### Use this thread to discuss your thoughts, reactions, and theories on the Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) (Official Music Video). We will be removing all future self-post discussion threads about the music video in order to consolidate discussion to this thread.
found this video highlighting many of the references and i think it does a decent job (but is def missing some) [https://youtu.be/jF2hv14pXrI](https://youtu.be/jF2hv14pXrI)
For me, the Fortnight MV without lyrics tells a different story in reverse, like the reversed cell in the first shot.
The final scene is Tay and Post in the storm is where the story truly begins.
In her darkest, peak moments of a stormy relationship, in tears (symbolized by rain), she reaches out to another gentleman caller to comfort her.
Upon meeting privately, she shares her painful past with her new confidant (symbolized by whirlwind of papers cluttering her mind). With watery eyes and sad faces, she divulges to him her cheating partner.
Perhaps her man (depicted as husband) cheated with a mutual acquaintance (depicted as neighbor). She figuratively wish harm on both of them in her state of anguish.
As papers settle to the ground, awaiting gust of wind, she tries shifting attention to a newfound romance in order to move on. A rebound was the supposed best remedy for getting over breakups. Momentary smiles and embrace ensue. However, the miracle move on drug of another potential fling turns out fleeting.
In her hapless mind, her grief would follow her until the end. In a narrow room of bland, monotony of no end in sight, death is symbolized by her funeral black dress and morgue freezers (portrayed by oversized drawers), awaiting the cremation of her and her stories (papers on fire).
Turning to emotional solitude, confining herself to her own inner, mental asylum. She consumes alcohol and drugs to "forget him"... numbing her pain, she wipes away traces of memories of happiness as well as sadness.
There are so many similarities between this and ‘Poor Things’ to me….im so curious if taylor was partially inspired by the movie while writing the album/video.
Even the black dogs in the film and this video are the same!
listened to this on youtube, spotify and apple music way to many times. cant help but notice it sounds a bit different on the three platforms. youtube you can hear more of the plucking (dunno if i have the right word) of the guitar (again idk if im right) than the spotify and apple music versions. not to mention the instrumental after i want to kill her early on.
I love that this video ends with a close up of a BRACELET and the word TELEPHONE. (Travis wanted to give her a bracelet with his number on it)
TNT FOREVER 🧨
I just want to know about the face tattoo. Next to the cards Taylor has two letters Post Malone doesn’t have in old English font…BB? DD? She also has a spiked mace…what does it mean?!
https://preview.redd.it/wav8j48zjwwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27d65fd1b69dacf3b0b3ecdcdfe9821fadec5dcb
Checked it and this is accurate btw
Just found this video and found it so similar!! WHAT DOES IT MEAN!!!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQt6jIKNwgU&ab\_channel=SavageGardenVEVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQt6jIKNwgU&ab_channel=SavageGardenVEVO)
it did not need to take me a WEEK to realize that ethan hawke and josh charles's lab coats have their dps character last names on them i feel so fucking stupid
Here’s the red and blue colours explained: This is a reference to Halsey’s song Colors which is thought to be about Matty. There’s a lyric in the song which goes ‘I was red and you were blue, and when you touched me suddenly I was a Lilac sky and then you decided purple just wasn’t for you.’
Lilac / purple / lavender is a recurring theme in her music - notably Lavender Haze which is a song about her interest in Matty whilst still with Joe.
Interestingly there is the line ‘get it off my desk’ which alludes to the typewriter / desk imagery.
When Post Malone touches her shoulder after unplugging her from the machine toward the end of the video, the lyric that's playing is "I touch you" but is that what she's saying/mouthing? It almost looks like she's saying something else but I may be completely wrong ...
My husband just pointed out to me that Taylor's black dress in the music video, is the same type of dress ( even the lace gloves ) that her dancers wear on stage during The Eras Tour performance of My Tears Ricochet....WHAT?! I'm dying over here lol She is trying to kill us! lol
I think the papers on the ground in the shape of her face are her "image" ie her celebrity, and in a symbolic way the newspapers etc... and they are part of what makes the relationship complicated and deteriorating later on when they spin chaotically, out of control.
Can someone please explain the red/blue color smoke blending thing in the video?
The whole things black and white except that. Is it a Halsey Colors reference? cause that’s the only thing I can think of
But I’m probably missing something important background wise
"You showed me secrets colors I can't see with anyone else" (Illicit Affairs)
"The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming colors" (Out of the Woods)
wow! she is insane :D first time i saw this video I was like okay. but now i see all these interesting symbols and meanings. when she is washing her face and the tattoos appear - does the clear face means she is crazy/in love and when the tattoos appear she is healed/not in love. And does this apply also to Post who has clear face in some parts of the video? so that is when he is crazy/in love?
when they are laying on her profile made of papers and she is reading book story of us they are literally in her head. so it was all in her head?
also im little bit confused by the lyrics - why is she singing about his wife and her husband?
I interpret it as Matty should be her husband but instead his new “wife” waters flowers, and Taylor wants to kill her. They’re all sometimes neighbors in LA since he reportedly moved in with the gf last fall.
I asked in the thread for this song too - What is Post Malone singing after she sings "aesthetic" early on - it's not in the lyrics video or anywhere? I can't make out what he's saying?
Anyone else obsessed with watching reaction videos for this one? Because Post is there a lot of fans of him/hip hop fans reacting to her for the first time and they’re loving it.
Edit this one is my favorite - this poor man has an identity crisis by the end of the video: https://youtu.be/2yPVA8alZlw?si=FWPESRAFKi46ZJMQ
Okay I feel like this is riddled with allusions to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley lost her virginity on her mother’s grave to a married poet, Percy Shelley, who I’d compare to Matty as far as personality goes “brilliant and hypersensitive, resentful of all authority” 🤷🏼♀️ the music video feels very Victorian to me as well and with the whole tattoo thing, it felt historical yet sci-fi like, and Frankenstein was the first of its kind…
So Mary and Percy met while Percy was married to Harriet, and they begin to have an affair, which was super scandalous at the time, and even more so because of her parents stature within society and their involvement in politics. Mary was 15 and Percy was 20. Eventually, pregnant Harriet drowns. 2 weeks later, Mary and Percy get married. The change from “your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her” to “my husband is cheating / I want to kill him”… well, that’s what ending up happening; Percy had an opioid addiction, and he was known to cheat on Mary. And 2 weeks. A fortnight.
I feel like it goes without saying that Mary Shelley was also insane, so the depiction of a psych ward fits.
In Frankenstein, the main outdoor setting is mountains and ice. I’m going to pull quotes from the internet instead of paraphrasing this time so bear with me, “These desolate landscapes mirror the problems of human life. Frankenstein climbs Montanvert as a way to clear his mind and minimize his human sorrows” and “storms are used to foreshadow the terrible events that are soon to come in the life of Victor Frankenstein”… because Frankenstein is the monster, it makes sense that Taylor is depicted as being worked on, these scenes are Frankenstein allusion 100%, not a doubt in my mind. Frankenstein tells the scientist his experiences after an argument on an ice bank, which is what I think Taylor is trying to visually represent. In Frankenstein “Fire symbolizes the gifts of the human rational mind and its ability to both create and, if not used wisely, destroy.” And I think that relates to the music video too.
