Taylor Swift Shares Orchestral Version of ‘The Lakes’ on ‘Folklore’ Anniversary

On the first anniversary of Folklore, Taylor Swift has shared the original and orchestral version of “The Lakes,” the bonus track from her eighth studio album.

“It’s been one year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler,” Swift wrote on social media Saturday.

“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.”

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The song’s producer Jack Antonoff recently told Billboard, “On one of my favorite songs on Folklore, ‘The Lakes,’ 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.’”

“The Lakes,” co-produced by Antonoff, originally appeared as a bonus track on the physical deluxe editions of Folklore, written and recorded during the Covid-19 quarantine and surprise-released on July 24th, 2020; Folklore would become the best-selling album of the year. A sister album, Evermore, arrived five months later in December 2020.

Swift, as promised, has spent much of 2021 delivering “Taylor’s Versions” of her previous studio albums, beginning with Fearless and, later this year, Red.