With Taylor Swift’s next music video just hours away, Swifties are dissecting the teaser for clues.
After Swift, 34, shared a glimpse at the new visual for ‘Fortnight’, fans noticed the artist appeared to repurpose her look from the 66th Grammy Awards and possibly made a nod to pal Emma Stone’s latest role.
‘SHES WEARING HER GRAMMY DRESS IN THE LAST TWO CLIPS WHAAAAT’ wrote one fan in a TikTok comment.
She sports a gown by Australian designer Toni Maticevski in the video, bearing a strong resemblance to the custom Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli number she wore to the ceremony in February.
The strapless square-neck white gown she wore to the awards show featured a bodice with a ruched thigh-high leg slit.
After Taylor Swift shared a glimpse at the new visual for ‘Fortnight’, fans noticed the artist appeared to repurpose her look from the 66th Grammy Awards
She sports a gown by Australian designer Toni Maticevski in the video, bearing a strong resemblance to the custom Daniel Roseberry for Schiaparelli number she wore to the ceremony in February
Swift wore the look with a pair of black opera gloves and a matching choker, finished with chain necklaces and a pair of black open-toe stilettos.
The ‘Down Bad’ artist wore the dress as she announced the album while accepting her lucky 13th Grammy, taking home Best Pop Album for Midnights.
Swifties speculated that the bridal look was a message to ex Joe Alwyn, who reportedly ‘refused to marry’ her before they ended their six-year relationship in 2023.
In anticipation of the album, Swifties have already sniffed out apparent nods to her boyfriend Travis Kelce in the lyrics, as well as exes Alwyn, 33, and Matty Healy.
Swift dated Healy, 35, last year, following the end of her relationship with Alwyn.
Fans have speculated that the song title ‘So Long, London’ is a reference to the British actor, as well as the lyric: ‘I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all.’
Swift has since shared a statement that the album represents a ‘chapter closed and boarded up’ in her life.
As she teased the video for ‘Fortnight’, fans also compared a Victorian dress and the video’s institutional vibes to Stone’s Oscar-winning film Poor Things.
‘Someone watched Poor Things lol,’ someone wrote in the comments.
The ‘Down Bad’ artist wore the dress as she announced the album while accepting her lucky 13th Grammy, taking home Best Pop Album for Midnights
Swifties speculated that the bridal look was a message to ex Joe Alwyn, who reportedly ‘refused to marry’ her before they ended their six-year relationship in 2023
‘Why does it remind of a that new Emma Stone movie Poor Things,’ another wrote.
Swift previously showed Stone, 35, her support at the movie’s New York premiere in December.
The Midnights artist also cheered on her friend at the Golden Globes in January, when Stone won Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture for her portrayal of Bella Baxter.
Swift also hooked Stone up with tickets to the opening night of her Eras Tour in Glendale, California last March.
‘The concert was pretty amazing,’ Stone told Vanity Fair last June. ‘I was lucky ’cause we’ve been friends for a really long time.
‘I’ve known her since we were 17 and 18, so she hooked me up, which was very nice ’cause I know those tickets are impossible to get.’
Stone raved of Swift, ‘She’s a wonderful friend. She blows my mind.’
The ‘Fortnight’ teaser also earned references to old Hollywood and Clara Bow, who’s also namedropped on the album’s track list.
As she teased the video for ‘Fortnight’, fans also compared a Victorian dress and the video’s institutional vibes to pal Emma Stone’s Oscar-winning film Poor Things. ‘Someone watched Poor Things lol,’ someone wrote in the comments
Swift previously showed Stone her support at the movie’s New York premiere in December
Swift previously announced ‘Fortnight’ as the album’s lead single in an Instagram post on Thursday
‘It’s giving golden age of film, black swan,’ wrote one fan, as another added: ‘IM CLAIMING CLARA BOW.’
Swift previously announced ‘Fortnight’ as the album’s lead single in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Although the album allegedly leaked on social media earlier this week, TPD has broken Spotify’s record as the most pre-saved countdown page in the streaming platform’s history.
The TPD release comes amid a two-month break from Swift’s record-smashing Eras Tour, which resumes May 9 in France.
The Tortured Poets Department is now available for streaming and download, and the ‘Fortnight’ music video drops Friday at 8pm ET.
Taylor Swift The Tortured Poets Department review: The pop superstar pulls out all the stops on this mammoth undertaking, writes ADRIAN THRILLS
Taylor Swift: The Tortured Poets Department (Universal)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Verdict: Dawn of a new Era
From 2012’s brash Red through to 2022’s more subtle Midnights, Taylor Swift has a penchant for single-word album titles. Over those ten years, the American superstar has also given us 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore and Evermore. The fact that her latest comes with a more protracted handle suggests that something is afoot in the Swiftieverse.
There’s certainly a sense that she’s pulling out all the stops on The Tortured Poets Department. Even for someone with a track record of lengthy, value-for-money albums, it’s a mammoth undertaking. Its 16 songs stretch out across 66 tireless minutes, with bonus tracks take the running time to over 74 minutes. It’s essentially a double album. It’s also an immersive, cinematic affair that often feels more like an old Hollywood film script than a straightforward pop record.
