"Fortnight" Lyric Analysis & Song Meaning | "The Tortured Poets Department" by Taylor Swift

[@baconegger1450]

i think miracle move on drug is the rebound relationship itself

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

for me, the lyric i was a functioning alcoholic til nobody noticed my new aesthetic" means that she was a *functioning* alcoholic, so, basically, she had issues but she could handle them, UNTIL no one noticed her new aesthetic. no one noticed her, they stopped paying attention to her, and she stopped being functioning. i think she's trying to say that her productivity depends on ppl's validation

[@flama2505]

I need this but with every song on the album! Keep them coming! 🙌🙌

[@summersentiment]

working on it!! 😊 [new analysis just posted 👀]

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

i interpret the car lyric as her saying that because they are not toguether, nothing in her life works properly. and also the car not starting up may mean her being stagnant, unable to move on

[@LadyoftheUnderground]

When you talked about “good neighbors” I couldn’t help but think of State Farm 😂

[@summersentiment]

omg LOL

[@baconegger1450]

I think ..your wife waters flowers... is about either a past girlfriend of the guy who tries to keep the relationship alive by watering it, or a future wife who the protagonist will be jealous of if he marries someone else; watering flowers is a happy and carefree activity, symbolizing wedded bliss

[@baconegger1450]

I think...till no one noticed my new asthetic... means nobody actually ever noticed she needed help and she just had to stop on her own. I think functioning alcoholic is a metaphor not literal, she was LIKE one. UPDATE: now I think it also means she was addicted to the relationship with Joe, hence why she stayed so long.

[@arielbaker5174]

Yes, I think functioning alcoholic means I was drunk in love (but the toxic version).

[@arielbaker5174]

I think endless February alludes to the month poet Sylvia Plath died in. She committed suicide and wrote a lot of depression, confessional poems before she died. Her manuscript was published after her death. My faves from the album: ttpd title track, fresh out the slammer, The Black Dog, Who's Afraid of Little Old Me, The Smallest Man, Fortnight.

[@summersentiment]

thank you for sharing that, that could definitely tie in with why "february" specifically was used! that adds so much more heaviness to the month and to be trapped in a month that had such a horrible thing happen could definitely be mirroring how the protagonist is feeling... thank you for your comment! 😊

[@Clara_taylorsversion]

You know what I was thinking endless February = Joe because his birthday is in feb , and she felt stuck in that relationship, it was the same thing over and over like a loop

[@randudeh]

Here’s a ‘good’ clue, Good Neighbors is a British sitcom that first aired in April 1975 😳 (Matty Healy’s birthday is in April). Taylor is next level!!

[@summersentiment]

WHAT!!!! omg...i am so shook....i'm literally laughing right now b/c taylor is so next level. there are SO many layers!! thank you for sharing this!!✨ again: OMG!!!!!

[@TiffanyTeaLeaves]

What’s the show about? I’m curious if anything can be extrapolated?

[@carlafrisbie3057]

Whoa!!!

[@annakennedy6970]

I love your analyses! I didn't think about the severity of the line about quiet treason and how it refers to royalty, but now I can connect it to a line in her other song "I'm queen of sandcastles you destroyed". This man really made her feel like a queen temporarily, but as short as it was she was devastated when it ended. Can't wait to hear your other TTPD song analyses and I hope we get to hear your thoughts about ATW10.

[@summersentiment]

thank you so much! 😊 taylor has used royal diction/metaphors before but it does seem more refined on this album in my opinion. i agree, it feels like our protagonist was built up and them torn down

[@juanluissanjose7535]

Amazing. The crowd is chanting "More" :)

[@summersentiment]

💖💖💖

[@suzannemaria5594]

Matty rented a car and allegedly crashed it while going to her Florida show.

[@summersentiment]

...the plot thickens 👀

[@ryanswiftwhisper23]

I interpreted this song about the breakdown of Joe and Taylor’s relationship. They’re still living together and sharing the same spaces but aren’t talking. Or if they are talking they’re making small talk. Especially since Joe is someone she quarantined with during the pandemic. So the wife water flowers lyrics means Taylor is just tending to the garden/relationship and being passive in the relationship. Taylor wants to kill her aka herself because she hates how she is tending to the relationship while it is degrading. She’s acting like everything is perfect. Taylor is the wife and Joe is the husband but it’s Taylor reflecting on the relationship. So this song is about her exploring how the relationship use to be exciting and they were running and forever. Then, it became a relationship where they were faking niceties etc.

[@carlafrisbie3057]

Holy crap! That’s deep!

[@Charles_S.]

