Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift Song)

"Cruel Summer" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her seventh studio album, ''Lover'', released on August 23, 2019. Swift wrote and produced the song with American musicians St. Vincent and Jack Antonoff. It combines synth-pop, industrial pop, and electropop styles, making use of pulsing synthesizers, wobbling beats, and vocoder-affected vocals. Lyrically, "Cruel Summer" is about a summer romance under intense, painful circumstances.

Met with acclaim from music critics, "Cruel Summer" was often praised for its catchy melody, rousing production, and the composition of its hook and bridge. Reviews deemed it a highlight on ''Lover'' and one of Swift's finest works. Upon the album's release, "Cruel Summer" debuted in the top-30 region of various national charts, including the United States' ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Year-end lists from ''Billboard'' and ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it one of the best songs of 2019.

Becoming a fan favorite over time, "Cruel Summer" was regarded by some journalists as a song that deserved to be released as a single. Swift explained that she had intended to release it as such in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted her plans. After Swift embarked on the Eras Tour (2023–2024), which includes the song on the set-list, "Cruel Summer" began experiencing viral popularity and resurged on several charts, including a top-50 re-entry on the US Hot 100. As a result, Republic Records released the song to US contemporary hit radio on June 20, 2023, as the fifth single from ''Lover''. "Cruel Summer" has since peaked at number one in the Philippines and Singapore, and the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as well as the US, where it marked Swift's record-breaking 12th number-one single on Pop Airplay.

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). 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. It portrays the challenges faced by pop stars in the public spotlight. The vulnerability of the song's lyrics has drawn comparisons to " Delicate", the fifth track on Swift's 2017 album ''Reputation''.

In the audio recordings from ''Lover'' Secret Sessions, a series of album-listening parties hosted by Swift, she explained that:

''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". 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". Anna Gaca, writing for ''Pitchfork'', called the song a "drama-free delight" with "magnetic pink glow". '' The Spinoff'' pointed out that Swift's vocals in "Cruel Summer" are "most notable for the modern country cadence".

Composition

"Cruel Summer" is predominantly a synth-pop song. Critics described its production as melancholic or dreamy. Mikael Wood of the ''Los Angeles Times'' categorized the song as industrial pop, and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the ''Financial Times'' dubbed it electropop. It has a "ranting" bridge underscored by skittering synths, distorted vocals manipulated by a vocoder, and a hook that consists of a long, high, fluctuating "ooooh". The song has a fast tempo of 170 beats per minute with a time signature of . It is played in the key of A major and follows a chord progression of A–Cm–Fm–D. "Cruel Summer" was written by Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent, with a "burbling" production from Swift and Antonoff; St. Vincent also took part in the production of the song, playing the guitar. Lyrically, the song is about "the agony and ecstasy of an anxious summer romance".

Release and commercial performance

"Cruel Summer" was released as the second track on ''Lover'', on August 23, 2019, via Republic Records. The track originally charted as an album cut within the top 30 in Singapore (8), Malaysia (13), Ireland (20), New Zealand (20), Australia (23), the United Kingdom (27), and Canada (28). 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 and remained on the chart for two weeks. The song became a fan favorite over time and critics and fans questioned Swift's decision over not having released "Cruel Summer" as a single.From March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, her sixth headlining concert tour, as a tribute to all of her "musical eras". The concerts begin with the ''Lover'' act, on which "Cruel Summer" is the second song performed. The song resurged in popularity and streaming after it became viral on social media. As a result, Republic Records released it as the fifth ''Lover'' single to US contemporary hit radio on June 20, 2023. On June 17, at an Eras Tour concert 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''. Commenting on the song's resurgent success, Jason Lipshutz of ''Billboard'' said, "a ''Lover'' track organically rising to new heights at the same time simply demonstrates Swift's current ubiquity, unprecedented in the modern music era."

On singles charts, "Cruel Summer" reached new peaks in Singapore (1), Australia (2), Canada (2), the UK (2), New Zealand (3), Malaysia (6), and Ireland (12). It peaked at number one in the Philippines and entered the top 10 in Indonesia and Japan. The song was certified gold in Greece and Poland and platinum in New Zealand, Portugal and the UK. It peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Global 200. In the US, "Cruel Summer" re-entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 49 for a third week on the chart dated June 3, 2023. After its single release, the song became Swift's 41st top-10 entry on the Hot 100, and extended her record as the woman with the most top-10 entries. It also became the fourth ''Lover'' track to chart within the top-10, after "Me!", " You Need to Calm Down", and the title track all in 2019. The song has since peaked at number three on the Hot 100. On airplay charts, "Cruel Summer" was Swift's 12th number-one single on Pop Airplay and 11th number-one single on Adult Pop Airplay, making her the solo artist with the most chart toppers on both.

Critical reception

In the reviews of ''Lover'', "Cruel Summer" received rave comments 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". 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". 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. ''The Spinoff'' stated that Swift "absolutely pulls it off" and compared it to the Bananarama's 1984 song of the same name. 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''. Also calling it "infectious", Nick Levine of ''NME'' termed the track as a "brilliant pop song". Natalia Barr, writing for '' Consequence of Sound'', 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. "Cruel Summer" featured on year-end lists of the best songs of 2019 by ''Rolling Stone'' (4th) and ''Billboard'' (10th).

Retrospectively, "Cruel Summer" continued to receive acclaim, cited as the signature track of ''Lover''. In a 2021 list ranking the best bridges of the 21st-century, ''Billboard'' placed "Cruel Summer" at number 11. 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, and Hannah Mylrea of ''NME'' (2020), number 6 out of 161. ''Clash'' critics picked the song as one of Swift's 15 best, citing its "highly addictive" song structure. In 2022, ''Exclaim!'''s Alex Hudson and Megan LaPierre (2022) ranked it second on another list of the best 20 songs by Swift, praising St. Vincent's artistic input that complements Swift's. Allaire Nuss of ''Entertainment Weekly'' described it as a "buzzer-beating, angst-wielding anthem". 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.

Usage in media

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo performed a cover of the song for MTV's ''Alone Together Jam Session'' in 2020, to which Swift subsequently praised. Rodrigo would later go on to interpolate the song in her 2021 single "Deja Vu", crediting Swift, Antonoff, and St. Vincent as co-writers on the song. "Cruel Summer" was featured on the Amazon Prime Video series '' The Summer I Turned Pretty'' in June 2022.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from Tidal.
* 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

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

* List of number-one songs of 2023 (Singapore)
* List of Billboard Mainstream Top 40 number-one songs of 2023
* List of Billboard Adult Top 40 number-one songs of the 2020s

References

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2019 songs
2023 singles
American synth-pop songs
Industrial songs
Electropop songs
Number-one singles in the Philippines
Number-one singles in Singapore
Republic Records singles
Songs written by Taylor Swift
Songs written by Jack Antonoff
Songs written by St. Vincent (musician)
Song recordings produced by Taylor Swift
Song recordings produced by Jack Antonoff
Taylor Swift songs