What Is the Taylor Swift Song “Fortnight” Really About?

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Plus, what Taylor herself has said about the meaning of “Fortnight”
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We’ve spent well over a fortnight with Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department on repeat—but has that been enough time to decode the dreamy and melancholy lyrics of its lead single? “Fortnight,” the opening track of the album featuring a heartbreaking duet between Swift and Post Malone, details the aftermath of a brief but painful romance. But, as ever with everyone’s favorite prolific songstress (and chairman), there’s much more to this tortured poetry than meets the eye—read on for the full meaning of “Fortnight.” 🖋️🥀🤍

“Fortnight” Lyrics Meaning (Taylor Swift)

“Fortnight” by Taylor Swift (feat. Post Malone) depicts a short but meaningful romance that only lasts a fortnight—aka, two-ish weeks. The lead single off of The Tortured Poets Department features a female narrator who spirals into depression after her heartbreak, singing I love you, it’s ruining my life .

Section 1 of 7:

What is Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” about?

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    “Fortnight” is a British term (mostly used in the mid-1800s) to describe a two-week-long period. [1] While the lyrics definitely depict a tumultuous but significant relationship between Swift and Post Malone’s personas, fans interpret the “fortnight” aspect of the song differently. Some believe that the song is about two former lovers who have since moved on and married other people but live in the same small town as neighbors and must reckon with their lingering heartbreak. [2]
    • Others interpret the song as the immediate heartbreak and spiral into depression after the end of a two-week-long relationship (perfect for the situationship era , Taylor!). Instead of actually being married and moved on, this theory poses that Swift’s narrator is simply imagining a future where her recent lover has a great life with a loving wife ( Your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her ) while she never gets her happy ending ( My husband is cheating / I want to kill him ).
    • Alternatively, the use of the term “fortnight” may not literally mean that the couple was only together for two weeks. Instead, it may show how Swift is reflecting on this relationship years later and thinking about how their time together feels so brief compared to their time apart, or how she feels like she didn’t have him for long enough—they were forever for only a fortnight .
    • Undeniably, however, the lyrics definitely portray the lingering impact of this relationship on both parties: I love you, it’s ruining my life / I touched you for only a fortnight / But I touched you . [3]
    • It’s worth noting that The Tortured Poets Department is interpreted as exploring the five stages of grief, with Swift going so far as to create Apple Music playlists with her songs categorized into denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. “Fortnight” is included on the “Depression” playlist. [4]
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Section 2 of 7:

Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” Lyric Analysis

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    “Fortnight” opens with I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me / I was a functioning alcoholic / ‘Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic . With these first lines, Swift immediately reveals the emotionally fragile state of her character, even portraying her as potentially volatile and violent—as she was supposedly deemed too dangerous to run free but also couldn’t be locked away. [5]
    • The opening phrase I was supposed to be sent away may also be an extension of a line from the Midnights track “ Hits Different :” Is it okay? / Is it you? / Or have they come to take me away? [6] The repetition of this sentiment may reveal that Swift sometimes feels like others perceive her as unstable or fears that people are catching on to her flaws.
    • The functioning alcoholic line suggests that the narrator was relying on alcohol to cope with her heartbreak, but the statement that she stopped drinking because nobody noticed [her] new aesthetic implies that the substance abuse was a cry for help—but one that went unseen.
    • In the second half of the verse, Swift writes All of this to say I hope you're okay / But you're the reason / And no one here's to blame / But what about your quiet treason? Here, Swift’s narrator wishes her ex well but also explains that he’s the reason for her current mental state.
    • The “quiet treason” attributed to the ex is more challenging to interpret, but it does imply that the man has somehow passively betrayed her. Some fans have connected this to the (completely unsubstantiated) infidelity rumors surrounding Joe Alwyn and actress Emma Laird, but there’s no evidence to suggest that this is true. [7]
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    The chorus opens with the first mention of the song’s title, implying that the couple was only together for a brief time but saw each other as endgame: And for a fortnight there, we were forever . Then, Swift delves into a (real or imagined—up to your interpretation!) image of the two living separate lives but being on civil terms: Run into you sometimes / Ask about the weather / Now you’re in my backyard / Turned into good neighbors . [8]
    • This picture of the two former lovers as good neighbors may be meant literally (as in, they live in the same town and are actually neighbors) or figuratively (they somehow have windows into each other’s lives, like through social media or mutual friends). Either way, they’re portrayed as being cordial but somewhat distant.
    • However, Swift subverts this begrudging goodwill in the final line of the chorus, singing, Your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her . With this ending phrase, Swift both portrays her former partner as happily married to a nurturing wife and reveals her shockingly unflinching resentment toward this situation.
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    She begins by deepening the image of her narrator’s sadness and heartbreak with the lines All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February / I took the miracle move on drug and the effects were temporary / And I love you, it's ruining my life. Here, we understand that the woman somehow attempted to cure her heartbreak, but it didn’t work. Then, she reveals that she's still in love with her former lover, an emotion that’s so strong and unbearable that it’s ruining [her] life . [9]
    • Together, Swift and Malone finish this verse with another reference to the brevity of the relationship at the heart of this song: I touched you for only a fortnight / But I touched you . Here, the pair express that they were romantically intertwined for a few weeks but highlight the fact that they were intertwined at all—a moment in time that clearly had an impact on them both.
    • The line All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February is likely a poetic comparison on how both Mondays and the month of February are perceived as dreary, endless-but-bleak periods of time compared to their accompanying days of the week or months of the year, respectively. This comparison implies that Swift’s narrator is in a bleak, dreary, and seemingly-endless moment of heartbreak.
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    The second chorus is a double chorus. First, Swift repeats the earlier chorus exactly, again highlighting the mundane closeness of the former lovers as they both go about their separate lives. Then, Swift repeats the chorus once more with a few line tweaks: Run into you sometimes / Comment on my sweater / Now you’re at the mailbox / Turned into good neighbors (another image of the pair as cordial “neighbors). Most strikingly, however, Swift changes the final line to My husband is cheating / I want to kill him . [10]
    • Now, we know that Swift’s narrator either has a cheating husband or is envisioning a future where she’s part of an unfaithful marriage.
    • This line contrasts starkly with the first chorus’ parallel line, Your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her . While Swift darkly describes “killing” both new partners of her and her ex, the wife is depicted as a nurturing homemaker whom she’s envious of while the husband is an unfaithful spouse whom she wants to take revenge on.
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    The bridge of the song repeats the lines I love you, it’s ruining my life / I touched you for only a fortnight , emphasizing that this relationship was short-lived, but its end was just as impactful and meaningful as any. Then, Post Malone takes over the majority of the outro to sing from the man’s perspective after the couple broke off their relationship. [11]
    • In these lines, Malone reveals that he was thinking of Swift’s narrator as well ( Thought of callin’ ya / But you won’t pick up ) and that he thinks he’s giving her what she wants by letting her go ( Move to Florida / Buy the car you want ).
    • However, Swift’s character actually feels like she needs him to have that life that he’s trying to give her by leaving, and both touch on how this heartbreak is inescapable. In the song, this sentiment is conveyed within the car metaphor, with Swift singing that the car won’t start up ‘til I touch, touch, touch you . This sentiment is also shared in “ My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys ” (another song off of TTPD ), where Swift writes Told me I’m better off / But I’m not .
    • Interestingly, Florida makes another notable appearance as a place to escape to on another TTPD song: “ Florida!!! feat. Florence & the Machine ,” where Swift daydreams about buying a timeshare down in Destin and describes the state as one hell of a drug . She even seamlessly connects “Fortnight”’s My husband is cheating line with Florida!!! ’s Your cheating husband disappeared / Well, no one asks any questions here —“here” meaning, of course, Florida (!!!). [12]
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Section 3 of 7:

Is “Fortnight” about Joe Alwyn or Matty Healy?

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    Ever since the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department , fans have been theorizing over which songs are about Joe Alwyn (Swift’s recent long-term ex) and which are about Matty Healy (who Swift briefly dated after her breakup—although rumor has it they’ve been romantically linked on-and-off for a decade). [13]
    • Fans who believe the song to be about Alwyn posit that the song is inspired by Swift’s fear that her former partner will end up happily married to someone else while she’s doomed to never get her happy ending.
    • Her songs thought to be about Alwyn also tend to be more melancholy and resigned (e.g., “ So Long, London ”)—similar to Fortnight’s mood—while songs believed to be about Healy (e.g., “ The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived ”) take on an angrier tone.
    • In the Matty Healy camp, fans point to the black-and-white “Fortnight” music video as being “The 1975-coded” (aka, similar to videos produced by Healy’s band). It’s also possible that the lyrics discuss both men, as lines like All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February / I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary could be interpreted as a depiction of Swift’s sadness after her break-up with Alwyn and the inefficacy of using Healy as her rebound or miracle move-on drug .
    • Either way, most Swifties agree that the song must be at least partly inspired by one of these men, since both are British and “fortnight” is a British term that may hint at their shared nationality.
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    While the emotions Swift felt in her real-life relationships likely inspired her lyricism and mood while penning the tune, it’s important to remember that most musicians take plenty of artistic license while crafting their work. The lyrics of “Fortnight” are fairly abstract and include details that fans are pretty certain aren’t true to Swift’s real life (e.g., My husband is cheating, I wanna kill him , Move to Florida ). [14]
    • So, while “Fortnight” may borrow thoughts and feelings from Swift’s romantic relationships, it’s highly probable that most of the tune is fictional and not specifically about Alwyn or Healy.
    • As Swift herself said about songwriting while promoting folklore , her eighth studio album, “the lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indescribable.” [15]
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Section 4 of 7:

What has Taylor Swift said about “Fortnight”?

