explanation

What is the true meaning of Taylor Swift’s new single – Fortnight – video? Directed by Taylor Swift herself with photography by Rodrigo Prieto (The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon) the video is quite unusual in its deep meaning visuals, at least within Swift’s prolific and divergent videography, so if you are wondering what is really going on in the video, just keep reading.

1 ^ What is going on the Fortnight video?

The video of The Tortured Poets Department’s first single – Fortnight – is divided in 5 sequences:

Sequence # 1: Taylor wakes up in a rather twisted bedroom. Disorientated at first, she is not quite sure to know where she really is. Suddenly, a nurse enters the room, walking across the ceiling, and administers a pill to Taylor. Once she swallows the pill, not entirely unwillingly, she is released from the chains binding her to the bed. She walks to the closest mirror and she cleans her face revealing Post-Malone’s tattoos appearing one by one.

Sequence # 2: Now Taylor exits through a door, finding herself in a typewriting room, where she begins working and we see Post-Malone in front of her. The scene implies there’s some kind of restrained feelings among them, only expressed by tender glances.

Sequence # 3: In an empty, desolate landscape strewn with typewritten paper, Taylor and Post-Malone lock eyes, holding hands. In this sequence they show true and authentic love to each other, laughing, hugging and kissing. But in one point they look at each other in disbelief.

Sequence # 4: Taylor is tied to a electrocution machine. She is about to receive electroconvulsive therapy by a team of doctors including Post-Malone and Ethan Hawke. When the machine is activated, Taylor is tortured but the malfunction of the electrical system forces Post-Malone to intervine. He and Taylor look at each other in complicity, while he unplugs the machine.

Sequence # 5: The final sequence depicts Post-Malone calling from a payphone, while Taylor is on top of the phone booth, under a pouring rain. Finally Post-Malone emerges from the box, his hand reaching to intertwine with Taylor’s. This sequence cuts back and forth between the moment under the rain and some flashbacks from Sequence # 1 and #2.

2 ^ What is real and what is not real in the video?

The only two sequences that are actually real are Sequence # 4 and Sequence # 5. In the video, a woman portrayed by Taylor Swift is locked in a mental facility, being treated, or more quite, being tortured with electroconvulsive therapy. But she has some kind of reciprocated connection with the doctor portrayed by Post-Malone, to the point he sabotages the torture machine. The final sequence implies Dr. Post-Malone has released Taylor from the facility. Next, we see him trying to call someone to help them while he reaffirms his love for her.

Sequences #1, #2, and #3 are delusions, each one deeper than the last. These fantasies portray a warped reality created by Taylor’s damaged mind. Fueled by the medication she takes, in these delusions it is evident Taylor is convinced Dr Post-Malone really loves her, but she is unsure if he’s really committed to set her free or if he prefers to let her stay in the facility, prisoner of her own mind. We know these sequences are only fantasies because when Taylor is finally released and she is with Dr. Post-Malone under the rain, the fantasies start to break down, and now the only thing that matter is the reality with him.

What do you think? Do you have another explanation for the video? Write it down in the comments.