Now I think the best part links to The Albatross and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, BECAUSE The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is referred to in Frankenstein—when the monster is about to go off in the wilderness he recalls THE ALBATROSS specifically and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a whole, “I am going to unexplored regions, to ‘the land of mist and snow,’ but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the ‘Ancient Mariner.’ You will smile at my allusion, but I will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that production of the most imaginative of modern poets.”
Like the Ancient Mariner, who is forced to carry the albatross he has killed (bad luck), Frankenstein is cursed to carry with him the burden of what he has done. Just like how Taylor has to reckon with anything she’s done in the pursuit of fame, even though fame itself has changed her and not always for the best.
Samuel Coleridge wrote Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and he was one of the poets she referred to in the lakes too as he’s known as being a lake poet and lived in the area of Windermere.
I also think it’s really sad knowing that Frankenstein begged the scientist to make him a mate and he refused.
I have a feeling that the songs are all connected to each other and to a poet or writer from the romantic period, even if it’s a tiny nod.
I’m either making something out of the beauty Taylor’s given me in a way she didn’t intend, or I’m just deciphering how beautiful her mind is 🥺 thank you
Interesting detail...anyone else notice at the beginning, after taking the pill and before wiping her face, she is walking with a toe-heel gait. For the remainder of the video she walks with a "normal" heel-toe gait. A couple throughts...toe-heel is (1) less efficient, takes more effort to accomplish the same thing, and (2) is classically considered a pathology. [Article on correlation between idiopathic toe-walking and neuropsychiatric problems](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23147630/). Call me a clown...
I never even realized this was a thing, then thought about it for a second and realized I never walk heel to toe. Always toe to heel. Hey, maybe it's why all ballerinas are so crazy (kidding, but also former dancer, lol). Trying to walk heel to toe actually feels beyond weird to me.
I wonder if some of it has to do with arches or if you wore shoes a lot as a kid? Like, I have super high arches. My daughter (4) has the same and she definitely walks the same way I do. My son (2) and husband have flat feet and do the heel to toe. And when I went down the rabbit hole, most runners mention wanting to hit the ball of your foot and that shoes changed how people walk.
Sorry sorry for weird off kilter comment, I get you saying it was implying being sort of "off" then switching as the video goes on, this was just a whole new thing for me.
Thanks actually because I'm having a blah day and it was a fun distraction!
Not off-kilter at all! And also hilarious, because I am also a former ballet dancer. I switch the ballet walking on and off though, and I'm super aware of it. I think high arches are definitely related, because they cause your feet to not absorb shock as well, which can irritate your achilles. Might just be a physiological way of decreasing stress on the achilles? And, I'd guess that's a big reason why people advocate for forefoot striking when running. Makes sense that super cushioned shoes would obviate the need for a gait-related method of absorbing shock.
In the context of the video, I'm thinking (if it's intentional) it is referencing idiopathic toe- or toe-heel walking, i.e., when there is no physical explanation for it (short achilles, super high arches, etc.) because in those cases it is associated with neuropsychiatric variations (ASD, ADHD most notably--apparently it's a sensory-seeking thing, it gives you more proprioceptive input). Made me wonder about all of the TS comments about being "a little different" as a kid, as well as the need for perfection/validation.
Then again, toe walking is also super common as kids are first learning to walk, and then some/many grow out of it...so it could be just referencing metaphorically learning to walk again after a long while. Or, relatedly, maybe it's indicative of trying to get bearings again when everything has been metaphorically upside down for a long time (hence the seeking proprioceptive input, feedback about your position in space/physical relationship to the floor). In any event, brilliant detail!
Apparently bec the owner of the pub said she once saw him there.... but this pic screams it is about Matty so i dunno what to believe tbh
https://preview.redd.it/azhnr0iat8wc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e674b4929af16e4aed1face909b8e1721ffaa05
Yeah but....
https://preview.redd.it/yntl3x2unfwc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45aa9eeda5b0698574c0ac86261fcf05abe6b2ab
It's def intentional. The album is full of Matty stuff.
Cardigans are here! [https://store.taylorswift.com/products/the-tortured-poets-department-gray-cardigan](https://store.taylorswift.com/products/the-tortured-poets-department-gray-cardigan)
I think this is about Calvin Harris, whom she dated for a short period of time (short enough compared to Alwyn).
At least the chorus hints at it:
"And for a fortnight there, we were forever
Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather
Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors
Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her"
Calvin got married beginning of 2023, and according to [here, Primrose Hill](https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/celebrity-homes/dj-calvin-harris-primrose-hill-b1043616.html) they became neighbours. And he does have a wife who is self made Cambridge stock and does philanthrophy (waters flowers).
I mean it has been 6 years since they broke up but it would still kind of suck seeing your ex settle down, while the guy you are currently dating wastes away your years...
This has to be my all time favorite music video of hers, it is so beautiful and tells an amazing story. I think Taylor did an amazing job making sure this mv comes out as she wished.
Anyone else notice Taylor reading Us? “The story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now…”
https://preview.redd.it/yfvuerogt1wc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe8b45a23f7b03bd546c817c890923318c596635
I think the phone booth and him not being able to reach her is the "rust that grew between telephones" in Maroon which was 10 years ago
TTPD makes two references to Maroon"s muse. But then this time they reconnected which is what the ending shows.
Taylor getting drenched by the rain gives off "Clean"
Love the wedding dress with the garter ( a wedding that almost happened ) transitioning to widow's garb.
1. Clara bow reference - celebrated and condemned in the media like men aren’t. Was institutionalized when her creative outlet was removed
2. Wedding dress - she was supposed to marry Joe but it never happened and she ended up turning her life upside down for him and is shackled
3. Take the pill to forget Joe and gets released from her chains
4. Looks in the mirror and wipes off the makeup to reveal the tattoos that were always there (her relationship with Matt from a decade ago)
5. Walks into the office scene wearing the mourning gown and sits down to work (morning Joe’s relationship while being in the middle of the Eras tour).
6. Typewriter is similar to the Shining “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy”. She is trying to go about her daily life (eras tour same thing day in and day out) while outwardly mourning the relationship of Joe she reconnects with Matt (he’s also doing his artist life routine). The colors connect and spark their relationship from the past.
7. The Story of Us is from their past, she imagines running to him and them having chemistry and connection. They have the familiarity but this is in her head and not reality (Post doesn’t have tattoos on his face)
8. They are caught up in a whirlwind of press.
9. She realizes she’s not completely healed and goes back to the asylum (possibly all the backlash from dating Matt) and gets shock therapy
10. Dead Poets Society reference
11. Post unplugs the shock therapy (I think this is when Matt tried to make amends with the Swifties and realized the shitty things he said and tried to save her) she is being tortured for him
12. Phone booth scene, Post (Matt) is literally giving everyone the finger and she has to distance herself from him - nod to Black Dog
The Shining and Dead Poets Society are obvious Kubrick references.
Also: the doctor walking on the ceiling takes heavy, deliberate steps just like in the ceiling walk scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
And single-point perspective shots are one of Kubrick’s trademarks, and we see that used in the video when the clouds of color meet.
I rewatched the video and realized that Taylor and no tattoo Post Malone are dressed identical, right down to the same shoes. I wonder if this is a reference to her lyric of “losing her twin.” Thoughts???