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    . In an Amazon Music voice note directed to her fans, Swift describes Fortnight as an opening track that introduces a lot of the themes explored through The Tortured Poets Department . “One of which being fatalism—longing, pining away, lost dreams,” explained Swift. “I think that it’s a very fatalistic album in that there are lots of very dramatic lines about life or death. I love you, it’s ruining my life. These are very hyperbolic, dramatic things to say. It’s that kind of album.”
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    “I’ve always imagined that [“Fortnight”] occurred in an American town where the American Dream you thought would happen didn't.” Explaining how she conceptualizes the story and visuals within Fortnight, Swift shared that the story is about what might happen if “you ended up not with the person you loved, and now you have to just live with that every day, wondering what would’ve been, maybe seeing them out. And that’s a pretty tragic concept, really. So I was just writing from that perspective.” [16]
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    When announcing “Fortnight” as the first single off of The Tortured Poets Department , Swift took to Instagram to discuss collaborating with Post Malone on the track. In her Instagram caption , Swift writes: “His musical experimentation and those melodies he creates…just stick in your head forever. I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight.” [17]
    • In a later Instagram post after the release of the “Fortnight” music video, Swift again gave a shout-out to Malone, saying that he “blew [her] away on set as our tortured tragic hero and…[she is] so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration.” [18]
    • For his part, Malone published an Instagram post praising Swift shortly after the release of “Fortnight,” captioning the image: “It’s once in a lifetime that someone like @taylorswift comes into this world. I am floored by your heart and your mind, and I am beyond honored to have been asked to help you with your journey 🥹 I love you so much. Thank you Tay 💕” [19]
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Section 5 of 7:

“Fortnight” Music Video & Easter Eggs

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    Like a setting out of a dystopian sci-fi movie, the “Fortnight” music video opens on Swift chained to a bare bed in a white-walled room. [20] Throughout the video, we see images of Malone and Swift reliving happy memories of their implied romantic relationship, the pair singing to each other as they work on individual typewriters, and Swift hooked up to an experimental body scanning or electro-shock machine being tested on by a group of scientists—which include Malone. [21]
    • Other images show various moments of pain, anger, and reconciliation felt by Swift or between her and Malone’s personas. The end of the video sees Swift dramatically flinging open filing cabinets in the mental institution, angrily throwing furniture through a two-way mirror in her white-walled cell, and holding her hand out to Malone as she sits rain-soaked atop a telephone booth. [22]
    • Throughout the video—all of which is shot in black-and-white—the vintage-inspired visuals and costumes are evocative of past eras like Victorian England, the American 1920s, and Old Hollywood.
    • The music video also features cameos from Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, both of whom starred in 1989’s Dead Poet’s Society , an iconic film whose title is often confused with Swift’s Tortured Poet’s Department . [23]
    • In an X (Twitter) post discussing the making of the “Fortnight” video, Swift writes that “I wanted to show [fans] the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music. Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it.” [24]
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    If you know anything about Taylor Swift and Swifties, you know that the Mastermind -y Swift loves to include hidden clues in her art—and Swifties love to find them! While there may be many yet-to-be-discovered details and Easter Eggs in “Fortnight,” some of the most notable ones discovered by fans include: [25]
    • The typewriters that Malone and Swift type on, which are an ongoing motif in the TTPD era and may point to the album’s title track (believed to be about Matty Healy) which features the line You left your typewriter at my apartment / Straight from the tortured poets department .
    • The number one key is missing on Swift’s typewriter, potentially referencing folklore ’s “the 1,” a song about losing a partner you thought was “the one.” [26]
    • The blue haze coming out of Malone’s typewriter may reference the “blue” that Swift has historically used to describe Alwyn in previous songs. [27] Its melding with Swift’s orange haze, however, may reference how Healy and Swift have (supposedly) released songs about each other over the years, sometimes coming together and sometimes not.
    • The dress worn by Swift in her cell is almost identical to the Schiaparelli gown worn by the singer to the 2024 Grammys—the same night she announced TTPD ’s release. [28]
    • The black dog that runs across the screen at one point likely references the TTPD song of the same name, although it may also allude to the idiom “black dog,” which refers to depression. [29]
    • The face tattoos worn by Swift match Malone’s real-life tats, making a sweet nod to the collaborators or showcasing the deep imprint left on Swift by her former lover.
    • The “Forget Him” pills given to Swift while singing Took the miracle move-on drug / The effects were temporary use a prescription number featuring her birthday (December 13, 1989) and the album’s release date (April 19, 2024).
    • The “Us” book that Swift clutches while lying beside Malone may reference Speak Now track “The Story of Us,” although it may have also hinted at Swift’s upcoming collab on Gracie Abrams’ song “Us.”
    • The electro-shock therapy endured by Swift’s character may reference the titular muse of another TTPD song, “Clara Bow,” who received electro-shock therapy in real life. [30]
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Section 6 of 7:

