"Cruel Summer" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, the second track on her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). The song was written by Swift, Jack Antonoff, and St. Vincent, and was produced by Swift and Antonoff. "Cruel Summer" is a synth-pop, industrial pop, and electropop song composed of synths, wobbling beats, and vocoder-manipulated vocals. The lyrics are about an intense romance during a painful summer. Forbes states the song was released on August 23rd, 2019.
| "Cruel Summer" | ||||
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| Single by Taylor Swift | ||||
| from the album Lover | ||||
| Released | June 13, 2023 | |||
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| Length | 2:58 | |||
| Label | Republic | |||
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| Taylor Swift singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio video | ||||
| "Cruel Summer" on YouTube | ||||
Upon release, music critics praised "Cruel Summer" for its melodic composition and catchy production style, specifically highlighting the hook and bridge. Many deemed it a highlight on Lover and one of Swift's best songs; Billboard and Rolling Stone ranked it amongst the best songs of 2019. The song debuted in the top 30 of various national charts. "Cruel Summer" became a fan favorite and continued to receive critical acclaim retrospectively; several fans and publications questioned Swift's choice over not having released the song as a single, to which she responded that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans to make it a 2020 single.
In 2023, Swift embarked on her sixth concert tour, the Eras Tour, performing "Cruel Summer" as part of the set-list. USA Today says she sings this as the second song on the setlist. The song received viral exposure on social media and resurged on several charts. Republic Records released the song as a single to US contemporary hit radio on June 13, 2023, following which it was met with wider commercial success. In the United States, "Cruel Summer" peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 as Swift's tenth number-one song. It became her sixth song to top the Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay, and Adult Contemporary radio charts, an all-time record. Elsewhere, "Cruel Summer" topped the charts in Australia, Canada, the Philippines, and Singapore, and eventually the Billboard Global 200, and peaked within the top-ten in 20 other countries. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), it was the seventh best-selling single of 2023 with 1.39 billion global streams. The song was placed on the 2024 revision of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
Background
The song's title was an Easter egg in the music video for "You Need to Calm Down", the second single from Taylor Swift's seventh studio album Lover (2019).[1] Termed by Swift as a song about a "summer romance", "Cruel Summer" sees Swift describing an uncertain romantic relationship, with elements of pain and desperation in it.[2] It portrays the challenges faced by pop stars in the public spotlight.[3] The vulnerability of the song's lyrics has drawn comparisons to "Delicate", the fifth track on Swift's 2017 album Reputation.[3]
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In the audio recordings from Lover Secret Sessions, a series of album-listening parties hosted by Swift, she explained that:
This song is one that I wrote about the feeling of a summer romance, and how often times a summer romance can be layered with all these feelings of pining away and sometimes even secrecy. It deals with the idea of being in a relationship where there's some element of desperation and pain in it, where you're yearning for something that you don't quite have yet, it's just right there, and you just can't reach it.