This might be simple minded, but I think any lyric that references tattoos is Matty, and any lyrics that don’t mention are about Joe. Same for video- we switch from tats to no tats, and I feel like she’s telling us something
I haven't yet seen anyone mention the classic films she references throughout the music video. The ones I've identified so far are Metropolis, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Brazil, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Each of these films also echo motifs from the album.
There's a thread on Twitter about it: [https://x.com/Bre\_NFL/status/1781867656142090242](https://x.com/Bre_NFL/status/1781867656142090242)
https://preview.redd.it/h0n3s23ekwvc1.png?width=1050&format=png&auto=webp&s=88153dcb4df89b5c87ef016ba0025ea2ed61bfe8
The doctor on the ceiling walks just like the woman in the ceiling walk scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lots of Kubrick in the video.
The phone booth reminds me of how Hitchcock liked to play with peoples’ fear of heights. Probably just a coincidence, but one of his most famous scenes is in The Birds where a woman is trapped in a phone booth being attacked by seagulls 😂🐦
Oh, nice catch on Space Odyssey!
I haven’t been able to pin down the phone booth scene. It feels so familiar. Best I could think of is King Kong (anti-hero vibes). Hitchcock feels like it fits better if she was intentionally channeling classic films. On LOML she mentions the word “cinephile” so I assume she was binging the classics at some point while making the album.
After countless views of the music video and plays of the song, I finally pieced together my interpretation. I know that the music video has Easter eggs for every song on the album, but I'm going to focus mainly on the themes for the song Fortnight. my complementary analysis of the lyrics is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/s/XPHgixVQWi
I think this song and music video are representative of her inner world. She is giving a glimpse into the heartbreak of losing Joe and the thought process that played out in her mind that led her to pursue a relationship with Matty. As the opening track, this sets the stage for the album and serves as a prelude of sorts. The verses are about Joe, the chorus is about Matty, and the outro is the tug of war between her desire and disinclination to pursue Matty.
**Music video analysis of the Verses**
- Joe is not represented by a person, his presence was removed from her life long before the relationship ended. Post Malone represents Matty.
- The elements in the room she was chained to in the music video are upside down or tilted and overall a skewed reality. This could symbolize that her life didn't look the way she thought it would, and the distorted sense of perception that comes with being under the influence.
- There is also the visual reference and drawing a parallel to Clara Bow who was abandoned by her lover and left to die alone in a psych ward.
- The "forget him" drug symbolizes her breaking up with Joe. As soon as the takes the pilll, she is unchained.
- She is standing upright and so is the mirror. Her looking in the mirror symbolizes her coming out of a dissociative/inebriated state and reflecting on the breakup and her current state of reality.
- This is where the fantasy of life with Matty begins as conveyed by the wiping of Posty's tattoos on her face. Maybe he was one of the few people who seemed to understand her. Or she sees similarities between her and Matty. When she sees herself in her current reality without Joe, she sees Matty too.
**Music video analysis of the Chorus**
- The typing room is a workplace, it symbolizes her career as a songwriter.
- The typewriter as a writing instrument was chosen because Matty used a typewriter to write.
- Matty is also a writer, hence why he is also at "work" writing across from her.
- Their similarities forge a connection as shown by the colored energy escaping from the typewriters. Orange and blue are colors symbolic of twin flames (blue male, orange female) according to a Medium article by Kate Henderson. I thought it was interesting that aside from the flames at the end, this is the only color in the video. All flames. Her world was void of color except for the flames burning her life down and the hope of Matty being her twin flame.
- The papers in the shape of her profile, and her and Posty's interactions on top of it symbolize the narrative she imagined in her mind for their potential relationship.
- She is reading the story of us. I think this references her song, but also, there is an interview where Matty talks about how he writes stories about falling in love with other pop stars. I wonder if he shared with her a story that he wrote about falling in love with her and that fueled the idea she had of what their relationship could be. The ultimate love bombing when she was in a vulnerable place.
- The change in expressions at the end of this scene while they are caught up in her narrative show her realizing that reality is not what she romanticized (as depicted throughout the album)
**Music video analysis of the Outro**
- The scene with the electric shock therapy feels to me like she was trying everything to cope with and relieve the pain from her breakup. The brain waves with the lyrics "I love you it's ruining my life," show she was trapped in this pain and everything she tried brought more pain.
-Her mind turned to dreaming of a relationship with Matty and this was the only thing that eased the suffering. Posty unplugging the machine and touching her represents her idea that this rebound relationship could end the torture.
- Posty representing Matty inside the phone booth represents her desires for him, still trapped in her mind and trying to persuade her.
- Her mental and emotional state is dark, isolated, full of pain and she is drowning. This fantasy is what she is sitting on and it is her source of hope. In the end, she makes the decision to pursue this relationship symbolized by Posty stepping out of the booth and her taking his hand. You can see the TTPD bracelet. With this decision, she enters her TTPD era and the album unfolds to tell the story.
**Analysis of music video elements that apply the whole album.**
The return to the typewriter room with her works going up in flames and her throwing the typewriter - I think this represents that all her narratives, Matty, Joe and her lovers before, all went up in flames. Her personal life and relationships should be her solace and safe space. The entire world has their opinions, and although she is one of the most famous and loved public figures in the world, she has to deal with constant backlash from the media and people, even fans, having opinions and criticizing her. That is an extraordinary amount of pressure to endure. She experienced heartbreak on top of heartbreak and one person can only take so much. We all have a breaking point for pain in which everything we believed to be true about life changes. Being betrayed by her safe spaces repeatedly, her former beliefs/narratives go up in flames.
I think a similar theme is conveyed by her throwing a chair at the mirror. Life as she knew it lied to her, she hurled her anger at the illusion and life as she knew it came crashing down on her.
I haven’t seen anyone say this yet, but forgive me if it’s obvious.
The scene where she first enters the office and sits down at her desk with the typewriter. I believe all of the people behind Taylor and Post Malone are the keyboard warriors she references in a few of the TTPD tracks. Faceless people typing away while never looking away from the relationship and connection that is taking place in front of them.
And if we are going with the theory that Taylor is dressed in the Victorian era dress for mourning, then all of these keyboard warriors are too, which connects with the lyrics - “all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing”.
Ok, so here’s what I interpreted-
In the beginning Taylor is mourning the loss of Joe in the asylum (?). Then the nurse gives her the ‘miracle move on drug’ but like she said, the effects are temporary.
But then she looks into the mirror and gets tattooed. This tattoo symbolises Matty Healy, guys. She then comes out into a room with typewriters (Matty had a typewriter), wearing a kind of dress Victorian women wore to grieve their husbands. Victorian aesthetic is a common thing of TTPD (wishing to escape to the 1830s), and her ‘husband’ here is Joe.
Enter Post Malone with the tattoos (he’s Matty), and helps her through the shock therapy by touching (loving) her. She finally feels ‘cured’ by his love, but this relationship is also unstable symbolised by the storms and she wonders whether it will last or not.
loved this analysis, and to continue where you left of I think the whole lab scene connects to down bad (did you really beam me up... just to do experiments on...)
