30 Songs Behind The Taylor Swift Phenomenon. Concludes: Monday.

Caffè Lattè looks back on:

30 KEY SONGS BEHIND THE

TAYLOR SWIFT

PHENOMENOM

XXIX
June, 2023

CRUEL SUMMER

“Cruel Summer” was first heard on Taylor Swift’s 2019 album release ‘Lover’. Despite being a fan favourite and critically lauded, the song was not issued as a single. Persistent fans promoted it on social media. Four years later, “Cruel Summer” was finally released to US radio.

In 2019, it dented the American chart as an album track. As an official single, “Cruel Summer” returned in the #49 position in 2023. The song climbed to the top, where it resided for 2 weeks. It was replaced by Swift’s “Is It Over Now?” for a week, before enjoying a further 2 weeks at #1. The song went on to top charts in Canada, Singapore and the Philippines. It peaked at #2 in Britain and Australia.