Taylor Swift Drops 1st ‘Tortured Poets Department’ Music Video for ‘Fortnight’
Taylor Swift gave fans a new perspective on The Tortured Poets Department in the album’s first music video for “Fortnight.”
The singer, 34, dropped the video at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, April 19, just hours after the release of her 11th studio album.
The black-and-white video opens with Swift chained to a bed frame in a hospital room. The scene then transitions into multiple situations where Swift and Malone appear as star-crossed lovers while she sings about a intense love affair.
Malone isn't the only superstar to appear in "Fortnight," as actor Ethan Hawke made a surprise cameo as a lab worker.
Earlier this week, Swift teased the timetable for the album in an Easter egg-filled Instagram video, which showed a calendar that confirmed the music video. Underneath the announcement, fans noticed 14 tally marks, leading to theories that the music video would either be for the album’s 14th song, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” or for her “Fortnight” collaboration with Post Malone, the title of which alludes to 14 days.
Swift surprised the audience at the 2024 Grammy Awards in February by divulging that she had a new album in the works. Later that month, she opened up about the behind-the-scenes process of creating the record.
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“I needed to make it. It was really a lifeline for me,” she told the crowd at one of her Melbourne, Australia, concerts. “It sort of reminded me of why songwriting is something that actually gets me through life, and I’ve never had an album where I’ve needed songwriting more than I needed it on Tortured Poets.”
In the months leading up to the album’s release, Swift seemingly hinted on several occasions that the songs would address her split from Joe Alwyn. (News broke in April 2023 that the pair had called it quits after six years of dating.)
Earlier this month, Swift created Apple Music playlists from her existing catalog that described the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Fans quickly noticed that the majority of the tracks featured on denial's “I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life Songs” playlist were inspired by her romance with Alwyn, 33.
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“This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags, possibly resulting in moments of denial [and] delusion,” she explained. “Results may vary.”
Fans subsequently recognized multiple references to Alwyn at Swift’s Tortured Poets Department library pop-up in Los Angeles, including six open drawers out of 72 — seemingly a nod to her six-year relationship with Alwyn — and dried lavender — which could point to “Lavender Haze,” a Midnights track rumored to be written about Alwyn.
After her split from Alwyn, Swift had a brief romance with musician Matty Healy, which Us confirmed had fizzled out in June 2023 after two months together. She then moved on with Travis Kelce, whom she began dating in the summer of 2023. Earlier this month, the couple proved they are still going strong while attending Coachella on Saturday, April 13.
