'Fortnight' Lyrics Meaning: What Is The Taylor Swift Song About?

No, it's not about the video game. "Fortnight," the first single from Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department," is a duet with Post Malone.

Before we delve into the lyrics, let's get some temporal vocabulary: "Fortnight" means a two-week span. Hw much damage can two weeks do? According to this song, a lot.

The lyrics describe a torrid, short-lived and forbidden love affair that, as she says, has dramatic effects: "I love you and it's ruining my life." This line was already teased in an Apple Music playlist ahead of the album and in imagery, as if to say, "It's Important."

Revisit our live coverage of the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

The narrator is, to put it bluntly, not well. She sings, "I supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me." She was a "functioning alcoholic ‘til nobody noticed my new aesthetic," suggesting that her substance use was a cry for help and attempt for someone to "notice" her.

How did she get here? The song appears to be about two neighbors married to other people. Now that the affair is over, they have returned to their old lives. This is not sitting well with our narrator.

"Now you’re in my backyard, turned into good neighbors / Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her," she sings.

Domestic bliss is nowhere to be found in this nuclear family entanglement, as she sings, "My husband is cheating. I wanna kill him."

She blames the other man's "quiet treason" for how she ended up in this state, where all her "mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February."

There is no cure for heartbreak, according to this song, though she tried: "I took the miracle move on drug, the effects were temporary."

The song ends the narrator being abandoned. The the man going to Florida in a car he won; he got the getaway car, she didn't. Florida becomes a place of escape in this song and the song "Florida!!!" which Swift co-wrote with Florence Welch.

In that song, she sings of saving up for a time share in Destin, as if Florida is a goal and a place of future expectation: "Florida, is one hell of a drug / Florida, can I use you up?" A cheating husband who disappears also figures into the song.

It's worth noting that, during a concert in Florida, Swift first acknowledged her breakup with Alwyn, saying, "We have a lot to catch up on."

She already released imagery from the music video for “Fortnight,” which has some asylum vibes that match the song lyrics.

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 OK, but you’re the reason

And no one here’s to blame but what about your quiet treason

And for a fortnight there we were

Forever running to you

Sometimes ask about the weather

Now you’re in my backyard, turned into good neighbors

Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her.

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

And for a fortnight there we were, forever running to you

Sometimes ask about the weather

Now you’re in my backyard turned into good neighbors

Your wife waters flowers. I wanna kill her.

And for a fortnight, there we were together

Running to you, sometimes come and turn my sweater

And now you’re at the mailbox, turned into good neighbors

My husband is cheating. I wanna kill him.

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

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

I’m calling you, but you won’t be called?

Another fortnight lost in America

Going to Florida by the car you won

But it won’t start up till you touch, touch, touch me

Elena Nicolaou

Elena Nicolaou is a senior entertainment editor at Today.com, where she covers the latest in TV, pop culture, movies and all things streaming. Previously, she covered culture at Refinery29 and Oprah Daily. Her superpower is matching people up with the perfect book, which she does on her podcast, Blind Date With a Book.