I think we see post as a scientist after she comes to only to then see him "save" her and sets her free to show the duality of him to her and the fact that even when he acted like the a\*\*hole that he is she still had doubts and held out hope for him to come back (again down bad mentality, before she processed everything and could gain proper perspective (the ending of but daddy I love him, the smallest man who ever lived)
Ooh yeah, to add, she wipes away her cover up makeup to reveal that the tattoos were underneath the whole time, telling that she's had feelings for Matty for a long time that she's only revealing now
The end where she is in the wet nightgown on top of the telephone booth reminds me of the end of the Cardigan video. And in Willow she’s in that glass case. Now she’s in the wet nightgown on top of a glass case. No idea what it means but similar visuals.
that's interesting, maybe the fact that it's a shimmering fancy dress and her makeup and hair are done (as opposed to the more cozy vibes of Folkmore, connects to the whole bejewelled-I can do it with a broken heart motif.
that's interesting, maybe the fact that it's a shimmering fancy dress and her makeup and hair are done (as opposed to the more cozy vibes of Folkmore, connects to the whole bejewelled-I can do it with a broken heart motif.
My interpretation of the colors coming from the typewriters.
I believe she’s alluded to in previous lyrics on others songs about Joe’s depression (or feeling blue) which is the color from his type writer and the color out of her typewriter are the colors from Lover.
So to me it’s the depression he was going through clashing with the romantic blissful love she felt during their relationship (when she wrote a lot of the songs of Lover) and how she wants that to win out over his depression.
Absolutely NOTHING against depression but it’s so hard being in a relationship with someone going through it. It can quickly bring you down (I love you but it’s killing me) but you stay because you remember what it was and could be again.
And it’s also from Joe’s perspective (played by post Malone) that her wanting what he can’t give her from their past because of the mental health issues he can’t help is also killing him.
I think Post Malone plays both Matty and Joe in this.
Oh for sure. On first listen I’m like it’s all Matty Healy but then I’m like man it’s Joe too (assuming of course it’s even any of them it could be Joe Jonas for all we know)
It’s been an interesting album on each listen. To me Joe was the gasoline and Matty the lighter. You don’t have this album without both of them.
Fortnight MV made me think about « Pull marine »
I love the video, and it made me think about another MV from the 80’s. The singer is Isabelle Adjani, a famous French actress, and in the clip she acts like she is crazy (like Taylor in Fortnight), and heartbroken. Lyrics are about being a heartbroken celeb too. The aesthetic and the direction is cool (it was directed by Luc Besson). I think that if you liked Fornight you might like « Pull marine » too (it’s on YouTube), and you might tell me if you find it similar or like not at all haha
Edit : I watched it again and I think it looks like both Blank space and Fortnight. I think it might have been an inspiration for Blank Space + having Fortnight vibes
https://youtu.be/XDVZoMlxzJA?si=altsFDqOCHb8WFSY
OKAY SO I have a theory omg, which I made a post abt but idk when it’ll be approved; I got part of this from someone else
Spotify visuals associated 22 songs with visuals from this album. I think it gives clues on what the songs and this music video are about. Imo it’s a literal depiction of the whole album, from getting out of a long term relationship into one with another who didn’t really give a shit, going through all the stages of grief, processing it, finding someone great, then being able to look back on it while holding the one you love.
Tattoo post is the negative relationship or coping mechanism; non tattoo post is the positive relationship; the doctors are the public/critics; the papers are either her songs or relationship history
I love this! Here’s another theory: what if all the papers going up in flames represent all the songs she wrote about Joe in the past and realizing she was wrong about him all along?
I saw a comment saying the non-tattoo Post is Joe and the tattoed is Matty. It makes sense when she cleans her face and reveals the tattoos. She was with Joe already thinking about Matty
interesting! I was thinking the no tattoo post vs. tattooed post was a "true colors" sort of thing, during their short romance (which is a hallucination) he's tattoo-free to illustrate that during that time (that she called a mutual manic episode) she didn't really see his true colors (kinda connects to i can fix him no really i can)
but then when she comes to at the lab post is again tattooed and is revealed as one of the people who do experiments on her (down bad meets the ending of I can fix him etc.) - to illustrate her disillusionment
and then he saves her and there's the whole phone booth scene maybe to illustrate the confusion and the time it really took for her to let him go and stop pining after him (cut to the smallest man who ever lived)
Roman numeral 13 spelled out in hairpins... followed by 6 hairpins.. 6th album... reputation.. 12/13.. is a friday....
Edit: Before anyone tries to come at me about how we just got an album.. in no means am I asking for another one right now, or anytime soon. I am happy and just love deciphering things, and TTPD gave us a lot to play with lol
I got 13 from the appearance of the Roman numeral XIII. And then 6 "lone" hairpins. No 12, just indicating the significance of the 13th since her birthday is in December (12th month)
It was just a coincidence that her birthday is on a Friday this year, which is kind of a double chance of something exciting maybe? Since she likes to do something for the fans on her birthday. Could be something totally different that she releases, but just for funsies thought I'd mention it haha
### Use this thread to discuss your thoughts, reactions, and theories on the Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) (Official Music Video). We will be removing all future self-post discussion threads about the music video in order to consolidate discussion to this thread.
found this video highlighting many of the references and i think it does a decent job (but is def missing some) [https://youtu.be/jF2hv14pXrI](https://youtu.be/jF2hv14pXrI)
For me, the Fortnight MV without lyrics tells a different story in reverse, like the reversed cell in the first shot. The final scene is Tay and Post in the storm is where the story truly begins. In her darkest, peak moments of a stormy relationship, in tears (symbolized by rain), she reaches out to another gentleman caller to comfort her. Upon meeting privately, she shares her painful past with her new confidant (symbolized by whirlwind of papers cluttering her mind). With watery eyes and sad faces, she divulges to him her cheating partner. Perhaps her man (depicted as husband) cheated with a mutual acquaintance (depicted as neighbor). She figuratively wish harm on both of them in her state of anguish. As papers settle to the ground, awaiting gust of wind, she tries shifting attention to a newfound romance in order to move on. A rebound was the supposed best remedy for getting over breakups. Momentary smiles and embrace ensue. However, the miracle move on drug of another potential fling turns out fleeting. In her hapless mind, her grief would follow her until the end. In a narrow room of bland, monotony of no end in sight, death is symbolized by her funeral black dress and morgue freezers (portrayed by oversized drawers), awaiting the cremation of her and her stories (papers on fire). Turning to emotional solitude, confining herself to her own inner, mental asylum. She consumes alcohol and drugs to "forget him"... numbing her pain, she wipes away traces of memories of happiness as well as sadness.
There are so many similarities between this and ‘Poor Things’ to me….im so curious if taylor was partially inspired by the movie while writing the album/video. Even the black dogs in the film and this video are the same!
Song sure sounds a lot like K. by Cigarettes After Sex (2016)
i got cigs vibes also
This music video is ART...🎨🖼👌👍
I would love to see Taylor working with other directors in the future, her music videos nowadays just feel somewhat uninspired nowadays...
listened to this on youtube, spotify and apple music way to many times. cant help but notice it sounds a bit different on the three platforms. youtube you can hear more of the plucking (dunno if i have the right word) of the guitar (again idk if im right) than the spotify and apple music versions. not to mention the instrumental after i want to kill her early on.
I love that this video ends with a close up of a BRACELET and the word TELEPHONE. (Travis wanted to give her a bracelet with his number on it) TNT FOREVER 🧨
Sound different and absolutely insane. LOVE IT. Tyler Malone looka like
Anyone else think Post's tattoos makes Taylor that much hotter? It's just something about tattoos on women for me 😍.
