We knew Taylor Swift was a “Mastermind,” and she just proved it again. In her music video “Fortnight” – which came out earlier this spring with her album The Tortured Poets Department – there was an Easter egg that hinted at Swift’s project with Gracie Abrams. Now, she has released a BTS video about “Fortnight” that addresses the Easter Egg, and it came out on the same day as this new collab, which just shows us, once again, that this woman is a mastermind.
In the “Fortnight” video, as the camera zooms out on Taylor Swift and Post Malone lying in a bed of paper that creates a silhouette of Swift’s side profile, you can see she’s holding a book. That book has “Us” written on it. Coincidentally, that’s the name of the song she did with Gracie Abrams (who opened for Swift on the Eras Tour and even played a surprise song with her last year).
In the video, Swift talked about her love for Easter eggs, and how this “Us” one came up on the day they were shooting. She said:
The thing I really love about being on set is sometimes you figure out the shot two seconds before you do it, and it makes all the difference. Like we were gonna just be standing there staring at each other, you know lying on the floor. But, I was like ‘What about a book?’ And then I put an Easter egg on the book which is fun. There’s something about getting here that puts more pressure on you to put details into what you’re doing, and I really love it when that happens.
Taylor Nation then confirmed that this was indeed a reference to her collaboration with Abrams (as you can see in the IG story post above). So, when you add the word "Us" on the book, the collaboration and the fact that this video was released on the same day as the track together, you have one incredible Easter egg.
What’s fun about this Easter egg is that it could also have a double meaning. Along with it nodding to Swift’s collaboration with Abrams, it also could reference the pop star’s song “The Story of Us” from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).
Typically, Swift’s videos hold Easter eggs that allude to her next projects. For example, the clues and cameos in “Bejeweled” teased Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) while the Easter eggs in “Karma” allude to the re-releases of Reputation and 1989.
Many of Taylor Swift’s best music videos feature clever clues like this one, and I love that she implemented the “Us” book into “Fortnight” to hint at her collab with Gracie Abrams. The pop star very rarely is featured on other songs, so this is an exciting occurrence that deserves a lil Easter egg.
Following this collaboration, the next time we see Gracie Abrams with Taylor Swift will be when she returns as an opener on the Eras Tour in October. The two seem to share a sweet bond, and it’s been fun to see Abrams grow as a musician as she’s collaborated and worked more with the pop star.
