The song 'Fortnight' by Taylor Swift and Post Malone tells a story about strong feelings, complicated relationships, and secret wishes. It talks about love, betrayal, and wanting someone who doesn't feel the same. The word 'fortnight' shows short-lived happiness and guilty pleasures, leading to sadness. It shows how messy relationships can be and the results of hiding emotions. “I was supposed to be sent away / But they forgot to come and get me,” she kickstarts the song in the first verse with lines suggesting an admission to a hospital for people with mental illnesses. She goes in the verse admitting her lover is the reason why she is like this. In the chorus, she sings about their time in love and reflects on how he has now settled with someone else. “I took the miracle move-on drug, the effects were temporary / And I love you, it’s ruining my life,” on the second verse she details her struggles to forget about him and the negative effects of her failure. “Thought of callin’ ya, but you won’t pick up / ‘Nother fortnight lost in America,” Post Malone sings in the outro.
As I was walking through a life one morning
The sun was out, the air was warm but oh,
I was cold,
And though I must have looked a half a person,
To tell the tale in my own version,
It was only then that I felt whole.
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To get a little self-control.
I know how hard you try.
I see it in your eyes.
Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive.
We went on, as we were on a mission,
Latest in a Grand Tradition.
Oh, what did we find?
It was Ego who was flying the banner,
Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, oh,
We'd been unkind.
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To get a little self-control.
I see it in your eyes,
I see it in your spine,
But call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive
Even the nights that could get better.
And even the days aren't all that bad.
And after a week of fighting,
As more and more it seems the right thing
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To gain a little self-control
Won't anybody here just let you disappear?
Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad,
But me and Mia, Ann and Ana
Know how hard you try,
Don't you see it in my eyes?
Sick to death of my dependence,
Fighting food to find transcendence.
Fighting to survive.
More dead, but more alive.
Cigarettes and speed to live,
And sleeping pills to feel forgiven.
All that you contrive,
And all that you're deprived.
All the bourgeois social angels
Telling you you've got to change.
Don't have any idea.
They'll never see so clear.
But don't forget what it really means to
Hunger strike,
When you don't really need to
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours.
And even the nights, they could get better
The sun was out, the air was warm but oh,
I was cold,
And though I must have looked a half a person,
To tell the tale in my own version,
It was only then that I felt whole.
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To get a little self-control.
I know how hard you try.
I see it in your eyes.
Call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten,
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive.
We went on, as we were on a mission,
Latest in a Grand Tradition.
Oh, what did we find?
It was Ego who was flying the banner,
Me and Mia, Ann and Ana, oh,
We'd been unkind.
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then, get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To get a little self-control.
I see it in your eyes,
I see it in your spine,
But call your friends, 'cause we've forgotten
What it's like to eat what's rotten
And what's eating you alive,
Might help you to survive
Even the nights that could get better.
And even the days aren't all that bad.
And after a week of fighting,
As more and more it seems the right thing
Do you believe in something beautiful?
Then get up and be it
Fighting for the smallest goal:
To gain a little self-control
Won't anybody here just let you disappear?
Not doctors, nor your mom nor dad,
But me and Mia, Ann and Ana
Know how hard you try,
Don't you see it in my eyes?
Sick to death of my dependence,
Fighting food to find transcendence.
Fighting to survive.
More dead, but more alive.
Cigarettes and speed to live,
And sleeping pills to feel forgiven.
All that you contrive,
And all that you're deprived.
All the bourgeois social angels
Telling you you've got to change.
Don't have any idea.
They'll never see so clear.
But don't forget what it really means to
Hunger strike,
When you don't really need to
Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours.
And even the nights, they could get better
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More Featured Meanings
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
this song is incredible- the lyrics are so powerful. There is definately a very literal interpretation to eating disorders. but I think what gives the song its kick is the comparison between political movements and individual struggles... For example, at the climax of the song: "But don't forget what it really means to hunger strike, When you don't really need to/ Some are dying for the cause, but that don't make it yours" juxtaposes the idea of starving for vanity and the idea of starving for a cause. This song also goes deep into the psyche of someone who is struggling with an eating disorder, and the lyrics almost suggest that the disease has to do with someone internalizing a politcal struggle as a personal struggle. in any case, this song takes my breath away every time I hear it.
@tbot Right on. Excellent on this part of the song. Good addition to the full discussion above.