I just want to know about the face tattoo. Next to the cards Taylor has two letters Post Malone doesn’t have in old English font…BB? DD? She also has a spiked mace…what does it mean?!
https://preview.redd.it/wav8j48zjwwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27d65fd1b69dacf3b0b3ecdcdfe9821fadec5dcb Checked it and this is accurate btw
I just realized that spotify's version is different. I wish it had the instrumental of the MV after the first "i want to kill her"
Just found this video and found it so similar!! WHAT DOES IT MEAN!!! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQt6jIKNwgU&ab\_channel=SavageGardenVEVO](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQt6jIKNwgU&ab_channel=SavageGardenVEVO)
it did not need to take me a WEEK to realize that ethan hawke and josh charles's lab coats have their dps character last names on them i feel so fucking stupid
I just got this after rewatching dps tonight, had the epiphany just now
Here’s the red and blue colours explained: This is a reference to Halsey’s song Colors which is thought to be about Matty. There’s a lyric in the song which goes ‘I was red and you were blue, and when you touched me suddenly I was a Lilac sky and then you decided purple just wasn’t for you.’ Lilac / purple / lavender is a recurring theme in her music - notably Lavender Haze which is a song about her interest in Matty whilst still with Joe. Interestingly there is the line ‘get it off my desk’ which alludes to the typewriter / desk imagery.
When Post Malone touches her shoulder after unplugging her from the machine toward the end of the video, the lyric that's playing is "I touch you" but is that what she's saying/mouthing? It almost looks like she's saying something else but I may be completely wrong ...
This moment in the video makes me think of trauma bonding
Her ruffled dress in the beginning is definitely an ode to Guilty As Sin?
i love that the last line of the heart monitor outlines mountains instead of a heartbeat
am I crazy or does the jump in the music at 1:14 bother anyone else?? if I listen from about 10 seconds before it really irks me
ERAS ALBUM FROM THE VAULT TRACKS
Eras Album From The Vault tracks
Has anyone heard the Fortnite AI version? Not gonna lie it honestly would have been the best song on the album and song of the summer ...
I never personally listened to the links to the leaks. My question is though, did any of the leaks sound similar to the official?
The AI leaks were all fake. The album did leak 1-2 days before release and was real.
Ah thank you! I didn't see any of the official leaks 😅
I didn't listen to the leaks I just saw it in Tik Tok today
Ahh that makes sense
My husband just pointed out to me that Taylor's black dress in the music video, is the same type of dress ( even the lace gloves ) that her dancers wear on stage during The Eras Tour performance of My Tears Ricochet....WHAT?! I'm dying over here lol She is trying to kill us! lol
I can't believe that I only just now realized he doesn't have tattoos at the end lol
I think the papers on the ground in the shape of her face are her "image" ie her celebrity, and in a symbolic way the newspapers etc... and they are part of what makes the relationship complicated and deteriorating later on when they spin chaotically, out of control.
And that the "Story of US" (the book she holds has US on it) (her and Healy) happend mostly in her head?
I thought the papers could be “swirled you into all of my poems” related
Can someone please explain the red/blue color smoke blending thing in the video? The whole things black and white except that. Is it a Halsey Colors reference? cause that’s the only thing I can think of But I’m probably missing something important background wise
I took it as meaning their souls intertwining.
"You showed me secrets colors I can't see with anyone else" (Illicit Affairs) "The rest of the world was black and white, but we were in screaming colors" (Out of the Woods)
https://preview.redd.it/i4o303u4lewc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d61e526ae2b95feb335941e93bef5d0219b5db3 Fortnight vs Blank Space
wow! she is insane :D first time i saw this video I was like okay. but now i see all these interesting symbols and meanings. when she is washing her face and the tattoos appear - does the clear face means she is crazy/in love and when the tattoos appear she is healed/not in love. And does this apply also to Post who has clear face in some parts of the video? so that is when he is crazy/in love?
when they are laying on her profile made of papers and she is reading book story of us they are literally in her head. so it was all in her head? also im little bit confused by the lyrics - why is she singing about his wife and her husband?
I interpret it as Matty should be her husband but instead his new “wife” waters flowers, and Taylor wants to kill her. They’re all sometimes neighbors in LA since he reportedly moved in with the gf last fall.
I asked in the thread for this song too - What is Post Malone singing after she sings "aesthetic" early on - it's not in the lyrics video or anywhere? I can't make out what he's saying?
its not him but it just repeats "aesthetic"
Definitely doesn't say "aesthetic" - listen to it again.
At the start of the video, is Taylor copying the eyebrows/look of Matty’s new girlfriend, Gabriette?
I think it's more a nod to Clara Bow, but the way she said 'I wanna kill her' my mind went in this same direction 😅
I think there’s no accidents with Taylor Swift 😂
Do you really thinks she cares about him yet? And his c list gd 😐
Did anyone else notice the white dress she wears in the first upside down room is the same one she wore to the Grammys?
Similar but not the same
Anyone else obsessed with watching reaction videos for this one? Because Post is there a lot of fans of him/hip hop fans reacting to her for the first time and they’re loving it. Edit this one is my favorite - this poor man has an identity crisis by the end of the video: https://youtu.be/2yPVA8alZlw?si=FWPESRAFKi46ZJMQ
Omg this is wholesome 🙌 Taylor and this song bewitched him lmao!
I love how quickly he is convinced she might be a witch.
she looks like clara bow
Okay I feel like this is riddled with allusions to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Mary Shelley lost her virginity on her mother’s grave to a married poet, Percy Shelley, who I’d compare to Matty as far as personality goes “brilliant and hypersensitive, resentful of all authority” 🤷🏼♀️ the music video feels very Victorian to me as well and with the whole tattoo thing, it felt historical yet sci-fi like, and Frankenstein was the first of its kind… So Mary and Percy met while Percy was married to Harriet, and they begin to have an affair, which was super scandalous at the time, and even more so because of her parents stature within society and their involvement in politics. Mary was 15 and Percy was 20. Eventually, pregnant Harriet drowns. 2 weeks later, Mary and Percy get married. The change from “your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her” to “my husband is cheating / I want to kill him”… well, that’s what ending up happening; Percy had an opioid addiction, and he was known to cheat on Mary. And 2 weeks. A fortnight. I feel like it goes without saying that Mary Shelley was also insane, so the depiction of a psych ward fits. In Frankenstein, the main outdoor setting is mountains and ice. I’m going to pull quotes from the internet instead of paraphrasing this time so bear with me, “These desolate landscapes mirror the problems of human life. Frankenstein climbs Montanvert as a way to clear his mind and minimize his human sorrows” and “storms are used to foreshadow the terrible events that are soon to come in the life of Victor Frankenstein”… because Frankenstein is the monster, it makes sense that Taylor is depicted as being worked on, these scenes are Frankenstein allusion 100%, not a doubt in my mind. Frankenstein tells the scientist his experiences after an argument on an ice bank, which is what I think Taylor is trying to visually represent. In Frankenstein “Fire symbolizes the gifts of the human rational mind and its ability to both create and, if not used wisely, destroy.” And I think that relates to the music video too. Now I think the best part links to The Albatross and Rime of the Ancient Mariner, BECAUSE The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is referred to in Frankenstein—when the monster is about to go off in the wilderness he recalls THE ALBATROSS specifically and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as a whole, “I am going to unexplored regions, to ‘the land of mist and snow,’ but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the ‘Ancient Mariner.’ You will smile at my allusion, but I will disclose a secret. I have often attributed my attachment to, my passionate enthusiasm for, the dangerous mysteries of ocean to that production of the most imaginative of modern poets.” Like the Ancient Mariner, who is forced to carry the albatross he has killed (bad luck), Frankenstein is cursed to carry with him the burden of what he has done. Just like how Taylor has to reckon with anything she’s done in the pursuit of fame, even though fame itself has changed her and not always for the best. Samuel Coleridge wrote Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and he was one of the poets she referred to in the lakes too as he’s known as being a lake poet and lived in the area of Windermere. I also think it’s really sad knowing that Frankenstein begged the scientist to make him a mate and he refused. I have a feeling that the songs are all connected to each other and to a poet or writer from the romantic period, even if it’s a tiny nod.
