How Cruel Summer Became Taylor Swift’s Biggest Hit

Taylor Swift has become the biggest artist of our time, and now she gets to set her own rules. This year, "The Eras Tour" became the biggest tour in history, and Taylor isn't stopping there. One of her forgotten songs from 2019 began rising up the charts in 2023, and now it's the 2023 song of the summer. Today, I'm going to tell you the story of Cruel Summer.

My Socials:

Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
0:48 - The Lover Era
1:08 - Taylor Picked the Wrong Singles
2:04 - Cruel Summer - Fan Favorite
3:10 - Back From the Dead
4:25 - The Song Of the Summer
5:15 - Why Did Cruel Summer Blow Up?
5:49 - The Eras Tour
6:36 - Tiktok Virality
7:24 - The Breakup
8:09 - Taylor Has Reached a New Peak
8:38 - Why Cruel Summer?
8:51 - It's Timeless
9:31 - Intelligent Songwriting
11:26 - The Bridge of All Bridges
12:27 - Olivia Rodrigo
13:11 - Cruel Summer Might Return to the Charts... Again?!

#taylorswift #cruelsummer #theerastour #commentary

Key words: Taylor Swift Lover, ME! Featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco, You Need To Calm Down, Taylor Swift, The Man, The Eras Tour, The Eras Tour Movie / Concert Film, Cruel Summer Song Breakdown, Taylor Swift Lyric Analysis, Taylor Swift Breakup Joe Alwyn, Taylor’s Version, Olivia Rodrigo Deja Vu, Olivia Rodrigo Vampire

Citations:

Music:
Lover acoustic instrumental by #stringnotes

Taylor Swift Type Beat - "Lover" (Prod. Matthew May)

License ID: g3W2Qw5azaX

[umm_mmm]

Also august went from her seasonal hit to all time hit this year. It hasn't left her top 5 popular songs on spotify. Now cruel summer and august are her biggest hits.🤯🤯

[ithk]

As a swiftie i have to say this is a great video. Also i always believed she was "saving" cruel summer for the loverfest. Like it was everyone's fave and now we know she loved it too but she never played it live. When the tour started it would have been a massive hit. She also saved ITHK and paper rings and all of those would have been the most fun ones live (we had to wait to hear them for 4 years and boy did we complain about it). She had many chances to play them in 2019 but she didn't, and so i might be a bit delulu but i am convinced i am right.

[dmtea]

it’s crazy because when i first heard this album in 2019, cruel summer was instantly my favorite on Lover and i was shocked that it didn’t get big. it was pretty cool to see one of my favorite songs by her become huge a few years later.

[Eternalrem_]

The fact that we didn’t get a music video for cruel summer… im still healing. I do believe that Olivia should’ve kept that to herself. Because now people are constantly trying to pin queen Taylor and Olivia and I think it’s ridiculous.

[gerck]

And now Cruel Summer officially hit #1 in BBH100

[ry._an]

the way it’s predicted to hit #1 next week 4 years after its release is INSANE

[noitsholly]

Wow, I’m disappointed that The Man didn’t chart well. I know that some people find it “meh, ” but it’s easily the most relatable TS song for me.

[danyramos]

I don't understand why ME! gets so much hate... I mean it's not one of her best songs, yes, but it was a celebration of being free from Big Machine Records, and I don't understand why fans instead of celebrating with her, put her down because of it. It was a big f to all the people who hurt her in the industry and the birth of a new era, an intro of sorts. And the pandemic wasn't anyone's fault, so...

[CS-pggo]

as of October 17, 2023, Cruel Summer is projected to go #1 next week by 1 point. It's still within the margin of error. I'm not sure why her and her team have been so quiet but a MV seems unlikely with 1989 TV coming out next week. It would be such a flex for a song to go #1 after 4 years with no music video or promo and It would solidify her status as a mega popstar. But i do hope we get a music video because of the song's success and cruel summer deserves it.

[david.grever]

This was so well done, I loved this video!!
The rise of Cruel Summer was crazy to witness this year but it makes so much sense!
The whole fandom had been kind of bitter about Cruel Summer never being a single and the whole Lover era being cut so short cause of COVID that 2023 became its redemption arc

[coldasava]

How does this video only have 68 views???? You deserve so much more

[nameisamine]

I was shocked when, “Die for You”, released in 2016, went number 1 in 2023. Cruel Summer, will hit No.1 in 2023 too. Talk about sleeper hits! My favourite thing about TikTok now is how it can revive songs and give them a 2nd chance on the charts. Like Miguel’s “Sure Thing” and Steve Lacy’s “Dark Red”, which were songs I adored from day of release but flew under the radar for years. I felt so vindicated seeing Miguel’s song doing well on the charts 13 years after release! 😅

[FuriedHearts]

Taylor Swift is hands down the most influential music artist of our time. I don't see her influence or her fame going anywhere soon. I think the reason she has so much influence is because her fans have such a wide range in age. Even straight men love her music lol. She's so heavily involved in everything she creates that people tend to appreciate her for that aspect alone as well

[Panicked_Syndrome]

When Rick Reverie uploads, I click. It’s that simple. 😊

[BlinkTV]

I was waiting for someone to make a video on Cruel Summer 🤍 this is so well done

[sidardtayenjam]

The fact that cruel summer is still a daily for me since release. This makes me so happy. ❤

[lindakilmer]

I really enjoyed your analysis and commentary. It was extremely well thought out and in depth I appreciate that it was written down and delivered instead of trying to regurgitate it during recording with a lot of “ums”, repetition and mistakes. Very informative from someone with a respectable foundation of knowledge. Well done!!

[backup]

The quality of this video is so good im surprised that you only has 500 smth subscribers? Your editing and the way you structure you videos is like youre a seasoned youtuber. Amazing.

[Violet]

Cruel Summer was a grower for me, but my top 5 favorites are False God, Daylight, Cornelia Street and Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.

[BrianaMon]

I absolutely love how you explain everything. Coming from someone who can’t even get a note through their head ( I know, exposed myself hahaha ) I’m definitely learning through you. So thank you. I tried watching other YouTubers but if I’m being truthful, you are by far the most logical and entertaining person when it comes to these topics. So keep up the great work. 💓 I couldn’t agree more with everything you said. Those singles were definitely CHOICES. but, I enjoyed lover either way. Curious to know, what songs and in what order would you have dropped from lover if it was your album?