The Making & Release of “Fortnight”

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    Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff produced the song, and it was written by the pair alongside Post Malone. The opening track effectively sets the tone for the rest of the album with a sultry, hazy, synth-driven sound. Part of this ethereal sound is achieved by the interspersion of Taylor’s smooth alto and Post Malone’s reverb-y, alt-folk vocals throughout the song—both which reach a layered crescendo in the angsty bridge and outro. [31]
    • Ahead of its release, “Fortnight” lyrics were teased in album art shared to Swift’s Instagram with the words I love you, it’s ruining my life . [32]
    • Seemingly, Swift wanted to highlight this lyric as indicative of the overarching themes of this album, which include lost love, mental health, and death. [33]
    • TTPD ( The Tortured Poets Department ) is Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album after Midnights (2022), excluding her Taylor’s Version re-records. [34]
    • Once released on April 19th, 2024, TTPD quickly broke streaming records and became the first album in Spotify history to reach more than 300 million streams in a single day. With this feat, Swift beat out two of her own previous albums : Midnights and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) . [35]
Section 7 of 7:

Similar Taylor Swift Songs

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  1. As the lead single off of The Tortured Poets Department , “Fortnight” has left an impactful mark on Swift’s impressive discography. If you enjoy this moody and synthy tune, you might enjoy some of Swift’s other songs with similar scenes and soundscapes. Check out these related Taylor Swift tunes and add them to your favorite Swift-centered playlist:
    • Similar songs on The Tortured Poets Department : “Down Bad,” “Fresh Out the Slammer,” “Florida,” and “How Did It End.” [36]
    • Songs with similar themes: “Midnight Rain” “imgonnagetyouback,” “right where you left me,” and “The Last Time.” [37]
    • Other fictionalized songs: “champagne problems,” “no body no crime,” “Stay Stay Stay,” and “Speak Now.”
    • Other songs produced by Jack Antonoff: “Cruel Summer,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “august,” and “Out of the Woods.” [38]
    • Other songs with artist features: “Exile” feat. Bon Iver, “Run” feat. Ed Sheeran, “Nothing New” feat. Phoebe Bridgers, and “Snow on the Beach” (feat.More Lana Del Rey). [39]
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      References

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      2. ↑ https://www.distractify.com/p/who-is-fortnight-about-ttpd-taylor-swift
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      5. ↑ https://vocal.media/beat/for-a-fortnight-we-analyzed
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      1. ↑ https://capitalfm.com/news/music/taylor-swift-fortnight-lyrics-meaning-about-who/
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      7. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/20/entertainment/easter-eggs-taylor-swift-lyrics/index.html
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      11. ↑ https://youtu.be/q3zqJs7JUCQ?t=10
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      23. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/C2_OIOtOAoM/
      24. ↑ https://statenews.com/article/2024/04/review-taylor-swifts-the-tortured-poets-department-needs-more-than-one-listen-to-be-fully-appreciated
      25. ↑ https://www.teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-new-album-tortured-poets-department
      26. ↑ https://variety.com/2024/music/news/taylor-swift-the-tortured-poets-department-spotify-record-daily-streams-1235977022/
      27. ↑ https://community.spotify.com/t5/Discovery-Promo/TAYLOR-SWIFT-STAGES-OF-GRIEF/td-p/5992630
      28. ↑ https://community.spotify.com/t5/Discovery-Promo/TAYLOR-SWIFT-STAGES-OF-GRIEF/td-p/5992630
      29. ↑ https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/taylor-swift-and-jack-antonoff-best-collaborations/
      30. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/lists/top-taylor-swift-collaborations-songs/snow-on-the-beach-feat-more-lana-del-rey/

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