First listen to @taylorswift13 folklore, ‘betty’ became one of my favorites (though I can never really have favorites with a Taylor Swift album). But before I knew the whole love triangle story of folklore, here’s what I initially thought:

The song might be an allusion to All Too Well and The Moment I Knew of Red album. And James’ character could symbolically be the person both songs are referring to.

Remember in ‘The Moment I Knew’:

“And what do you do when the one who means the most to you is the one who didn’t
show”

“You should’ve been here
And I would’ve been so happy”

A song of disappointment and sadness which pertains to the guy who didn’t show up at her party.

And in ‘betty’, the guy feels remorse and says with hope:

“But if I just showed up at your party, would you have me? Would you want me?”

Also, in ‘All Too Well’ she was vividly reminiscing their time at a streetlight:

“You almost ran the red ‘cause you were lookin’ over me”

He admires her so much that he can’t take his eyes off of her.

But in the outro of ‘betty’, the guy now mentions:

“Kissing in my car again
Stopped at a streetlight”

The lines could probably mean they got back together or that it was just his wishful thinking. But the last line makes me believe that it was the latter - that she’s no longer with him at the passenger seat and in his life.

I know the songs have similar imagery but are not interrelated at all since we all know who those songs in Red are referring to.

But I’d like to think that Taylor gave the guy (of the two songs in Red), though in a different context, the chance to address how sorry he is for what he had done to their relationship through ‘betty’ song.

This may not be compelling, but I just wanted to share how keen we could be with @taylorswift13 lines/songs (though I don’t really make connections at all sometimes ). Hahaha. If you’ve reached the end of this thread, thanks for reading and stay safe! That’s it. Bye!