SS, the best Analysis on KZbin hands down! Another great eval SS and yes get that 10 min. "All To Well" completed I amongst others are waiting 🙂.

[@summersentiment]

thank you SO much!! 😊 yes, will get that "all too well" 10 min version analysis done LOL

[@gaylenwoof]

I'm wondering of "functioning alcoholic" is primarily metaphorical (with a kernel of truth because she was drinking enough to make her say she was going to stop because she didn't want to have the experience of doing the Eras Tour with a hangover). My thought is that "alcoholic" is more like "Joe-aholoic" - addicted to Joe - addiction because it was an altered state numbing a fear of loss - disguising the terrifying loss of deeper feelings of love. This addiction continued until somebody (specifically Joe) FAILED to notice (= "nobody noticed") her new aesthetic (the "storms in her eyes", she had turned "grey" and was dying, but Joe seemingly didn't notice the new aesthetic). Once she came to terms with the fact that Joe was not noticing her new aesthetic, she stopped being a "functioning Joe-aholic". This can take on two meanings, depending on where you put the emphasis. She stopped functioning and became a dysfunctional addict and/or she broke away from her addition - stopped being a Joe-aholic. (probably a combo of both playing out over time). This interpretation was triggered in my mind because I was puzzled by the turn of phase where I expect her to say "till SOMEBODY noticed my new aesthetic" but instead she says "till NOBODY noticed". This is a way of phrasing that turns expectations upside-down, so it kept tickling my brain.

[@24harkness]

also i believe the prologue explains the album a lot theres a part where she says that the whole album was written on a moment of insanity

[@LadyQbear2018]

Treason is punishable by death here in the United States. Usually by hanging. It's no joke. She even mentions gallows elsewhere. She's amazing.

[@Clara_taylorsversion]

Out of all the theories, "fortnight" being about Matty and its about their fling in 2023 makes the most sense for obvious reasons, but if you're interested in random theories, I hv one !! What if the fortnight she's referring to happened in 2014 (FOURTEEN!!) Taylor says in iheart radio interview, " You ended up not with the person that you loved, and now you just have to live with that every day, wondering what would have been maybe seeing that out and, and that’s a pretty tragic, concept really" about fortnight In that perspective, some lyrics are going to have a different meaning, like: "I hope you're okay" now kinda feels like she is talking to someone she knew, but now, they are no longer in touch and that's why she doesn't have that anger because it happened a long time ago. "You're the reason "she's going insane and is struggling with accepting her reality without him. "What about your quiet treason?" Idk why, but Taylor using quiet treason makes me think of affairs? Like Matty was giving her signs even when they both had different partners. "And for a fortnight there, we were forever". I think this was her only relationship where she was the muse. I know she's dated musicians before but no one did it like Matty. He wrote songs about her and dedicated to her in his concerts , he was openly expressing his feelings through music, which is like her love language!! "Run into you sometimes, ask about the weather, Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors" As you said, they have mutual friends so when they meet her mind starts asking this "what if" questions !! Like she says in the song , I Hate It Here : I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind !! The backyard is her mind ( idk ) and she's thinking about him Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her" This lyric reminds me of Ivy , where she says : Stop you putting roots in my dreamland , My house of stone, your ivy grows and now I'm covered in you!! Maybe "the wife" part of her which wants them together keeps watering her "flowers" , her fantasies and she wants to kill that part of her because its wrong to fantasize about him but she cant stop her self !! "All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February" Mondays reminded me of the term , Monday blues (she often uses blue to refer to joe). It means " You might feel anxious, depressed, or have a sense of dread about Mondays. DRAGGING yourself back to the working week after a two-day break can feel LIKE A CHORE - all the more so if you're UNHAPPY in your job" !! Joe's birthday is in February and she's used the Pisces symbol a lot of times !! This could mean that her 6 year long relationship felt like a chore and they're dragging this , both of them are unhappy so it lacks excitement and feels like everyday is the same thing over and over again. " I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary" maybe she's turned into an alcoholic to get through this loveless relationship? her reality? " I love you, it's ruining my life " could be her realizing she loves him (Matty) and now she has to live with that everyday wondering what would have been I dont know if my bull*hit makes any sense but i thought of sharing it lmao

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

the last two lines of the chorus are a yuxtaposition bcs his wife is watering flowers, it's such and innocent and harmless activity and it still makes her (the protagonist) want to kill her

[@24harkness]

girl you need to do guilty as sin? pls 🙏

[@Clara_taylorsversion]

About this line : "Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her" I think the wife she's referring to is herself!! The past version of her , the one who believed him , loved him and thought it was forever!! If u observe in the mv she starts singing her lyrics from " i wanna kill her" when she looks at her reflection in the mirror and she sees him all over her. After the flashbacks when we return to the "upside down tilted hanging bed asylum " scene it shows her throwing the chair at the mirror and destroying it!! She wants kill herself and become a different person , she wants to forget his existence but everything including her reflection reminds her of him . Remember how she had those videos where she said " she lost him but found herself " but in this relationship not only did she lose him but she also lost herself. But apparently its about Fka twigs and she has a song called water me?!

