How Taylor Swift's "Cruel Summer" Became the Song of the Season 4 Years After Its Release

We've loved it three summers now, honey, but we got them all.

Apologies to Dua Lipa's "Dance the Night Away" and early condolences to Olivia Rodrigo's impending single "Vampire," but Taylor Swift has officially released the song of summer 2023: "Cruel Summer," the fifth single off of 2019's Lover. 

That's right, the beloved bop was finally sent to radio, much to the delight of Swifties who have been blasting "Cruel Summer," preferably with their car windows down and the volume turned all the way up in the four years since its release, despite it being cruelly looked over in favor of—no offense to "Me" and "You Need to Calm Down"—lesser songs. (Forget the angels, fans were rolling their eyes.)

So, how the hell did this happen? Well, even Taylor herself is surprised by the hold the tune has had on her fanbase. 

"You guys have streamed 'Cruel Summer' so much right now in 2023 that it's like at the top," Taylor said on stage during the Pittsburgh stop of her Eras Tour June 17 show. "It's, like, rising on the streaming charts so crazy."

The superstar then shared the news that her record label decided to release "Cruel Summer""—co-written by St. Vincent and produced by Jack Antonoff—as a single, describing the rare occurrence as "the weirdest, most magical thing...that has never happened to me in the whole time that I have been doing this."

Not that Taylor didn't realize its potential power and popularity when she first recorded it, admitting on stage that it is her "pride and joy" and "favorite song" from Lover, her seventh studio album. 

Looking back, it's hard to comprehend how it was passed over as the lead single in favor of "ME!", her earworm of a collab with Panic at the Disco! frontman Brendon Urie that was released on April 26—less than two months before the official start of summer when "Cruel Summer" was right there!

Still, there was time. But then "You Need to Calm Down" was the second tune sent to radio, followed by "Lover" and "The Man," which hit the airwaves on January 27, 2020, long after another sun-soaked season had faded away. 

Again, we ask of Dr. Taylor Swift: How the hell did that happen? 

"You know, you have conversations before the album comes out and everyone around weighs in on what they think should be singles," Taylor explained on stage. "And I was finally, finally about to have my favorite song became a single off of Lover, and I'm not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single."

Cruel, indeed. 

Still, despite never getting its time to shine as a single, "Cruel Summer" caught and held on, finding its way onto year-end lists of the best songs of 2019, likely due to Taylor's ability to distill the restlessness and wistfulness that only a summer romance can inspire into a catchy two-and-a-half-minute tune.

"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," Taylor explained during the Lover Secret Sessions. "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."

After Lover's release in August 2019, "Cruel Summer" peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, a position it didn't seem likely to top without a promotional push or music video. 

But the lingering love for "Cruel Summer" turned into an unexpected tidal wave when Taylor embarked on her long-awaited The Eras Tour in March and it was the first full song in the 44-song set list, kicking off a surge in streaming numbers. Even before Taylor announced it was being officially released as a single, "Cruel Summer" had already re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 after three years.

On June 20, the day it officially crossed over into the Swiftie single-verse, "Cruel Summer" re-peaked on U.S. Spotify at No. 3 with over 885,000 streams and rose to No. 12 on the global chart with 2.853 million plays.

By June 23, the song had earned its biggest streaming week ever, totaling 20.8 million listens. 

Forget breakable heaven, there's no rules in Taylor's world. Now, where's the "Cruel Summer" music video?