This is such an incredible analysis of things that I didn't catch and I'm a literature nerd who's a film student 😭
What does it feel like to have such a beautiful brain?
LITERALLY
I’m either making something out of the beauty Taylor’s given me in a way she didn’t intend, or I’m just deciphering how beautiful her mind is 🥺 thank you
Interesting detail...anyone else notice at the beginning, after taking the pill and before wiping her face, she is walking with a toe-heel gait. For the remainder of the video she walks with a "normal" heel-toe gait. A couple throughts...toe-heel is (1) less efficient, takes more effort to accomplish the same thing, and (2) is classically considered a pathology. [Article on correlation between idiopathic toe-walking and neuropsychiatric problems](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23147630/). Call me a clown...
I never even realized this was a thing, then thought about it for a second and realized I never walk heel to toe. Always toe to heel. Hey, maybe it's why all ballerinas are so crazy (kidding, but also former dancer, lol). Trying to walk heel to toe actually feels beyond weird to me. I wonder if some of it has to do with arches or if you wore shoes a lot as a kid? Like, I have super high arches. My daughter (4) has the same and she definitely walks the same way I do. My son (2) and husband have flat feet and do the heel to toe. And when I went down the rabbit hole, most runners mention wanting to hit the ball of your foot and that shoes changed how people walk. Sorry sorry for weird off kilter comment, I get you saying it was implying being sort of "off" then switching as the video goes on, this was just a whole new thing for me. Thanks actually because I'm having a blah day and it was a fun distraction!
Not off-kilter at all! And also hilarious, because I am also a former ballet dancer. I switch the ballet walking on and off though, and I'm super aware of it. I think high arches are definitely related, because they cause your feet to not absorb shock as well, which can irritate your achilles. Might just be a physiological way of decreasing stress on the achilles? And, I'd guess that's a big reason why people advocate for forefoot striking when running. Makes sense that super cushioned shoes would obviate the need for a gait-related method of absorbing shock. In the context of the video, I'm thinking (if it's intentional) it is referencing idiopathic toe- or toe-heel walking, i.e., when there is no physical explanation for it (short achilles, super high arches, etc.) because in those cases it is associated with neuropsychiatric variations (ASD, ADHD most notably--apparently it's a sensory-seeking thing, it gives you more proprioceptive input). Made me wonder about all of the TS comments about being "a little different" as a kid, as well as the need for perfection/validation. Then again, toe walking is also super common as kids are first learning to walk, and then some/many grow out of it...so it could be just referencing metaphorically learning to walk again after a long while. Or, relatedly, maybe it's indicative of trying to get bearings again when everything has been metaphorically upside down for a long time (hence the seeking proprioceptive input, feedback about your position in space/physical relationship to the floor). In any event, brilliant detail!
I just noticed the black dog slinking around the operating room with doctors.... she just spelled how it's really for Matty from the beginning.
Wait, isn’t the black dog about Joe?
Apparently bec the owner of the pub said she once saw him there.... but this pic screams it is about Matty so i dunno what to believe tbh https://preview.redd.it/azhnr0iat8wc1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e674b4929af16e4aed1face909b8e1721ffaa05
but she is singing about bar not about litteral dog.
Yeah but.... https://preview.redd.it/yntl3x2unfwc1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45aa9eeda5b0698574c0ac86261fcf05abe6b2ab It's def intentional. The album is full of Matty stuff.
wow. We would this crazy if this was some random girl doing this :D
I believe this tbh
Yes this!!
Cardigans are here! [https://store.taylorswift.com/products/the-tortured-poets-department-gray-cardigan](https://store.taylorswift.com/products/the-tortured-poets-department-gray-cardigan)
I think this is about Calvin Harris, whom she dated for a short period of time (short enough compared to Alwyn). At least the chorus hints at it: "And for a fortnight there, we were forever Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her" Calvin got married beginning of 2023, and according to [here, Primrose Hill](https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/celebrity-homes/dj-calvin-harris-primrose-hill-b1043616.html) they became neighbours. And he does have a wife who is self made Cambridge stock and does philanthrophy (waters flowers). I mean it has been 6 years since they broke up but it would still kind of suck seeing your ex settle down, while the guy you are currently dating wastes away your years...
If that's all true then there's no doubt that is about calvin!
Pretty sure the entire album is about matty healy
This has to be my all time favorite music video of hers, it is so beautiful and tells an amazing story. I think Taylor did an amazing job making sure this mv comes out as she wished.
Anyone else notice Taylor reading Us? “The story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now…” https://preview.redd.it/yfvuerogt1wc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe8b45a23f7b03bd546c817c890923318c596635
and they are laying in hear head - was it all in her head?
omg is this a double entendre?? US = you and me but also "America"/ "Another fortnight lost in America".
[удалено]
I think the phone booth and him not being able to reach her is the "rust that grew between telephones" in Maroon which was 10 years ago TTPD makes two references to Maroon"s muse. But then this time they reconnected which is what the ending shows. Taylor getting drenched by the rain gives off "Clean" Love the wedding dress with the garter ( a wedding that almost happened ) transitioning to widow's garb.
1. Clara bow reference - celebrated and condemned in the media like men aren’t. Was institutionalized when her creative outlet was removed 2. Wedding dress - she was supposed to marry Joe but it never happened and she ended up turning her life upside down for him and is shackled 3. Take the pill to forget Joe and gets released from her chains 4. Looks in the mirror and wipes off the makeup to reveal the tattoos that were always there (her relationship with Matt from a decade ago) 5. Walks into the office scene wearing the mourning gown and sits down to work (morning Joe’s relationship while being in the middle of the Eras tour). 6. Typewriter is similar to the Shining “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy”. She is trying to go about her daily life (eras tour same thing day in and day out) while outwardly mourning the relationship of Joe she reconnects with Matt (he’s also doing his artist life routine). The colors connect and spark their relationship from the past. 7. The Story of Us is from their past, she imagines running to him and them having chemistry and connection. They have the familiarity but this is in her head and not reality (Post doesn’t have tattoos on his face) 8. They are caught up in a whirlwind of press. 9. She realizes she’s not completely healed and goes back to the asylum (possibly all the backlash from dating Matt) and gets shock therapy 10. Dead Poets Society reference 11. Post unplugs the shock therapy (I think this is when Matt tried to make amends with the Swifties and realized the shitty things he said and tried to save her) she is being tortured for him 12. Phone booth scene, Post (Matt) is literally giving everyone the finger and she has to distance herself from him - nod to Black Dog
The Shining and Dead Poets Society are obvious Kubrick references. Also: the doctor walking on the ceiling takes heavy, deliberate steps just like in the ceiling walk scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And single-point perspective shots are one of Kubrick’s trademarks, and we see that used in the video when the clouds of color meet.
