What does the official Tenet song by Travis Scott reveal about the movie's enigmatic plot? In a world where movie marketing can feel increasingly formulaic, Tenet's build has been nothing if not unique. Protecting spoilers is one thing, but virtually nothing has been revealed about Tenet's story and characters prior to release, with the trailer only giving away the bare bones of a plot and the film's central time-reversal gimmick. Adding to this mystique are the slightly offbeat, unexpected tie-ins, first with Fortnite exclusives and now an official soundtrack song from rapper Travis Scott.
Like the Fortnite association, a popular rap artist doesn't necessarily feel like a natural fit for a Christopher Nolan spy epic. Given the time-bending imagery and vaguely existential plot, fans would be forgiven for expecting something from Radiohead instead, but the out-of-the-box marketing has only increased speculation over what Nolan's Tenet might have in store. Curiously, Nolan has described Scott's "The Plan" as a final piece in the Tenet puzzle, suggesting the track contains clues to decoding the mystery of the film itself. Typically, these clues are far from explicit, but "The Plan" does offer some insight into Nolan's latest effort.
The first thing those who have been following Tenet will notice when hearing "The Plan" are references to scenes that have already been highlighted in trailer footage. "Close the opera" is a nod to the scene where John David Washington's Protagonist and Robert Pattinson storm a concept performance, knocking out the audience and running through the aisles. The "Boeing jet" Scott raps about is surely a reference to the plane stunt that promises to be the action centerpiece of Tenet, while "swervin' on the waves" must be about the trailer's reversed ocean tide. Brilliantly, the structure of Scott's new track continues Tenet's ongoing palindrome theme - chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus, just like the spelling of the movie's title. However, "The Plan" also alludes to scenes and ideas yet to be unveiled.
The chorus of "The Plan" is dominated by the line "you don't know where we stand" and this too raises some interesting points about Tenet. If time keeps flowing backward and forward, while the likes of Washington and Pattinson remain unaffected, then how does anyone know the date and time in Tenet? This sets up the Protagonist as a "lost man" in Tenet - a fish out of water with no home (or, if you like, Tenet) to ground him, similar to Cobb in Inception or Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins. The Tenet trailers strongly suggest Protagonist has been hand-picked for this mission, and that could involve taking him away from his natural habitat. As disorientating as the inversions might be for viewers, Tenet's characters could be left feeling similarly isolated and confused.
As in Tenet itself, time is a major theme in the lyrics, with repeated references to "last time" and "living in reverse." Tenet's trailers have already demonstrated how time can roll backwards, but "The Plan" might suggest that Protagonist and others in the film might've already lived through certain events. Nolan promises Tenet isn't a time travel movie, but the exact mechanics still aren't clear (even to those who've already seen the film, according to reviews). Could it be that time isn't necessarily flowing backwards for the world (the waves, the bullet, the broken glass, etc), but for the characters themselves?
The title of Travis Scott's Tenet tie-in is also quite intriguing. "The Plan" is something that has been suggested in trailers but never fully explained thanks to the vague marketing strategy. The shadowy organization Washington's Protagonist works for are evidently attempting to prevent a cataclysmic threat to the world, and Martin Donovan's character seems to be the leader of this club, but all he can give his agent is a word: Tenet. Whoever they are, and whatever tragedy they're trying to stop, Tenet's main group have an overarching "plan" to save the world, involving time manipulation, gas masks, Kenneth Branagh and snappy suits. Those who "know the plan," as Scott puts it, must be a cog in this grand conspiracy. While potential hints in Travis Scott's lines are intriguing, they arguably pose more questions than answers, and Christopher Nolan wouldn't have it any other way.
