If you have been following any news outlets or have been on the internet at all in the past week, then most likely you have heard Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, has been taking over the music industry by storm. Along with the added surprise release of The Anthology, fans have been ecstatic over the last week, especially with the release of the “Fortnight” music video, featuring Post Malone. The music video is very different compared to other music videos from Swift, but it is incredible nonetheless.
In order to fully grasp the meaning behind the music video, it must be made clear what exactly the meaning of “Fortnight” is. It is not unknown that The Tortured Poets Department focuses on a lot of different themes such as love, heartbreak, death, sorrow, and self-awareness, and “Fortnight” does not stray away from encapsulating this. “Fortnight” is about loving someone for a short amount of time, like a fortnight, and then experiencing the heartbreak of losing them. While this may seem like an ordinary break-up song, the song doesn’t focus solely on the heartbreak. It focuses more on the aftermath of the breakup itself and how toxic relationships can truly change someone.
From the start of the video, the mood is immediately established as somber and dark. Swift appears in a long white dress which is the dress she wore when she announced the release of her album at the Grammys award show. The only difference between the two dresses is the color of her gloves which appear white in the video but were black at the award show. Swift is locked in what appears to be a psychiatric ward. Her wrists are chained to the bed as she sings the lyrics, “I was supposed to be sent away/ but they forgot to come and get me” as a doctor gives her a bottle of “Forget Him” pills. Swift’s makeup in the opening scene definitely is reminiscent of 1920s-style makeup with long and thin eyebrows, a bold lip, and a short bobbed waved haircut. Many fans speculated this is a direct allusion to the famous 1920s actress, Clara Bow. Bow was a famous Hollywood actress who had a short-lived, but iconic, career, retiring at the young age of 28. Bow is recognized today as one of the first “It Girls” after her hit movie It. The reference that Swift makes to the iconic Hollywood starlet is most likely due to the tragic life that Bow endured that made her retire at such a young age when Bow was admitted to a psychiatric ward by her husband.
While Bow is one of the many Easter eggs found in the music video, fans, and myself, have noticed that there are plenty more that don’t just apply to “Fortnight” but also represent the entire album. The reference to Bow is mainly referencing a later track in the album that is literally titled “Clara Bow” but I think the importance of the reference in the video is to show how a toxic relationship can change someone or, as Swift portrays it, go insane.
As the music video continues, Swift appears in front of a mirror as she takes a cloth and wipes it across her face, revealing facial tattoos. Many Swifties know that Swift was in a long-term relationship with her now ex, Joe Alwyn. While many fans have considered that this song is most likely about Alwyn, others have speculated that this could even be about a summer fling she had with Matty Healy. I think “Fortnight” can be interpreted as either of her two exes due to the many different aspects of the music video itself. The symbolism of the tattoos I think is a reference to Alwyn considering how long they dated and that the tattoos symbolize how parts of their relationship are now a permanent part of her.
Post Malone and Swift’s chemistry throughout the entirety of the music video was incredible and I was definitely not expecting it. Malone appears throughout the video with face tattoos in some scenes and in others without. I think the tattoos on his face are a reference to Alwyn, while his face without the tattoos is a reference to Swift’s current boyfriend, Travis Kelce. The first time we see Malone is when he is sitting in front of a typewriter and sitting at a desk across from Swift. Swift is dressed in a black Victorian gown, which is a symbol of grieving. As she sits across from Malone and begins to type, an orange hue emerges from her typewriter and a blue hue emerges from Post Malone’s. The entirety of this scene was just gorgeous to me, I loved the typewriter reference to her second track on the album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, and I loved the art direction that this scene takes. I think the color emerging from both typewriters is trying to depict how her ex made her feel sorrow and sadness, hence the blue color. The orange color is trying to represent herself since she gave a lot of herself towards her relationship, hence the black Victorian dress since she is grieving the loss of herself.
In a later scene, we see Swift wearing modern-day clothing, her classic look in a long coat, sweater, and a skirt with tights and boots, as she runs toward Post Malone. Once again the chemistry between the two of them was undeniable and Malone, without his face tattoos, is definitely a reference to her now relationship with Kelce. The imagery in this scene was just gorgeous and I really appreciated how madly in love they appeared. You could feel the romance come off the screen and even though it’s just a music video, I have seen romance movies with chemistry not as good as what I have seen in this video.
I also noticed how the video seems to switch back and forth through time, going to the Victorian period whenever she is in her old toxic relationship, and diverts back to the present with her new relationship. This was a genius move on Swift’s part and I thought it was an interesting and subtle way of showing the viewer the difference between the past and present. Later on in the video, Swift appears to be sitting on top of a telephone booth while Post Malone is in the booth making a call. As Swift sits on top of the booth, it is pouring down rain and has a somber and gloomy atmosphere. At the end of the scene, Post Malone reaches his hand out to Swift and pulls her out of the chilling rain. This, once again, is symbolism for how Kelce pulled her out of her depressed state after her toxic relationship. Another reference that I loved was included in the music video and added great context to later songs on the album such as “The Alchemy” and “So High School”.
Moving on to my favorite Easter egg shown in the “Fortnight” music video is the cameos from beloved actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles. This is obviously a nod to their work in The Dead Poets Society since they are the original “tortured poets” some Swifties are saying online. Both Hawke and Charles played doctors in the music video and only appeared for a couple of seconds, but it was an amazing cameo nonetheless. Another little Easter egg I noticed in this scene was a reference to a later track titled “The Black Dog” when an actual black dog walked across the medical examination room.
This music video is without a doubt my favorite music video released by Swift and hopefully, more music videos will be released for this album as time goes on. I thought the themes of heartbreak, grief, and feeling the euphoria of being let go from a toxic relationship, were displayed in a very interesting and thought-provoking way. This music video made Swifties everywhere dive into the meaning of every scene and that’s why I love Swift’s creative, artistic, and genius mind when she creates her music.
