Taylor Swift Celebrates Folklore 's 1-Year Anniversary with Orchestral Version of 'The Lakes'
Taylor Swift has found a special way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of folklore.
On Saturday, the 31-year-old pop star dropped an orchestral version of bonus track "The Lakes" from her 2020 album in honor of the occasion.
"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," Swift captioned a pair of photos that showed her exploring on the beach.
"It's been one year since we escaped the real world together and imagined ourselves someplace simpler. 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," she continued. "It's just you and your imaginary cabin and the stories you make up to pass the time."
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The album was the first to sell one million copies in the United States last year, after spending several weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. The hard copy featured "The Lakes" before it began streaming later that year on August 18.
Swift's album finished the year as the top-selling album in the U.S., a feat she has now accomplished five times since 2009.
In May, folklore won pop album of the year 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Swift opened up about her emotional attachment to the album during her acceptance speech.
Taylor Swift/Instagram
"Folklore was an album that I made in the very beginning of the pandemic. I started writing it, and I feel like it became a sort of emotional life raft for me to pour my feelings into," the singer said.
Swift also thanked collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff for their creativity, which she said "completely changed" her life. "I feel like we're going to be friends forever," she said.
RELATED: Taylor Swift Calls Folklore Her 'Emotional Life Raft' at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards
"We all needed to escape into stories, whether movies or TV or film or music, and the fact that you chose this album, I am so honored by that," Swift later added. "You really wrapped your arms around it. Some day we'll get to wrap our arms each other when we see each other again."
Swift dropped a second album of the year entitled evermore in December. The "Blank Space" singer wrote and produced both albums during the pandemic.
Taylor Swift/Instagram
In March, Swift told PEOPLE that she learned that "oftentimes less is more" in producing an album.
"An album photo shoot can really be as simple as walking out into a field with one photographer at your friends' farm and you can do your own hair and makeup for it," she said.
"You can write songs without traveling or being in the same space as another collaborator. You can tell your fans about what you made without going on an international promo tour," she added. "These things are options I didn't explore before and I'm glad that I know they exist now."