— Swift, "Taylor Swift Shares Intimate Details of Lover Songs During Secret Session", iHeartRadio[2]
Billboard's Heran Mamo opined that the song's lyrics see Swift "wrestling with strong feelings", where they paint "the picture of an emotional night out".[4] Justin Styles of The Ringer wrote that the song tells a "more humanizing version" of Swift's "ill-fated period three years ago", adding that Swift sings about "falling in love with current boyfriend Joe Alwyn while her public life was in shambles".[5] Anna Gaca, writing for Pitchfork, called the song a "drama-free delight" with "magnetic pink glow".[6] The Spinoff pointed out that Swift's vocals in "Cruel Summer" are "most notable for the modern country cadence".[7]
Composition
"Cruel Summer" is predominantly a synth-pop song.[8][9][10] Critics described its production as melancholic[11] or dreamy.[12] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times categorized the song as industrial pop,[13] and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times dubbed it electropop.[14][15] It has a "ranting" bridge underscored by skittering synths,[3][7][16][17] distorted vocals[8] manipulated by a vocoder,[18] and a hook that consists of a long, high, fluctuating "ooooh".[19] The song has a fast tempo of 170 beats per minute with a time signature of 4
4. It is played in the key of A major and follows a chord progression of A–C♯m–F♯m–D.[20][21] Swift vocals range from A2 to E5. "Cruel Summer" was written by Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent,[22] with a "burbling" production from Swift and Antonoff;[5] St. Vincent also took part in the production of the song, playing the guitar.[23] Lyrically, the song is about "the agony and ecstasy of an anxious summer romance".[24] David Penn of Hit Songs Deconstructed opined, the song's vocals, instrumentation and lyrics work "in tandem to create a unified expression, a combination known as prosody."[25]
Release and commercial performance
Initial release
"Cruel Summer" was released as the second track on Lover, on August 23, 2019, via Republic Records.[26] The track originally charted as an album cut within the top 30 in Singapore (8),[27] Malaysia (13),[28] Ireland (20),[29] New Zealand (20),[30] Australia (23),[31] the United Kingdom (27),[32] and Canada (28).[33] In the United States, the song debuted at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated September 7, 2019; it is one of the seven tracks from Lover to reach the top 40[34] and remained on the chart for two weeks.[35] The song became a widespread fan favorite over time[36][37] and critics and fans questioned Swift's decision over not having released "Cruel Summer" as a single.[38][39]
Resurgence
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Beginning March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, her sixth headlining concert tour, as a tribute to all of her "musical eras".[40] The show begins with the Lover act, during which "Cruel Summer" is the second song performed.[39] Around this time, the song began to resurge in popularity and streaming after it became viral on social media.[38][41] In the U.S., the single re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 49 on the chart dated June 3, 2023.[35] As a result, Republic Records released it as the fifth Lover single to US contemporary hit radio on June 13, 2023.[42] The song also impacted hot adult contemporary radio on June 26.[43] On June 17, at an Eras Tour show in Pittsburgh, Swift said she had intended to release "Cruel Summer" as a single in 2020 during the promotional cycle for Lover, but she abandoned the plan after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and moved forward with detouring her artistic direction and releasing her next album, Folklore.[44][45]
"Cruel Summer" became Swift's record-extending 41st song to reach the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the fourth Lover track to do so.[46] After the release of the Eras Tour's accompanying concert film, a live recording of the song and a remix by LP Giobbi were released as part of a streaming compilation, titled The Cruelest Summer, on October 18, 2023.[47] "Cruel Summer" topped the Billboard Hot 100, marking Lover's first and Swift's 10th number-one single.[48] It was replaced by, and in turn replaced, Swift's "Is It Over Now?" atop the Hot 100 for one week,[49] spending a total of four non-consecutive weeks at number one and making Swift the first female artist to succeed herself at the top spot twice and thrice.[50][51]
