‘Fortnight’ lyrics meaning: Taylor Swift just explained what it's about
No, it’s not about the video game. “Fortnight,” the first single from Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” is a duet with Post Malone.
Before we delve into the lyrics, let’s get some temporal vocabulary: “Fortnight” means a two-week span. How much damage can two weeks do? According to this song, a lot.
Swift opened up more about the meaning behind the dark lead single in her Amazon Music commentary about her new album. The pop icon breaks down the inspiration and significance of other tracks, like "Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?" and "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys," too.
"‘Fortnight’ is a song that exhibits a lot of the common themes that run throughout this album. One of which being fatalism — longing, pining away, lost dreams," she explained in the Amazon Music voice note to her fans.
She added, "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."
"Hyperbolic" and "dramatic" are two very appropriate adjectives to describe the lyrics in "Fortnight," which detail a torrid, short-lived and forbidden love affair. As Swift mentioned, she repeatedly sings that the aftermath of the romance left lingering effects: “I love you, it’s ruining my life.”
This line was already teased in an Apple Music playlist ahead of the album and in imagery, as if to say, “It’s Important.”
Revisit our live coverage of the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
The narrator of "Fortnight" is, to put it bluntly, not well. She sings, “I was 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 attempt for someone to truly see her.
How did she end up in this tortured state? The song appears to be about two former lovers who have since moved on and married other people. Now, they are neighbors and occasionally make small talk about the weather. This is not sitting 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 later reveals, “My husband is cheating/ I wanna kill him.”
She attempted to cure her heartbreak and alleviate her pain, but it didn't work. “I took the miracle move-on drug/ The effects were temporary,” she says.
Although she is playing nice and chatting with her ex at the mailbox, she holds resentment toward him.
"And no one here’s to blame/ But what about your quiet treason?" she asks.
The song ends with Post Malone singing that he thought about calling the narrator but assumed she wouldn't pick up.
"‘Nother fortnight lost in America/ Move to Florida, buy the car you want/ But it won’t start up," Swift and Post Malone sing together in the final verse.
The narrator and her ex will try to escape the memory of their affair, but it will follow them both everywhere.
On "TTPD," Florida is the ideal place to run off to. Swift contemplates fleeing and reinventing herself in the Sunshine State in the song “Florida!!!” featuring Florence Welch. The two also co-wrote the track together.
In that song, Swift sings of saving up for a timeshare in Destin. “Florida, is one hell of a drug / Florida, can I use you up?” she asks.
But unlike in "Fortnight," the lyrics don't appear to point to any past romances. Swift revealed on her Amazon Music commentary that she thought of the idea for the song after watching episodes of "Dateline."
On April 19, Swift released the music video for “Fortnight,” where she and Malone appear to play lovers in an experimental mental institution.
In two surprise cameos, Swift and Malone are involved in some kind of testing process with actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, both of whom starred in the 1989 film “Dead Poets Society,” which people have been mixing up with Swift’s new album.
After releasing the video, Swift shared a look at the writing and filming process in a post on X.
“When I was writing the Fortnight music video, I wanted to show you 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,” she wrote.
Read the lyrics to ‘Fortnight’
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
All of this to say I hope you’re OK, but you’re the reason
And no one here’s to blame but what about your quiet treason
And for a fortnight there we were
Forever running to you
Sometimes ask about the weather
Now you’re in my backyard, turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her.
All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February
I took the miracle move on drug, the effects were temporary
And I love you, it’s ruining my life (I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you for only a fortnight (I touched you)
But I touched you
And for a fortnight there we were, forever running to you
Sometimes ask about the weather
Now you’re in my backyard turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her.
And for a fortnight, there we were together
Running to you, sometimes come and turn my sweater
And now you’re at the mailbox, turned into good neighbors
My husband is cheating. I wanna kill him.
And I love you, it’s ruining my life (I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you for only a fortnight (I touched you)
But I touched you
And I love you
It’s ruining my life (I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you for only a fortnight (I touched you)
But I touched you
I’m calling you, but you won’t be called?
Another fortnight lost in America
Going to Florida by the car you won
But it won’t start up till you touch, touch, touch me
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
