In case you’ve always wondered what Taylor Swift would look like with Post Malone‘s face tattoos, “Fortnight” is the video for you.
On Friday night (April 19), Swift unveiled the video for “Fortnight,” featuring Malone. It’s the first visual from her brand-new 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, and it goes alongside the project’s first single, co-written by Swift, Malone and Jack Antonoff and co-produced by Swift and Antonoff.
In the trippy video, Post’s tattoos end up on Taylor’s face as she appears to wipe her face clean, only to reveal a face full of ink instead. In apparent flashback scenes, both of the musicians are fresh-faced, as Swift runs into the arms of a tattoo-free Malone.
Echoing the song’s lyrical references to institution (like the opening line: “I was supposed to be sent away/ But they forgot to come and get me”), the video shows Swift’s character going through electrotherapy and trying to break out of an all-white room.
Watch the video below:
Swift took to her social media accounts after the video’s release to marvel at the finished product and the collaborators who helped her achieve it.
“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,” she wrote. “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. 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). I still can’t believe I get to work with the unfathomably brilliant Rodrigo Prieto on cinematography and my team of dream collaborators: Ethan Tobman (production design), Chancler Haynes (editor), Anthony Dimino (1st AD), Jil Hardin (producer) and Dom Thomas (executive producer). Parliament aced the VFX as always. Joseph Cassell, Lorrie Turk and Jemma Muradian made these tortured looks come to life. The entire crew made this a dream to shoot. Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who has watched it!!”
Swift announced “Fortnight” as the first single early Thursday, the day before the album’s arrival. “The first single from The Tortured Poets Department is…………. Fortnight featuring @postmalone,” Swift wrote on X. “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.”
Shortly after Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department at the 2024 Grammys in February, Malone was revealed to be one of only two features on the track list (the other being Florence + The Machine on “Florida!!!”). Last year, before their collaboration had been announced, Malone recalled running into Swift in an interview with Howard Stern and exchanging compliments. “We were just passing by and she was like, ‘Oh my God! Nice to see you. “Better Now” is f—in’ amazing!’” Malone said Swift told him. “And I was like, ‘What? That’s f—in’ crazy, you’re a great f—in’ songwriter! Thank you so very much.’”
