sequin smile” that distracts James?
“Black lipstick” vs. Taylor’s usual “red lip classic” alludes to mourning or a darkness brewing. Taylor’s frequent use of the red lip – both in her lyrics and in her life – gives a sexy vibe, but she also uses it as a “scarlet A”. It marks her reputation for everyone to see.
So what’s a black lip? Mourning, depression, goth/punk/emo vibes. Her bright red is gone, and all that’s left is black.
“Sequin smile” juxtaposed with “black lipstick” could be metaphors for Betty and Augustine: Augustine is the shiny distraction, while Betty is the darker, deeper one whom James leaves behind in favor of the shiny new toy.
“Sensual politics” alludes to a game between her (Taylor/Betty) and her lover. Politics is a battle for power, so “sensual politics” could mean a battle for power in a relationship, or pursuing an affair.
“When you are young they assume you know nothing,” she repeats. She’s not young anymore, and not to be underestimated.
🩶 Can you pass my tricky folklore Lyrics Quiz? 🩶
Chorus: “But I Knew You, Dancin’ in Your Levi’s”

The chorus moves from present to past tense. “I knew you,” she says, “dancin’ in your Levi’s / Drunk under a streetlight.”
She knew this person in the past, when they were both young and carefree. She pulls a scene from her memory: her lover (likely James) drunk, dancing in denim in the street. It’s a positive memory: they were close, intimate.
“I knew you,” she repeats, “hand under my sweatshirt, baby, kiss it better.” This person could soothe her like a mother kissing a boo-boo. It’s intimacy and trust personified.
Refrain: “You Put Me On And Said I Was Your Favorite”

Here’s the metaphor that encapsulates the whole song: Betty felt like an “old cardigan under someone’s bed.” What’s an old cardigan under the bed? Forgotten. Forlorn. Dusty.
“You put me on and said I was your favorite” is renewal; a new chance, becoming alive again, breathing fresh air again after being taken out from under the dusty bed.
However, “put me on” has a double meaning. The first interpretation is that it’s the cardigan being worn.
The second is to be “put on,” which is a farce or being misled. “Are you putting me on?” is a British-ism for “are you joking?”
I think both meanings are equally applicable, as we’ll learn in the next verse.
Verse 1: “Chase Two Girls, Lose The One”

The second verse starts out brutally: “a friend to all is a friend to none.”
This quote from Aristotle means that you can’t try to be everyone’s friend. It devalues friendship itself if it’s given too freely and spread too thin.
“Chase two girls, lose the one” means this person tried to be a “friend to all” – tried to romance two different girls at the same time, leading them both on. Consequently they lost “the one” – the one that could have been everything, forever. A soulmate match.
“When you are young, they assume you know nothing” is different when it’s sung again in this verse vs. the first one. This time it feels pointed, like she’s telling the cheater that she knew the whole time, and he assumed she didn’t.
She’s saying ‘I knew the whole time, even though I was young. You underestimated me.’
“I knew you,” she insists, even though he was “playing hide and seek”. She saw him for who he really was, even though he was playing games with her.
“Giving me your weekends” makes time feel as if it’s a gift to be given. He devoted entire weekends to her. But the subtext ponders: where was he during the week?
“I knew you, heartbeat on the High Line” is a reference to New York City and the iconic High Line, and “once in twenty lifetimes” is telling us that this is rare and special.
But a “high line” is also akin to a tightrope: it’s precarious, though it has a great view from the top. Will they fall after they’ve seen this spectacular view of love?
Like “dancing in your Levi’s”, she continues pulling up memories of the two of them. What they had was rare and precious: it only comes around “once in twenty lifetimes.”
Like “have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years” from Lover, the use of this particular number likely has some significance for Taylor, but we don’t know exactly what that is.
Bridge: “You Drew Stars Around My Scars / But Now I’m Bleedin'”

The cardigan metaphor repeats in the refrain, but this time – now that we have more context about what he was really up to – it hits differently.
When she repeats “said I was your favorite,” it seems like it was all a lie. He merely said she was his favorite, but was she?
The bridge then reminds us of their simpler times, when “to kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed”. When they were young, they had simple pleasures. Just being together was everything. (Kissing in cars is also used in Betty).
“You drew scars around my scars,” calls back to the central cardigan metaphor: her ex brought her back to life, loving her for even her flaws and trauma. But it also recalls a line from Peter Pan, the classic book that Taylor will reference directly in the next verse:
“Stars are beautiful, but they may not take an active part in anything, they must just look on forever.”
– Peter Pan, by JM Barrie
He drew metaphorical “stars” around the parts of her that were wounded, which was a beautiful and healing thing to do.
But then that star he drew just sits there, forever a reminder of what he was to her and how she lost him. He’s added to her scar, not healed it.
Like the stars in the sky, she must be a silent witness to everything that wounded her, especially him.
Then the last line hits hard: “but now I’m bleeding”. He’s opened all her old wounds that he previously handled with care, and now she’s bleeding all over again.
Chorus: “Peter Losing Wendy”

