Let’s review the metaphorical details appearing in the MV “Fortnight” just released by Taylor Swift.

Fortnight is the “key” song in  Taylor Swift’s new album called The tortured poets department . This is the first song in the list of songs appearing in volume 1 of the album. Swift collaborated with rapper, singer, and songwriter Post Malone when performing and filming the MV for this song.

Teaser introduces Taylor Swift’s “Fortnight” MV (Video: Taylor Swift).

What’s interesting is that this MV is inspired by the movie Poor things (2023).

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

The MV depicts the moments when the couple was happy until the two broke up. At this time, the girl had to live in a mental hospital, undergoing horrifying treatments, including scenes showing her being subjected to electric shocks.

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

Because the album reminds a lot of Swift and Alwyn’s past love story, it is understandable that she mentioned the “matchmaker”. Emma Stone and Taylor Swift have been friends since 2008.

Movie trailer “Poor Things” (Video: One Media).

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 movie, Emma Stone’s character also had to undergo electric shocks to be revived.

Fortnight is considered a prelude for the audience to prepare to enjoy the remaining 30 songs in the album. Therefore, the song’s MV is attracting public attention. As expected, Swift intentionally inserted many meaningful details into the MV to satisfy her fans.
Post Malone and Taylor Swift in the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

The black and white MV has bold cinematic colors. For Swift, Fortnight is a special song, so she paid great attention to filming the MV for this song. Swift said: “When I wrote the song and came up with the idea for the MV, I wanted you to see the world that I once felt from my perspective.

A lot of things in the MV are metaphorical and refer to other songs and albums. For me, MV Fortnight is the perfect representation of the whole album and can summarize the story I want to tell.”

Let’s review the metaphorical details appearing in Swift’s MV Fortnight :
Swift’s image in the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

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

The fact that Swift let the typewriter appear a lot in the MV Fortnight makes fans believe that she also wanted to remind about this fleeting love affair.

Costumes: The costumes Swift wears to appear in the MV Fortnight have a period style, reminiscent of last year’s hit movie – Poor things . The film stars Emma Stone – Taylor Swift’s close friend. Emma Stone was also the person who introduced Joe Alwyn to Swift.
The dress Swift wore in the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

Taylor Swift at the Grammy Awards earlier this year (Photo: Elle).

White frilly dress: In one scene of the MV Fortnight , Swift wears a white frilly dress quite similar to the dress she wore to the Grammy Music Awards earlier this year. It was at this event that Swift made a surprise announcement about the upcoming release of a new album.
Scene from the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

Late poet: Two actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles played scientists treating Swift’s character in the MV Fortnight . These two actors once appeared in the movie The Dead Poets Society (1989).

The name of the movie The dead poets society and the name of Taylor Swift’s album – The tortured poets department  – have similarities, because they both refer to “poets”. Furthermore, 1989 – the year the movie was released – is also Swift’s birth year.
The black dog appears in the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

The black dog: The black dog appearing in the MV symbolizes the song called The black dog on the album. In addition, the slang word “black dog” can also be seen as implying the period of hardship and depression that Swift went through.

Spaces: In the MV, when Swift types the words “I love you, it’s ruining my life” on the typewriter, she uses “double” spaces. in some locations. This is a detail reminiscent of the song Blank space in her 1989 album .
Swift’s image in the MV “Fortnight” (Photo: Elle).

Face tattoos: The fake tattoos appearing on Swift’s face in MV Fortnight are identical to the real tattoos on the face of male singer Post Malone – the person with whom she appeared in the MV.
Images of cats appear in 4 corners of the frame (Photo: Elle).

Cats: In the frame introducing the staff behind the MV, images of cats appear in the four corners of the frame. Swift is a cat lover, she is raising 3 cats.
The name of the medicine is… “forget him” (Photo: Elle).

A cure for nostalgia: In the album The tortured poets department , Swift mentions many broken relationships. She expressed that she was also very miserable after coming out of a failed relationship, to the point of having to take pills called “forget him”.

In the song Fortnight, there is a line “took the miracle move-on drug, its effects were temporary”.

Swift also sings about how she tries to appear okay when going through emotional breakdowns, but in reality, she also has very depressed periods. This is also shown in the song I can do it with a broken heart, also included in this album.
The typewriter keyboard does not have the number 1 (Photo: Elle).

Number 1: On the typewriter that appears in the MV, the number 1 key does not appear. It seems that this is a reference to the song The 1 in the album Folklore (2020). This song is written about Swift’s disappointment after breaking up with someone she thought she could be with for a long time.

In addition, before the news of Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s breakup was announced, Swift quickly removed the song Invisible String from the list of songs she would perform on the Eras tour , because this song is about love. her and Alwyn’s love. Instead, Swift chose to use the song The 1.
The book is called “Us” (Photo: Elle).

The book has a cover that says “Us” (Us): In the MV, there is an image of Swift lying next to Post Malone and holding a book with a cover that says “Us”. This is a reference to the song The story of us on the album Speak now.
Blue smoke emitted from Post Malone’s typewriter (Photo: Elle).

Blue smoke: A scene in the MV shows Swift and Post Malone sitting across from each other and using a typewriter. From the two machines came two plumes of smoke. The machine on Post Malone’s side had blue smoke.

In the MV, Malone plays Swift’s lover. The blue smoke coming from Malone’s typewriter could be a reference to the blue color that Swift often uses when composing, to talk about her ex-lover and the sad feelings they leave behind.