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Fortnight

Feat. Post Malone | Lead Single | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024)

“Fortnight” is the lead single and opening track on Taylor’s eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). Written by Taylor, Jack Antonoff and American rapper Post Malone, it was released on April 19, 2024, through Republic Records. The latter also features on the track. “Fortnight” essentially establishes the album’s thesis statement: “I love you. It’s ruining my life.”

Background and Release

Taylor announced THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024. The following day, she announced the track listing via social media; Post Malone was revealed to be the featured artist on the opening track, “Fortnight”.

Taylor had mostly worked on the album while on the first US leg of “The Eras Tour” in 2023, although “Fortnight” was likely recorded in the second half of the year. During an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, Malone said that Taylor initiated the collaboration by simply “hitting him up”. He then “rolled in the studio” and hung out with her, having a “good day” together. At the time of the interview, Malone revealed that he had not heard the full song yet:

«She's amazing. Yeah, that's pretty cool...It's really nice. She's so sweet, and so kind, and talented. And she hit me up and said, 'Let's do it.' And I was like, 'Hell, yeah!'»

Post Malone

The track was released as the lead single of TORTURED POETS on April 19, 2024, concurrently with the album’s release. Republic Records serviced “Fortnight” to contemporary hit and hot adult contemporary radio in the United States, while Universal Music promoted it on radio airplay in Italy. The track was also made available for purchase as a CD single through Taylor’s online store in the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland. A remix produced by Blond:ish was released on May 21, 2024. On July 8, 2024, an acoustic version and a remix produced by Cults were released. For the annual Record Store Day, an exclusive 7” white vinyl featuring “Fortnight” and the BLOND:ISH remix was released on April 12, 2025.

Collaboration with Post Malone

Before the announcement of their collaboration, Taylor and Post Malone had only interacted with each other in public a few times. Notably, he was one of the few people Taylor hugged when she won the award for “Artist of the Year” at the American Music Awards in 2019. In October 2023, Post Malone mentioned meeting Taylor more recently during an interview with Howard Stern:

«She is genuinely one of the most kind and considerate people. A fucking hell of a songwriter. Holy shit. Amazing.»

Post Malone

Upon the song’s release, he shared on his social media channels: “It’s once in a lifetime that someone like Taylor Swift comes into this world. I am floored by your heart and your mind, and I am beyond honored to have been asked to help you with your journey. I love you so much. Thank you Tay.” Taylor herself wrote:

«I’ve been such a huge fan of Post because of the writer he is, his musical experimentation and those melodies he creates that just stick in your head forever. I got to witness that magic come to life firsthand when we worked together on Fortnight.»

Taylor Swift

Lyrical Theme

The word “fortnight” is a British English noun meaning “two weeks”. According to Taylor, the song is a self-contained introduction to the album’s themes and her descent into insanity courtesy of a trip down her worst nightmares. She told iHeartRadio in April 2024:

«'Fortnight's is a song that I think really exhibits a lot of the common themes that run throughout this album, one of which being fatalism, longing, pining away, lost dreams. I think it’s a very fatalistic album, in that there are lots of very dramatic lines about life, or death, and, 'I love you, it’s ruining my life.' These are very hyperbolic, dramatic things to say. But it’s that kind of album – it’s a dramatic, artistic, tragic take on love and loss. And 'Fortnight', I've always imagined that it took place in this American town where the American Dream you thought would happen to you...didn't. Right? You ended up not with the person that you loved and now you have to live with that every day. Wondering what would've been, maybe seeing that out. And that's a really tragic concept, really.»

Taylor Swift

The lyrics of “Fortnight” portray a woman in an unhappy marriage who becomes next-door neighbors with an ex-lover, who is now married to another woman himself. The fact that she lives next-door to her former partner makes her fantasize about killing his wife. Eventually, Taylor’s character finds out about her husband’s infidelity, which makes her want to kill him as well. By the end, Post Malone’s character, representing the ex-lover, sings about escaping to Florida together.

As the opener to THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, many of the themes from “Fortnight” reappear on later tracks.

Production

A 1980s-inspired downtempo electropop and synth-pop ballad, “Fortnight” is instrumented by a pulsing synth bassline. The track was produced by Jack Antonoff and Taylor.