“I knew you,” she says, “steppin’ on the last train.” He leaves in a rush, trying to catch the “last train” out of her life.
This marked her “like a bloodstain,” which references her bleeding scars from the previous bridge. Blood stains are usually permanent – especially on clothing (like a cardigan), and this damage can never be rubbed clean.
Here, the repetition of “I knew you” is different because of what follows: “I knew you tried to change the ending.” Her ex tried to change the past, but it didn’t work. Even if they reunite, the blood stain – the memory of what he did – will be there always, a haunting reminder.
“Peter losing Wendy” is another metaphor for childhood, referencing the classic story of Peter Pan. In that book, Peter promises Wendy that he’ll grow up and come back to her when he’s older.
But when he returns, he’s still the same young boy, and she’s grown into a woman. Peter stays in Neverland, having adventures (“on your own”?) as a permanently immature boy. It can never work with Peter and Wendy, because he refuses to grow up. He loses Wendy because of his immaturity.
“I knew you, leavin’ like a father” means her whole world was torn apart when he left. A piece of her was ripped off.
“When you are young, they assume you know nothing” about why your “father” left, but in reality, you know everything. You know why he left. You know how much it hurts. You know how it makes you feel worthless and unlovable.
The pain of this lover leaving is exactly that deep: like losing a parent. He just took off without explanation, “running like water.” He flowed right out of her life.
“And when you are young they assume you know nothing,” she repeats again. But she knew it all. She remembers it all.
Verse 3: “I Knew You’d Linger Like a Tattoo Kiss”

The final verse ties everything together in a big bow of devastation and uncertainty.
“I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss” means the memory of him will never leave her, like a permanent tattoo of red lips, or a bloodstain. This also harkens back to This Love (“this love left a permanent mark”, which also references love returning).
“I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs” means she will continue to try to go back and mentally change the past. What if one thing had been different? Would he have been the one then?
She knew that “the smell of smoke would hang around this long”. The memory of him is like the smoke of a smoldering fire, hanging heavy in the air. She can’t clear it; it lingers.
“Cause I knew everything when I was young” isn’t as straightforward this time around. It’s satire: she didn’t know everything then; there’s no way she could have known that she’d never be able to let go of him.
“I knew I’d curse you for the longest time,” she says, “chasing shadows in the grocery line.” She is haunted by his ghost, which she sees in stranger’s faces in the grocery store. She curses his name, wishing she could rid her mind of these hallucinations.
“I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired” means once he was done ‘chasing two girls’, he’d return to her. Once the thrill of the chase ended, he’d return to what he really needed.
He’d come back, and “be standin’ in my front porch light.” He’ll return to his metaphorical ‘home,’ where he belongs. The truth would come to light, illuminated by the light at her doorstep.
“And you’d come back to me,” she repeats over and over, as if chanting this affirmation will make it so.
In betty, he does come back. But the resolution is unclear in both songs.
Refrain: “When I Felt Like I Was an Old Cardigan”

The last refrain is such a bittersweet ending. Did they, in fact, reunite? It seems so, but it’s intentionally vague.
She repeats for the last time: “and when I felt like I was an old cardigan.” She felt forgotten before she met him, and she felt forgotten again after he left for another woman.
But after he comes back when they’re older, he ‘puts her on’ again, and reassures her that she’s his favorite.
But is she his favorite? Or will he only discard her under the bed once again, bleeding, in a slowly smoldering room?
🩶 Can you pass my tricky folklore Lyrics Quiz? 🩶
cardigan Lyrics Analysis: Final Thoughts
cardigan is one of the most lyrically complex and masterful songs Taylor had written up until this point. The interpretations are endless, but overall, this song is about memory, growing up, losing love, and finding it again.
Most importantly, it’s about how love changes you, and how you can’t predict the future or change the past. Everything in your past can still affect your present: your view of yourself, your view of your great loves, and the emotional devastation that you may never recover from.
Whether this song is from Betty’s perspective or Taylor’s, we’ll never know. But one thing’s for sure: Taylor’s real emotions are on the page, as they always are.
She can pretend to be another character telling the story, but the text still means the same thing. And it’s a devastating read.
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