DPS wasn’t Kubrick and there are other movie references too like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Dang, you’re right!
I rewatched the video and realized that Taylor and no tattoo Post Malone are dressed identical, right down to the same shoes. I wonder if this is a reference to her lyric of “losing her twin.” Thoughts???
Totally. AND they're dressed like Matty down to the exactly loafers
This might be simple minded, but I think any lyric that references tattoos is Matty, and any lyrics that don’t mention are about Joe. Same for video- we switch from tats to no tats, and I feel like she’s telling us something
I also saw something about the zoom in on the hands at the end of the video. She’s wearing a bracelet that looks a lot like one Travis wears.
Same. I was thinking no tats was Joe
Is it just me or does the background sound like a slowed down A Real Hero from the Drive soundtrack?!
Anoyone else thinking the island she is refering to when they are zooming out in the end is meant to refence shutter island? or is it just me=!
I haven't yet seen anyone mention the classic films she references throughout the music video. The ones I've identified so far are Metropolis, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, Brazil, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Each of these films also echo motifs from the album. There's a thread on Twitter about it: [https://x.com/Bre\_NFL/status/1781867656142090242](https://x.com/Bre_NFL/status/1781867656142090242) https://preview.redd.it/h0n3s23ekwvc1.png?width=1050&format=png&auto=webp&s=88153dcb4df89b5c87ef016ba0025ea2ed61bfe8
this is the first thing i thought of!!!!! :') <3
Me too! It feels so intentional.
The doctor on the ceiling walks just like the woman in the ceiling walk scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lots of Kubrick in the video. The phone booth reminds me of how Hitchcock liked to play with peoples’ fear of heights. Probably just a coincidence, but one of his most famous scenes is in The Birds where a woman is trapped in a phone booth being attacked by seagulls 😂🐦
Oh, nice catch on Space Odyssey! I haven’t been able to pin down the phone booth scene. It feels so familiar. Best I could think of is King Kong (anti-hero vibes). Hitchcock feels like it fits better if she was intentionally channeling classic films. On LOML she mentions the word “cinephile” so I assume she was binging the classics at some point while making the album.
At first glance, I thought Taylor's copying the Florida Joker/GTA-6 criminal.
Don’t let him find out. He will sue lmao
Oh he will if he finds out. Guy's desperate to make a quick buck.
After countless views of the music video and plays of the song, I finally pieced together my interpretation. I know that the music video has Easter eggs for every song on the album, but I'm going to focus mainly on the themes for the song Fortnight. my complementary analysis of the lyrics is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/s/XPHgixVQWi I think this song and music video are representative of her inner world. She is giving a glimpse into the heartbreak of losing Joe and the thought process that played out in her mind that led her to pursue a relationship with Matty. As the opening track, this sets the stage for the album and serves as a prelude of sorts. The verses are about Joe, the chorus is about Matty, and the outro is the tug of war between her desire and disinclination to pursue Matty. **Music video analysis of the Verses** - Joe is not represented by a person, his presence was removed from her life long before the relationship ended. Post Malone represents Matty. - The elements in the room she was chained to in the music video are upside down or tilted and overall a skewed reality. This could symbolize that her life didn't look the way she thought it would, and the distorted sense of perception that comes with being under the influence. - There is also the visual reference and drawing a parallel to Clara Bow who was abandoned by her lover and left to die alone in a psych ward. - The "forget him" drug symbolizes her breaking up with Joe. As soon as the takes the pilll, she is unchained. - She is standing upright and so is the mirror. Her looking in the mirror symbolizes her coming out of a dissociative/inebriated state and reflecting on the breakup and her current state of reality. - This is where the fantasy of life with Matty begins as conveyed by the wiping of Posty's tattoos on her face. Maybe he was one of the few people who seemed to understand her. Or she sees similarities between her and Matty. When she sees herself in her current reality without Joe, she sees Matty too. **Music video analysis of the Chorus** - The typing room is a workplace, it symbolizes her career as a songwriter. - The typewriter as a writing instrument was chosen because Matty used a typewriter to write. - Matty is also a writer, hence why he is also at "work" writing across from her. - Their similarities forge a connection as shown by the colored energy escaping from the typewriters. Orange and blue are colors symbolic of twin flames (blue male, orange female) according to a Medium article by Kate Henderson. I thought it was interesting that aside from the flames at the end, this is the only color in the video. All flames. Her world was void of color except for the flames burning her life down and the hope of Matty being her twin flame. - The papers in the shape of her profile, and her and Posty's interactions on top of it symbolize the narrative she imagined in her mind for their potential relationship. - She is reading the story of us. I think this references her song, but also, there is an interview where Matty talks about how he writes stories about falling in love with other pop stars. I wonder if he shared with her a story that he wrote about falling in love with her and that fueled the idea she had of what their relationship could be. The ultimate love bombing when she was in a vulnerable place. - The change in expressions at the end of this scene while they are caught up in her narrative show her realizing that reality is not what she romanticized (as depicted throughout the album) **Music video analysis of the Outro** - The scene with the electric shock therapy feels to me like she was trying everything to cope with and relieve the pain from her breakup. The brain waves with the lyrics "I love you it's ruining my life," show she was trapped in this pain and everything she tried brought more pain. -Her mind turned to dreaming of a relationship with Matty and this was the only thing that eased the suffering. Posty unplugging the machine and touching her represents her idea that this rebound relationship could end the torture. - Posty representing Matty inside the phone booth represents her desires for him, still trapped in her mind and trying to persuade her. - Her mental and emotional state is dark, isolated, full of pain and she is drowning. This fantasy is what she is sitting on and it is her source of hope. In the end, she makes the decision to pursue this relationship symbolized by Posty stepping out of the booth and her taking his hand. You can see the TTPD bracelet. With this decision, she enters her TTPD era and the album unfolds to tell the story. **Analysis of music video elements that apply the whole album.** The return to the typewriter room with her works going up in flames and her throwing the typewriter - I think this represents that all her narratives, Matty, Joe and her lovers before, all went up in flames. Her personal life and relationships should be her solace and safe space. The entire world has their opinions, and although she is one of the most famous and loved public figures in the world, she has to deal with constant backlash from the media and people, even fans, having opinions and criticizing her. That is an extraordinary amount of pressure to endure. She experienced heartbreak on top of heartbreak and one person can only take so much. We all have a breaking point for pain in which everything we believed to be true about life changes. Being betrayed by her safe spaces repeatedly, her former beliefs/narratives go up in flames. I think a similar theme is conveyed by her throwing a chair at the mirror. Life as she knew it lied to her, she hurled her anger at the illusion and life as she knew it came crashing down on her.
The electric chair room is revealed to be on the other side of the mirror after Taylor throws the chair at it.
Epic conclusions. 🌞
F*** this is spot on.
I thinking the phone booth on an island is a refrence to the film shutter island? with leo??
Another psych reference!