Music Video

Taylor wrote and directed the music video for “Fortnight”, with cinematography handled by Rodrigo Prieto. It was released on April 19, 2024, and has a black-and-white cinematography that features Taylor and Malone as ex-lovers, and Dead Poets Society‘s co-stars Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles as psychiatrists carrying out tests on Taylor:

«When I was writing the 'Fortnight' music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music. Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it.»

Taylor Swift

She went on to thank her collaborators: “Post Malone blew me away on set as our tortured tragic hero and I’m so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration. I’m still laughing from getting to work with the coolest guys on earth, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles (tortured poets, meet your colleagues from down the hall, the dead poets).”

Live Performances

Starting with the European leg, which kicked off in May 2024, Taylor added “Fortnight” to the regular setlist for her sixth headlining tour, “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). For its performance, the stage features a “TTPD”-emblazoned bed and dancers dressed as nurses. Taylor sings the song as she sits on a typewriter, across from one of her male dancers.

Critical Reception

Alli Rosenbloom of CNN described the song as a “dynamic first track” and “perhaps the album’s catchiest”, praising how Taylor’s and Malone’s vocals go well together. Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph wrote: “His breathy singing voice dovetails surprisingly with Swift’s angsty coo”. In PopMatters, Igor Bannikov complimented the “buoyant” synth-pop production and acclaimed the track as “the best opening track in her career”. Zoladz complimented the lyrics, describing “Fortnight” as a “potent [reminder] of how viscerally Swift can summon the flushed delirium of a doomed romance”.

Commercial Performance

After one day of release, “Fortnight” set the single-day streaming record for any song on Spotify, surpassing the all-time peak previously held by Mariah Carey’s song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (1994). The single debuted atop the Billboard Global 200, marking Taylor’s fifth No. 1 and tying her with Bad Bunny for the most chart toppers among solo acts. It was one of the 9 tracks from the album to debut within the Top 10, extending Taylor’s number of To 10 entries to 33.

In the United States, on the Adult Pop Airplay chart dated June 22, 2024, “Fortnight” reached No. 1 to become Taylor’s record-extending 13th chart topper and Malone’s second. On the Billboard Hot 100, “Fortnight” debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated May 4, 2024, with first-week figures of 76.2 million streams, 31.1 million radio airplay audience impressions, and 19,000 copies sold. As her 12th No. 1 single and seventh No. 1 debut, it tied Taylor with Ariana Grande for the most No. 1 debuts for a female artist. The single spent two consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.

“Fortnight” also debuted at No. 1 and was Taylor’s fourth No. 1 single in the United Kingdom and 12th in Australia. The single also topped the charts in Canada, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Billboard’s Hits of the World charts for Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Across other European territories, “Fortnight” reached the Top 5 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Belgian Flanders, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland. The track peaked at No. 2 on the chart for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In Asia-Pacific, “Fortnight” peaked in the Top 5 of Billboard’s Hits of the World charts for Taiwan and Indonesia.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: Taylor Swift]
I was supposed to be sent away
But they forgot to come and get me
I was a functioning alcoholic
Til nobody noticed my new aesthetic
All of this to say
I hope you’re okay
But you’re the reason
And no one here’s to blame
But what about your quiet treason?

[Chorus 1: Taylor Swift]
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 want to kill her.

[Verse 2: Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift & Post Malone, Post Malone]
All my mornings are Mondays
Stuck in an endless February
I took the miracle move-on drug
The effects were temporary
And I love you
It’s ruining my life
(I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you
For only a fortnight
(I touched you)
But I touched you

[Chorus 1: Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift & Post Malone]
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 want to kill her.

[Chorus 2: Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift & Post Malone]
And for a fortnight there
We were together
Run into you sometimes
Comment on my sweater
Now you’re at the mailbox
Turned into good neighbors
My husband is cheating
I want to kill him.

[Bridge: Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Taylor Swift & Post Malone]
I love you, it’s ruining my life
(I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you for only a fortnight
(I touched you)
I touched you
I love you
It’s ruining my life
(I love you, it’s ruining my life)
I touched you for only a fortnight
(I touched you)
I touched you

[Outro: Post Malone, Post Malone & Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift]
Thought of calling ya
But you won’t pick up
Another fortnight lost in America
Move to Florida
Buy the car you want
But it won’t start up
Til you touch, touch, touch me
Thought of calling ya
But you won’t pick up
Another fortnight lost in America
Move to Florida
Buy the car you want
But it won’t start up
Til I touch, touch, touch you