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.
It's been a long, long time since I've memorized your face
It's been four hours now since I've wandered through your place
And when I sleep on your couch I feel very safe
And when you bring the blankets I cover up my face
I do love you
I do love you
And when you play guitar I listen to the strings buzz
The metal vibrates underneath your fingers
And when you crochet I feel mesmerized and proud
And I would say I love you, but saying it out loud
It's hard so I won't say it at all
And I won't stay very long
But you are the life I needed all along
I think of you as my brother
Although that sounds dumb
And words are futile devices
It's been four hours now since I've wandered through your place
And when I sleep on your couch I feel very safe
And when you bring the blankets I cover up my face
I do love you
I do love you
And when you play guitar I listen to the strings buzz
The metal vibrates underneath your fingers
And when you crochet I feel mesmerized and proud
And I would say I love you, but saying it out loud
It's hard so I won't say it at all
And I won't stay very long
But you are the life I needed all along
I think of you as my brother
Although that sounds dumb
And words are futile devices
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fortnight
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
My first impression was that this was about a former lover, or even an estranged lover. Now I wonder if he is singing to someone who has always been a platonic friend. For many single people, the most important relationships in their lives are friendships, not love affairs. How many of us fail to tell our best friends how much we love them?
This song, this whole album, is just beautiful.
@sushisouschef I'm someone who is eternally single. By choice, mostly, since I'm quite happy on my own. And this song really speaks to me. Because I have so many friends whom I love so much. And saying it out loud or saying they're like a sibling to me, sounds kinda dumb. I don't know if that's what he meant by this song, but at least that's what I hear and what makes me happy.
I do not think this song is written from the perspective of a lover to Sufjan, and that it is definitely written from Sufjan's perspective. The speaker has great admiration for the subject of the song. He is "mesmerized" by the person, "proud" of him/her, and is completely in love with this person. It would seem quite conceited if Sufjan wrote this song from the perspective of someone else to himself. Just because Sufjan palys guitar and crochets does not mean he is the object of admiration. Rather, his love of guitar and crocheting would make his admiration of this lover even greater.
On a side note: Sufjan's sexuality is irrelevant in this song. The theme is Sufjan's inability to express his love and admiration of another person with words because they are only futile devices. Whether or not his lover is a man or a woman has no affect on the theme.
i think he is gay but doesn't want to be too precise about it, since as an artist you get easily reduced to your homosexuality and before you know it, "gay" is the first thing that comes to people's minds when they hear your name, not your music. but he still doesn't want to completely deny his identity and probably finds it goofy to write a song about a boy and then to just replace every "he" with a "she".
i'm just wondering if he wouldn't try to avoid all this ambiguity, if he was actually straight. but maybe it's just too much fun for him to follow such silly discussions as this one ;)
the age of adz is beautiful, btw.
The entire album "Age of Adz" is the story of schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Robertson). If you're detecting homosexual undertones in this song, they're about Royal. Sufjan seems to rarely right about his own life in these concept albums like Illinois and Age. Michigan (where he was born) and Seven Swans are much more autobiographical than his most recent albums.
being happy and almost satisfied enough with just a secret unrequited love.
BECAUSE YOU ARE THE LIFE THAT I NEEDED ALL ALONG
that's what it means to me.
Why are you all in such denial that Sufjan could be gay or bisexual? Obviously no one can know for sure unless he comes out, but do you really think he would make so many of his lyrics so sexually ambiguous if he was straight? You guys seem really desperate to rationalize away the gay undertones in this and several other of his songs.
The theory that Futile Devices is about platonic love directly contradicts some of the heavily romantic lyrics. If you love someone in a platonic way, why would you "memorize their face"? That clearly indicates physical attraction.
I also disagree with the theory that the song is written from someone else's perspective or that the perspective changes midway through the song. Sufjan does crochet, yes, but don't you think that the reason he's "proud" could be because he taught the other person how to crochet? Also -- lots of people play guitar besides Sufjan. There is simply not enough information provided for anyone to reasonably assume that line is written about Sufjan from his lover's perspective.
I think I've made my point -- y'all should at least entertain the possibility that he could be gay.
Of course he COULD be. But that doesn't mean he is just because he's single and some of his lyrics are sexually ambiguous.
True. I was just trying to make the point that some people were going to extraordinary lengths just to deny the possibility.
I memorize my father's face. I feel mesmerized and proud when I watch my best friend crochet. My favorite teacher was the life I needed all along. And I'm not sure you made a point at all in your post, just saying...
you are so correct.
hi i like your username bye
I realize that a lot of the conversation on this song deals with Sufjan's sexual orientation. Yet, while this album is supposed to be much more deeply personal than his "state albums," I don't feel that this is entirely what is important in the song. This song marks an abrupt change in the style of his lyrics. Yes, on the surface, the comment to the person being referred to as a brother consists of the words being referred to as "futile," but I think that what this song is indicating is the reason for the change in his lyrics. We have all read that he suffered an existential crisis between Illinois and Age of Adz, and I think what is being indicated is his loss of confidence in the power of words, which is why this record is so much more sparsely written than his older ones--he is sick of people talking so much and saying nothing. Words have become futile in some way. And it would also explain the drastic change in the style of the song titles.
It's incredibly homophobic that people freak out at the mere suggestion that Sufjan's songs contain homosexual desire. Saying it out loud is hard.
It's probably because many of the so-called "Christians" can't get their minds around that the fact that someone can be spiritual, moral and gay. It just goes against the BS narrative that they've been fed for so long.
Gay sex is immoral to Christians because it is God's Truth. You can disect it with your secular eyes all you want, but God and the Bible are/were very clear on homosexual acts. The person is not hated, but the sin (the act) is. Yes, you can be spiritual and be a sinner for all Chritians are human...and sin in many ways.
People are having such a hard time denying all homoerotic interpretation Sufjan's songs could have. If they're not from the perspective of a woman it's about Jesus. Come on!
For that to work Sufjan friend-zoned a man who also croquets and plays guitar. huh?
(I know men that crochet)
yes. and he loves him, because they have so much in common ;-)
Actually, Sufjan said that he knits in a recent interview.
Cooby's argument makes no sense. The "homoerotic" songs that people have said are about Jesus ARE about Jesus. And I do think he sings from other perspectives sometimes. I'm not sure which the case is in this song, but come on- I'm tired of the is he or isn't he gay debate.
it's an outing, guys. accept it.
I think that is most plausible but just to play devil's advocate it could be about his actual brother (Marzuki?), a girl (brother sounds dumb because its ironic), or I dunno...
what a funny guy you are Laszlo. Do you have any fact to support your claim? Either way I wouldn't have any problem. The guy makes amazing music.
So regardless of which sex he is referencing in the song, I think it is about being with someone for quite some time and in the beginning you memorize their face, where beauty marks are, etc. And this song is a realization that after some time, he is still very much in love with this person but cannot express it as it is useless even trying. So he writes this song instead to express. And as for the brother part, maybe it is because he has been with the individual for a lengthy amount of time so it feels like they've grown up together in many ways. Like they have always been there. Like a sibling. I don't think this song is about Jesus and it shouldn't matter about which gender it is about though the obvious use of brother gives it a male connotation.