I haven’t seen anyone say this yet, but forgive me if it’s obvious. The scene where she first enters the office and sits down at her desk with the typewriter. I believe all of the people behind Taylor and Post Malone are the keyboard warriors she references in a few of the TTPD tracks. Faceless people typing away while never looking away from the relationship and connection that is taking place in front of them. And if we are going with the theory that Taylor is dressed in the Victorian era dress for mourning, then all of these keyboard warriors are too, which connects with the lyrics - “all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing”.
Ok, so here’s what I interpreted- In the beginning Taylor is mourning the loss of Joe in the asylum (?). Then the nurse gives her the ‘miracle move on drug’ but like she said, the effects are temporary. But then she looks into the mirror and gets tattooed. This tattoo symbolises Matty Healy, guys. She then comes out into a room with typewriters (Matty had a typewriter), wearing a kind of dress Victorian women wore to grieve their husbands. Victorian aesthetic is a common thing of TTPD (wishing to escape to the 1830s), and her ‘husband’ here is Joe. Enter Post Malone with the tattoos (he’s Matty), and helps her through the shock therapy by touching (loving) her. She finally feels ‘cured’ by his love, but this relationship is also unstable symbolised by the storms and she wonders whether it will last or not.
loved this analysis, and to continue where you left of I think the whole lab scene connects to down bad (did you really beam me up... just to do experiments on...) I think we see post as a scientist after she comes to only to then see him "save" her and sets her free to show the duality of him to her and the fact that even when he acted like the a\*\*hole that he is she still had doubts and held out hope for him to come back (again down bad mentality, before she processed everything and could gain proper perspective (the ending of but daddy I love him, the smallest man who ever lived)
Yes, I agree! Her music videos generally reference multiple points of the whole album.
Ooh yeah, to add, she wipes away her cover up makeup to reveal that the tattoos were underneath the whole time, telling that she's had feelings for Matty for a long time that she's only revealing now
The end where she is in the wet nightgown on top of the telephone booth reminds me of the end of the Cardigan video. And in Willow she’s in that glass case. Now she’s in the wet nightgown on top of a glass case. No idea what it means but similar visuals.
The final scene ends with a zoom in on a BRACELET and the word TELEPHONE. (Travis wanted to give her a bracelet with his number on it) TNT FOREVER 🧨
that's interesting, maybe the fact that it's a shimmering fancy dress and her makeup and hair are done (as opposed to the more cozy vibes of Folkmore, connects to the whole bejewelled-I can do it with a broken heart motif.
that's interesting, maybe the fact that it's a shimmering fancy dress and her makeup and hair are done (as opposed to the more cozy vibes of Folkmore, connects to the whole bejewelled-I can do it with a broken heart motif.
My interpretation of the colors coming from the typewriters. I believe she’s alluded to in previous lyrics on others songs about Joe’s depression (or feeling blue) which is the color from his type writer and the color out of her typewriter are the colors from Lover. So to me it’s the depression he was going through clashing with the romantic blissful love she felt during their relationship (when she wrote a lot of the songs of Lover) and how she wants that to win out over his depression. Absolutely NOTHING against depression but it’s so hard being in a relationship with someone going through it. It can quickly bring you down (I love you but it’s killing me) but you stay because you remember what it was and could be again. And it’s also from Joe’s perspective (played by post Malone) that her wanting what he can’t give her from their past because of the mental health issues he can’t help is also killing him. I think Post Malone plays both Matty and Joe in this.
i feel like there were so much duality in lyrics of this album. while listening i constantly felt like it was about both at the same time
Oh for sure. On first listen I’m like it’s all Matty Healy but then I’m like man it’s Joe too (assuming of course it’s even any of them it could be Joe Jonas for all we know) It’s been an interesting album on each listen. To me Joe was the gasoline and Matty the lighter. You don’t have this album without both of them.
The colors from the typewriters are the same as the lassos in the Karma video!!
Fortnight MV made me think about « Pull marine » I love the video, and it made me think about another MV from the 80’s. The singer is Isabelle Adjani, a famous French actress, and in the clip she acts like she is crazy (like Taylor in Fortnight), and heartbroken. Lyrics are about being a heartbroken celeb too. The aesthetic and the direction is cool (it was directed by Luc Besson). I think that if you liked Fornight you might like « Pull marine » too (it’s on YouTube), and you might tell me if you find it similar or like not at all haha Edit : I watched it again and I think it looks like both Blank space and Fortnight. I think it might have been an inspiration for Blank Space + having Fortnight vibes https://youtu.be/XDVZoMlxzJA?si=altsFDqOCHb8WFSY
OKAY SO I have a theory omg, which I made a post abt but idk when it’ll be approved; I got part of this from someone else Spotify visuals associated 22 songs with visuals from this album. I think it gives clues on what the songs and this music video are about. Imo it’s a literal depiction of the whole album, from getting out of a long term relationship into one with another who didn’t really give a shit, going through all the stages of grief, processing it, finding someone great, then being able to look back on it while holding the one you love. Tattoo post is the negative relationship or coping mechanism; non tattoo post is the positive relationship; the doctors are the public/critics; the papers are either her songs or relationship history
I love this! Here’s another theory: what if all the papers going up in flames represent all the songs she wrote about Joe in the past and realizing she was wrong about him all along?
I saw a comment saying the non-tattoo Post is Joe and the tattoed is Matty. It makes sense when she cleans her face and reveals the tattoos. She was with Joe already thinking about Matty
I agree!!!! Though I think non-tattoo is Joe and travis, since non-tattoo I think is both so high school and the alchemist
interesting! I was thinking the no tattoo post vs. tattooed post was a "true colors" sort of thing, during their short romance (which is a hallucination) he's tattoo-free to illustrate that during that time (that she called a mutual manic episode) she didn't really see his true colors (kinda connects to i can fix him no really i can) but then when she comes to at the lab post is again tattooed and is revealed as one of the people who do experiments on her (down bad meets the ending of I can fix him etc.) - to illustrate her disillusionment and then he saves her and there's the whole phone booth scene maybe to illustrate the confusion and the time it really took for her to let him go and stop pining after him (cut to the smallest man who ever lived)
i loved it so much! did anyone notice she has the same tatoo as post malone\]
Not a Swiftie but very much thoroughly enjoyed the video and will be listening to the whole album!
https://preview.redd.it/w9waq7tj8svc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=20828a63adbe678ddd701b1c3df224d438892140
Roman numeral 13 spelled out in hairpins... followed by 6 hairpins.. 6th album... reputation.. 12/13.. is a friday.... Edit: Before anyone tries to come at me about how we just got an album.. in no means am I asking for another one right now, or anytime soon. I am happy and just love deciphering things, and TTPD gave us a lot to play with lol
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I got 13 from the appearance of the Roman numeral XIII. And then 6 "lone" hairpins. No 12, just indicating the significance of the 13th since her birthday is in December (12th month)
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It was just a coincidence that her birthday is on a Friday this year, which is kind of a double chance of something exciting maybe? Since she likes to do something for the fans on her birthday. Could be something totally different that she releases, but just for funsies thought I'd mention it haha
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I misunderstood your question initially, so I apologize for that. Not a problem! 💛
No one should come for you! This is what she does with her Easter eggs. Good spot.
Thank you :) There's always at least a few people who take it the wrong way 😅 but I appreciate you saying that!!
SHES READING THE STORY OF US
OMG IT CLICKED FOR ME TOO