Ever since Taylor Swift released the track list for The Tortured Poets Department and fans saw Fortnight listed as the first song on the highly-anticipated album, tongue-in-cheek gamers have jested online that perhaps the anthem would be about the mega-popular video game Fortnite (even though the two titles are spelled differently).
You might think that those rumors would have died down now that the song and music video have been released, but if anything, they seem to be gaining traction.
What started as a joke has morphed into a sincere deep-dive and debate between Swifties and gamers over whether maybe there is a sly nod to Fortnite in Swift's first breakout single from the new album.
EsportsGG wrote a piece examining the issue and suggested there are rumors that the song is about an ex-boyfriend of Swift's who she felt played way too much Fortnite.
Is Post Malone's contribution to the track a Fortnite sign, or coincidence?
The other common thread pointed to in gamers' Fortnight = Fortnite theory is the fact that Post Malone is featured heavily in the song.
As EsportsGG reminds readers, Post Malone is a renowned gamer known to stream live on Twitch in the past. Swift seems to have very carefully selected her collaborators for this album, and other than her respect for Post Malone as an artist, wouldn't it make sense to feature him as the face of a gamer/singer if a song were furtively about a video game?
Past that, fans are having fun with drawing potential Fortnite comparisons from the lyrics themselves. One viral tongue-in-cheek post circulating online is a short form video from a gamer laying out all the potential Fortnite allusions in the song.
TikTok user Xen Bryson convincingly declares that Taylor Swift's song “is literally about the popular battle royale that shook the world in 2017 when it was released.”
Bryson breaks down lyrics like “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.” Of these lines, he declares, “So, in that part right there, I believe when she says a functioning alcoholic, she's talking about somebody who's addicted to slurp juice,” as he flashes a bottle of the popular Fortnite accessory on the screen.
“The chorus though is where it really gives it away,” further teases Bryson. “And for a fortnight there we were, forever running / ‘Til you sometimes ask about the weather,” the song laments. “Now, this is obviously about the fact that in Fortnite, you're constantly running around the map,” Bryson says with a straight face. “I mean, everybody's always sprinting.”
“And then, ask about the weather?” Bryson continues. “Is there NOT a storm in Fortnite that you're running away from the entire game?! It's obvious!”
Bryson cites one other amusing example of his thesis with the lines, “Now you're in my backyard, turned into good neighbors / Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her.”
“That's obviously talking about dueling together within the game,” Bryson confidently declares. “His wife is on one of the opposing teams, so she wants to eliminate her!”
@unamusedbryson Taylor Swift loves Fortnite! #taylorswift #fortnite #fortnitememes ♬ original sound – Xen Bryson
Even a satiric post like this though generated some comments taking the theory seriously.
In short, it seems gamers and Swifties are torn whether there is a deep-seeded Fortnite: Battle Royale video game reference percolating below the surface in Taylor Swift‘s new single Fortnight with Post Malone. Until we hear from the most powerful woman in music herself, we'll just have to keep theorizing and having fun with the notion ourselves.
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