Fortnight is the signature track from Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poet’s Department  . It is the first track on the album’s first tracklist. Swift collaborated with rapper, singer, and songwriter Post Malone to perform and film the music video for the song.

Interestingly, this MV was inspired by the movie Poor things (2023).

In the MV, Swift transforms into a “crazy in love” poet living in a mental hospital. She is haunted by a past love affair. The MV is said to recall Swift’s love affair with her ex-boyfriend – actor Joe Alwyn.

The MV depicts the happy moments of the couple until their breakup. At this time, the girl has to live in a mental hospital, undergoing horrifying treatments, including scenes showing her being subjected to electric shocks.

This image is reminiscent of the movie Poor Things ( 2023) starring Taylor Swift’s best friend – actress Emma Stone. In fact, Emma Stone was also the “matchmaker” for Taylor Swift to meet actor Joe Alwyn. The couple had been together for 6 years before breaking up.

Since the album is so reminiscent of Swift and Alwyn’s past relationship, it’s understandable that she would mention the “matchmaker.” Emma Stone and Taylor Swift have been friends since 2008.

In the film Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone plays a girl who is brought back to life after committing suicide. In the film, Emma Stone’s character also has to undergo electric shocks to be revived.

Fortnight is considered a prelude for the audience to enjoy the remaining 30 songs in the album. Therefore, the MV of the song is attracting the attention of the public. As expected, Swift has intentionally inserted many meaningful details into the MV to satisfy her loyal fans.

 

The black and white music video has a strong cinematic feel. Fortnight is a special song for Swift, so she took great care in filming the music video for it. Swift said: “When I wrote the song and came up with the idea for the music video, I wanted you to see the world that I saw from my perspective.

A lot of the music video is metaphorical and references other songs and albums. For me, the Fortnight music video is a perfect representation of the whole album and can summarize the story I wanted to tell.”

Let’s review the metaphorical details that appear in Swift’s MV Fortnight :

Typewriter: The typewriter appears quite a lot in the MV. After breaking up with her long-time boyfriend Joe Alwyn, Swift had a brief relationship with singer Matty Healy – who was very interested in using typewriters.

The fact that Swift used the typewriter so much in the Fortnight MV makes fans believe that she also wanted to remind them of this fleeting love affair.

Costumes: The costumes Swift wore for her appearance in the MV Fortnight were full of period costumes, reminiscent of last year’s blockbuster movie – Poor Things . The movie starred Emma Stone – Taylor Swift’s best friend. Emma Stone was also the one who introduced Joe Alwyn to Swift.

 

White Pleated Dress: In a scene from the Fortnight music video , Swift wears a white pleated dress that is quite similar to the one she wore to the Grammy Awards earlier this year. It was at this event that Swift made a surprise announcement about the upcoming release of a new album.

 

Dead Poets: Actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles played the scientists who treated Swift’s character in the music video Fortnight . The two actors previously appeared in the film The Dead Poets Society (1989).

The movie’s title The Dead Poet’s Society and Taylor Swift’s album title The Tortured Poet’s Department  are similar, as they both refer to “poets”. Furthermore, 1989 – the year the movie was released – is also Swift’s birth year.

The Black Dog: The black dog featured in the MV represents the song The Black Dog in the album. Additionally, the slang term “black dog” can also be seen as a reference to the period of turmoil and depression that Swift went through.

 

Spacing: In the music video, when Swift types the line “I love you, it’s ruining my life” on her typewriter, she uses “double” spaces in several places. This is a reference to the song Blank space from her album 1989 .

Face tattoos: The fake tattoos that appear on Swift’s face in the Fortnight MV are identical to the real tattoos on the face of singer Post Malone – who appeared with her in the MV.