Taylor Swift’s Fortnight, the 3-minute and 48-second song, marks the biggest collaboration of the year between Swift and Post Malone. The lyrics of the song focus on being in an emotionally fragile place after a relationship is over, as Swift appears to sing about a short-lived romance and the hardships that come along with it, especially while moving on. As the singer unveiled the audio of Fortnight, fans speculated that it was directed at her ex-boyfriends Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy. But what really is the meaning of the song?
What is Taylor Swift’s Fortnight about?
The lyrics of Fortnight describe a torrid, short-lived, and forbidden love affair that, as Taylor Swift says, has dramatic effects: “I love you, and it’s ruining my life.” The narrator is, to put it bluntly, not well. She sings, “I supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me.” She was a “functioning alcoholic ‘til nobody noticed my new aesthetic,” suggesting that her substance use was a cry for help and an attempt for someone to “notice” her.
The song appears to be about two neighbors married to other people. Now that the affair is over, they have returned to their old lives. This does not sit well with our narrator. “Now you’re in my backyard, turned into good neighbors / Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her,” she sings.
Domestic bliss is nowhere to be found in this nuclear family entanglement, as she sings, “My husband is cheating. I want to kill him.” She blames the other man’s “quiet treason” for how she ended up in this state, where all her “mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February.”
There is no cure for heartbreak, according to this song, though she tried: “I took the miracle move on drugs; the effects were temporary.” The song ends with the narrator being abandoned. The man going to Florida in a car won; he got the getaway car, but she didn’t. Florida becomes a place of escape in this song and the song Florida!, which Swift co-wrote with Florence Welch.
In that song, she sings of saving up for a timeshare in Destin, as if Florida is a goal and a place of future expectation: “Florida, is one hell of a drug? Florida, can I use you up?” A cheating husband who disappears also figures into the song. It’s worth noting that, during a concert in Florida, Swift first acknowledged her breakup with Alwyn, saying, “We have a lot to catch up on.”
Before dropping the teaser and audio of Fortnight, Swift, in an Instagram post, expressed her admiration for Post Malone. She wrote, “The first single from The Tortured Poets Department is… Fortnight, featuring @postmalone. I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation, and the melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever. I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight. Honestly, I can’t wait for you guys to hear this song at midnight tonight and see the video at 8 pm ET tomorrow.”
Fortnite fans want a Taylor Swift collab following the release of TTPD
Fortnite fans are speculating that Taylor Swift could feature in the game due to the release of her lead single from her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department. The album’s opening track, Fortnight, is seen as a sign that Swift should be featured. Some users have speculated that Swift could be the headline act of Fortnite’s dedicated music game Festival, due to their shared love of Greek mythology and brand alignment.
“If you made it this far please note that this is mostly just for shits giggles and for me to manifest this actually happening as a huge Fortnite girly and Swiftie,” they added. Previously, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga have starred as headline acts in Fortnite Festival, bringing a number of tracks and skins to the rhythm game.
Some fans believe ‘Fortnight’ is Taylor Swift admitting she’s a fan of the game, while others are just happy that their interests are colliding. “Are you a Taylor Swift ‘Fortnight’ lover or an Epic Games Fortnite lover…or both?” asked one fan, with another adding: “Who else is in the potentially niche subsection of girlies who’s gonna be playing Fortnite whilst listening to ‘Fortnight’ (ft. Post Malone) by Taylor Swift tonight?”
Other fans are playfully mocking the sudden interest in Fortnite from Swift fans. “I can’t believe they made a game about Taylor Swift’s song ‘Fortnight’,” said one fan. “Taylor Swift is such a fake gamer… she wrote a whole song about Fortnite but spelled it wrong,” wrote another.
There have been rumors about a Taylor Swift collab with Fornite since the tracklisting for The Tortured Poets Department was shared in February and while nothing concrete has been announced, Swift herself has hinted at a number of surprises for release week.
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