On US Billboard airplay charts in 2023, "Cruel Summer" became Swift's eighth number-one single on Radio Songs, where it reigned for 12 non-consecutive weeks surpassing "Blank Space" as her longest running number one.[52] It became her 12th number-one single on Pop Airplay, and her 11th number-one single on Adult Pop Airplay, making her the solo artist with the most chart toppers on the latter two charts.[53][54] The song also spent 10 weeks atop Pop Airplay and 23 weeks atop Adult Pop Airplay, becoming her longest-running number-one song on both[52] and the longest-running number-one song by a solo artist and female artist on the latter.[51][55] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard commented that the single's resurgent success "simply demonstrates Swift's current ubiquity, unprecedented in the modern music era".[56] In January 2024, the song topped the Adult Contemporary chart, marking Swift's ninth number-one single. As such, it made Swift the first artist in history to release six singles that topped the Adult Contemporary, Adult Pop Airplay and Pop Airplay charts individually, surpassing Adele (five).[55] Additionally, the song spent 34 weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100, becoming the first song by a solo female artist to do so.[57]
Elsewhere, "Cruel Summer" reached new peaks in Australia (1),[58] Canada (1),[59] Singapore (1),[60] New Zealand (3),[61] Ireland (4),[62] and Malaysia (6) as well.[63] It peaked at number one in the Philippines[64] and entered the top 10 in Indonesia.[65] The song has received certifications from Denmark (gold),[66] Greece (gold),[67] Italy (gold),[68] New Zealand (triple platinum),[61] Poland (platinum),[69] Portugal (platinum),[70] and the UK (double platinum).[71] It reached number one on the Billboard Global 200,[72] and was the sixth most-streamed song globally on Spotify in 2023.[73] The song was the seventh biggest song of 2023 according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), with an equivalent of 1.39 billion global subscription streams.[74]
Reflecting on the track's resurgent success, co-writer Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, noted: "[The late success of "Cruel Summer"] was crazy. I mean, I always thought in the context of that record, like, ‘That should be a single, it’s a great song.’ And I don’t even think it was a single; it just was a fan favourite. And it’s like the fans just decided: ‘No, this is your hit song.’ Which is so wild and so modern, you know."[75]
Critical reception
In the reviews of Lover, "Cruel Summer" received rave reviews from music critics, particularly for its production, bridge and hook. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times commended the "thick, ethereal" production and Swift's signature vocal motifs such as the "question-mark syllables" and the "hard-felt smears".[76] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times proclaimed "Cruel Summer" to be the best song of Lover and said the bridge where Swift "shrieks about the devil might be the punkest thing you'll hear all year".[77] Alex Abad-Santos, writing for Vox, listed "Cruel Summer" as one of his top-three best Lover tracks, writing that the song is an "aquatic robot bop" featuring "wobbly" synths.[78] The Spinoff stated that Swift "absolutely pulls it off" and compared it to the Bananarama's 1984 song of the same name.[7] Writing for The Ringer, Justin Sayles praised the song as a "better rebuke of her personal drama than anything on her last album", and added that Swift "shakes off the bad vibes" with "Cruel Summer"; Sayles named it Swift's "most infectious song since that run of singles from 1989", and opined that song "sets the tone" for the "warmer, more inviting vibes" of Lover.[5] Also calling it "infectious", Nick Levine of NME termed the track as a "brilliant pop song".[79] Natalia Barr, writing for Consequence, highlighted Swift's vocal delivery in the song's bridge ("He looks up, grinning like a devil"), calling it "simultaneously funny, agonizing, and thrilling, and needs to be created into a viral YouTube loop immediately". Barr further labeled "Cruel Summer" as one of the "most perfect" pop songs of 2019.[80] "Cruel Summer" featured on year-end lists of the best songs of 2019 by Rolling Stone (4th)[81] and Billboard (10th).[82]
Retrospectively, "Cruel Summer" continued to receive high acclaim, and has been deemed the signature track of Lover. In a 2021 list ranking the best bridges of the 21st-century, Billboard placed "Cruel Summer" at number 11.[83] The song has ranked highly on critics' rankings of Swift's songs in her discography, appearing on such lists by Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone (2021) at number 11 out of 229,[84] and Hannah Mylrea of NME (2020), number 6 out of 161.[85] Clash critics picked the song as one of Swift's 15 best, citing its "highly addictive" song structure.[86] In 2022, Exclaim!'s Alex Hudson and Megan LaPierre ranked it second on another list of the best 20 songs by Swift, praising how St. Vincent's artistic input complements Swift's.[87] Allaire Nuss of Entertainment Weekly described it as a "buzzer-beating, angst-wielding anthem".[88] Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone wrote in 2023, "Swift flaunts a rock-star edge alongside a grand sense of romantic urgency" in "Cruel Summer", making it one of her best songs.[38] Billboard opined in 2023 that "Cruel Summer" is both a fan and a critics' favorite.[89] In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 400 in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[90]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | iHeartRadio Music Awards | Song of the Year | Nominated | [91] |
| Pop Song of the Year | Nominated | |||