The good news for Swifties is that the 34-year-old’s astonishing work ethic hasn’t led to a dip in songwriting quality. Including four re-recordings, this is her ninth LP in five years, and it’s well up to the standard of the older albums she’s currently revisiting on The Eras Tour, a career-spanning show which hits UK stadiums this June.
Written on the US leg of that tour, it isn’t a major departure musically. Two of her regular collaborators, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, are the main co-writers, and many of her lyrically-rich songs are built around shimmering electronics and inarguably great tunes. There are two duets – one with soft-voiced US star Post Malone, one with UK singer Florence Welch – and passing hints of folk music.
Before we even get to the songs, the mood is set by an LP sleeve that features a written introduction by Taylor, who signs herself off as The Chairman Of The Tortured Poets Department. There’s also a poem, ‘for T and me’, by Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks.
It’s a far cry from Swift’s early days in Nashville: a flair for storytelling and the odd spot of vocal phrasing aside, there are few traces of her country roots here. While the rest of the pop world, from Beyoncé to Lana Del Rey, is hitching a ride on the country hay-wagon, Taylor is once again heading in a different direction.
The lyrical mood is one of tarnished romance, with clever internal rhymes and skilfully-scripted melodrama by the bucketload. The album opens with Fortnight, an electronic ballad in which Taylor, accompanied by Post Malone, suggests she’s on the verge of a breakdown. ‘I was supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me,’ she warns. ‘I was a functioning alcoholic until nobody noticed my new aesthetic.’
Fans who pore over her lyrics will have plenty to entertain them. This is her first new album since the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and, while she doesn’t mention Alwyn by name, speculation will be rife that tracks such as So Long, London – which contains a reference to ‘the house by The Heath’ – are about him.
The odd misstep is inevitable. Down Bad feels like one sad, electronic ballad too many. But, just as you fear the album might be losing momentum, up pops another classic in the making such as Florida!!! – sung with Welch – or Guilty As Sin?
‘I’m so depressed, I act as if it’s my birthday every day,’ she sings on I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.
Whatever comes her way, the show must go on. So, even as her record-breaking tour rolls on towards its final show in December, a new Era is already under way.
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: TRACK-BY-TRACK
Fortnight
A tuneful duet with Post Malone and a song seemingly about a two-week fling. The slow, electronic rhythms set the early tone.
The Tortured Poets Department
Another shimmering melody, and lyrics which suggest that Taylor, modestly, doesn’t see herself at the top table of tortured poets: ‘You’re not Dylan Thomas, and I’m not Patti Smith.’
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
Written solely by Swift, this song’s dense electronic hum adds forceful notes. ‘Once I fix me, he’s gonna miss me,’ she vows.
Down Bad
‘Everything comes out teenage petulance,’ sings Taylor as she bitterly surveys the fallout from an old relationship.
So Long, London
The first track to be written with The National’s Aaron Dessner brings a change of pace, with a lovely, choral intro. ‘So long, London, you’ll find someone,’ sings Taylor.
This is her first new album since the end of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and, while she doesn’t mention Alwyn by name, speculation will be rife that tracks such as So Long, London are about him. Pictured together in 2019
But Daddy I Love Him
‘I know he’s crazy, but he’s the one I want,’ sings Swift, showing wry humour as she admits to falling for the bad boys. Produced, with real brightness, by Dessner.
Fresh Out The Slammer
Finger-picked acoustic guitar adds folky notes reminiscent of lockdown albums Folklore and Evermore.
Florida!!!
An album highlight, this theatrical duet with London singer Florence Welch is an uplifting song of escape – from small-town life and a bad romance.
Guilty As Sin?
A tale of unrequited love, and a superb slice of 1980s-style soft rock. It even mentions The Downtown Lights, a 1989 single by Scottish band The Blue Nile.
Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
Big drums, a dramatic arrangement, and more dry humour in another song penned solely by Swift. ‘You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me,’ she snarls.
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
A moody, stripped-down number worthy of Lana Del Rey, who has also worked extensively with the song’s producer, Jack Antonoff.
The Alchemy: Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. Pictured at Coachella this week
Loml
‘You said I’m the love of your life,’ sings Taylor on this warm, resonant piano ballad. In a smart twist, the ‘loml’ ultimately becomes ‘the loss of my life’.
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
More 1980s influences on an electronic pop track that sees Taylor vowing to remain a trouper, despite any romantic strife.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
‘You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man,’ sings a disdainful Swift on a melodramatic ballad.
The Alchemy
Sporting metaphors aplenty suggest a track inspired by the singer’s current boyfriend, American football star Travis Kelce. ‘When I touch down, call the amateurs and cut them from the team,’ she sings.
Clara Bow
It’s tempting to think Taylor sees something of herself in a closing track inspired by an American actress of the 1920s who lived her life in the Hollywood goldfish bowl.