[@LadyQbear2018]

Taylor's song "Clean" has some references... When the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst And possibly a Maroon reference? You're still all over me Like a wine-stained dress I can't wear anymore Not to mention the fact that Maroon is not just a color but a verb One who is left on a desolate island as a punishment And the whole concept of "clean" has to do with addiction.

[@swiftie3313]

We want all tracks analyses plz ❤❤❤

[@klmjtr]

Matty being in America = being in her backyard

[@the.black.dog.13]

so highschool is also the song i've been listening to a lot it reminds me of the first teenage relationship besides that my favs are guilty as sin, down bad and but daddy i love him

[@roxanebarbey1394]

I also like that being in a February loop is being stuck in a double fortnight cycle, but now a longer and gloomy one.

[@summersentiment]

omg i love that perspective..."double fortnight cycle"! thank you for sharing ✨

[@holly1725]

I took the, hope You are okay - as tongue in cheek - a little .. backhand .. not a literal sentiment. I think she is saying.. I’m in an awful place and we say these things.. hope you’re okay .. no one to blame… but really ? What about your quiet treason As in - you ARE to blame 💚

[@arielbaker5174]

Yes..tongue in cheek, I agree.

[@Jess-InFuture]

So about the lyrics 'I was a functioning alcoholic till no body notice my new aesthtic', i refer to that she is so alone when no one can know what she see what she think or something, so she kept herself with alcohol...

[@chamomillae]

So far my favourites are The smallest man who ever lived, Peter, I hate it here and how did it end ❤ I really enjoy your analysis videos and I'm waiting for the anthology reaction🥰❤

[@summersentiment]

those are great songs! and that video is coming very soon! 😊

[@chamomillae]

@@summersentiment can't wait!😊

[@ayse7639]

Your hair is so pretty ❤

[@biches1219]

great gift for the birthday thnx

[@summersentiment]

happy birthday!! 🎂 ✨

[@ryanswiftwhisper23]

ive been listening to fornight, florida, guilt as sin. from the anthology ive been obsessed with i hate it here and I look in peoples windows

[@TheCinder24]

Yes. I Look In People's Windows is so pretty and so sad. I love ❤️ it so much.

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

i think this song is abt joe and the miracle move on drug is matty

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

i think she says "no ones here to blame, but what abt your quiet treason" bcs she might feel she caused his treason. idk, maybe she considers she didnt give it all. like some ppl may feel guilty when their partner cheats bcs they think its bcs they didnt give them enough attention or smth. thats why she says he's not to blame

[@heenapatel339]

I like your thought on not saying well to people who wronged you. I do the same

[@isitovernow123]

"no one here's to blame" i wonder if she was using "blame" as a verb instead of a noun

[@mehribozorgmehri4252]

ery good ❤❤🎉

[@klmjtr]

But I touched you …..meaning that they were affected by her no matter whether or not they act like it.

[@klmjtr]

What about her fans committing “quiet treason” against her relationship with Matty as they did not want her to be dating him?

[@benzillamusic]

Fantastic new video, you're so gorgeous and wonderful, glad you're enjoying my Summer Island Neighbor's music, much love. Shout out to my distant cousin, Taylor Swift. ❤️🎶😍

[@LadyQbear2018]

Since Taylor herself said that Cardigan was about Matty, that might explain the "comment on my sweater" line.

[@summersentiment]

excellent point!! ✨

[@imjustagirl_1234-q8b]

Taylor did NOT say that

[@ivysp321]

When did she said that

[@Albumlullabies]

Were you able to monetize this video?

[@ChaoticallyCreativeGinger]

wtf does the word “fortnight” mean in her song someone plz tell me I don’t get it & feel like I’m the only one 💀 i understand the song just not why she says “fortnight”

[@Jess-InFuture]

fortnight is 2 weeks... maybe she was record the 2 week when she dated with matty

[@TiffanyTeaLeaves]

22:28 😂 maybe now they’re punished by having albums written about them 😂😂😂 I wish we were irl friends, you’re 100% necessary 🫶🏼