| TikTok Bop of the Year | Won |
Usage in media
- American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo performed the song for MTV's Alone Together Jam Session in 2020, which Swift subsequently praised.[92]
- Rodrigo later stated her 2021 single "Deja Vu" was partially inspired by Cruel Summer, eventually crediting Swift, Antonoff, and St. Vincent as co-writers on the song; the song peaked at number 3 on the U.S. Hot 100.[93]
- It was featured in the first season of Amazon Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty in June 2022.[94]
- It was one of Swift's songs used in a November 2023 episode of the American dance competition television show Dancing With the Stars, which was a tribute episode in honor of Swift; American television personality Ariana Madix and dance choreographer Pasha Pashkov performed a rumba to a rendition of the song.[95]
- Australian singer G Flip covered the song for Triple J's Like a Version in January 2024.[96]
- American singer-songwriter Teddy Swims covered the song for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge segment in January 2024.[97]
Track listing
- Digital download and streaming
- "Cruel Summer" – 2:58
- Streaming – The Cruelest Summer
- "Cruel Summer" (Live from TS | The Eras Tour) – 3:48
- "Cruel Summer" (LP Giobbi remix) – 3:12
- "Cruel Summer" (LP Giobbi remix - Extended Version) – 4:13
- "Cruel Summer" – 2:58
- Digital download – Live from TS | The Eras Tour
- "Cruel Summer" (Live from TS | The Eras Tour) – 3:48
- Digital download – LP Giobbi remix
- "Cruel Summer" (LP Giobbi remix) – 3:12
Personnel
Credits are adapted from Tidal.[98]
- Taylor Swift – vocals, songwriter, producer
- Jack Antonoff – producer, songwriter, programmer, recording engineer, drums, keyboards, vocoder
- St. Vincent – songwriter, guitar
- Michael Riddleberger – drums
- Serban Ghenea – mixer
- John Hanes – mix engineer
- John Rooney – assistant recording engineer
- Laura Sisk – recording engineer
- Jon Sher – assistant recording engineer
Charts
Monthly charts
| Chart (2023–2024) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CIS (TopHit)[171] | 42 |
| Paraguay (SGP)[172] | 58 |
| South Korea (Circle)[173] | 104 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2023) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[174] | 8 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[175] | 51 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[176] | 13 |
| Germany (Official German Charts)[177] | 69 |
| Global 200 (Billboard)[178] | 27 |
| Global Singles (IFPI)[179] | 7 |
| Iceland (Plötutíðindi)[180] | 41 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[181] | 47 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[182] | 77 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[183] | 19 |
| Philippines (Billboard)[184] | 8 |
| Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[185] | 69 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[186] | 85 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[187] | 65 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[188] | 11 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[189] | 18 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[190] | 13 |
| US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[191] | 14 |
| US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[192] | 11 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[193] | 9× Platinum | 630,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[194] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[66] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
| France (SNEP)[195] | Platinum | 200,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[196] | Gold | 200,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[68] | Platinum | 100,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[197] | 3× Platinum | 90,000‡ |
| Poland (ZPAV)[69] | Platinum | 50,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP)[70] | 2× Platinum | 20,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[198] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[199] | Gold | 10,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[71] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
| Streaming | ||
| Greece (IFPI Greece)[67] | Platinum | 2,000,000† |
| Japan (RIAJ)[200] | Gold | 50,000,000† |
| Worldwide (IFPI) | — | 1,390,000,000[201] |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Version | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | June 13, 2023 | Contemporary hit radio | Original | Republic | [42] |
| June 26, 2023 | Hot adult contemporary radio | [43] | |||
| Italy | September 15, 2023 | Radio airplay | Island | [202] | |
| Various | October 18, 2023 |
| Republic | [47] |
See also
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 2023
- List of Radio Songs number ones of the 2020s
- List of Billboard Mainstream Top 40 number-one songs of 2023
- List of Billboard Adult Top 40 number-one songs of the 2020s
- List of Canadian Hot 100 number-one singles of 2023
- List of number-one songs of 2023 (Singapore)
- List of number-one songs of 2024 (Singapore)
- List of number-one singles of 2024 (Australia)