This time last year, Taylor Swift fans everywhere were streaming folklore on repeat. (Let's be honest, most of us are still doing that.) Swift had just dropped the album without any warning, leading fans into a new, unchartered era. Swift's eighth studio album went on to win Album of the Year at the Grammys, as well, the singer's first since 2015.
To mark the first anniversary of folklore, Swift took to Instagram to pen a lengthy, heartfelt note to her fans. She also released an orchestral version of bonus track 'The Lakes' in celebration.
"It’s been one year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler," Swift wrote. "With tall tall trees and salt air. Where you’re allowed to wear lace nightgowns that make you look like a Victorian ghost every day & no one will side-eye you cause no one is around. It’s just you and your imaginary cabin and the stories you make up to pass the time."
"To say thank you for all you have done to make this album what it was, I wanted to give you the original version of The Lakes," she continued. "Happy 1 year anniversary to Rebekah, Betty, Inez, James, Augustine, and the lives we all created around them. Happy Anniversary, folklore."
During a recent interview with Billboard, folklore's producer and frequent Swift collaborator, Jack Antonoff, told the story of the "original" version of the bonus track. "There was this big orchestral version, and Taylor was like, ‘Eh, make it small.’ I had gotten lost in the string arrangements and all this stuff, and I took everything out. I was just like, ‘Oh, my God!’ We were not together because that record was made [remotely], but I remember being in the studio alone like, ‘Holy shit, this is so perfect.'”
Hopefully, this new take on 'The Lakes' will hold Swifties over until she drops Red (Taylor's Version) in October.