Cruel Summer

## Audio

**Cruel Summer** is the second track of Taylor Swift's seventh album Lover. It was released on August 23, 2019. Due to a rise in streams after Swift’s sixth concert tour The Eras Tour, the song was released as the albums fifth and final single on June 20, 2023.

## Meaning and Background

Taylor said the following about the song: "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, like, 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, like, can't reach it. So, this has some of my favorite lyrics on it, and it was so fun to write this. Jack and Annie did the track and a lot of the instrumentation, and I did the topline in whatever language that is. A topline is all the notes and the lyrics you hear. So whatever you would sing, that is what I wrote on this. It was just so fun to write this one and I really love this one. Jack and I like to do ranting bridges. Like in 'Out of the Woods' where the bridge is the biggest moment of the song — we revisited that concept.""

## Trivia

* The song title was hinted at in the You Need to Calm Down music video.

## Lyrics

**[Intro]**
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

**[Verse 1]**
Fever dream high in the quiet of the night
You know that I caught it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price
You know that I bought it (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)

**[Pre-chorus]**
Killing me slow, out the window
I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
What doesn't kill me makes me want you more

**[Chorus]**
And it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
With you

**[Verse 2]**
Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine
I'm not dying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)
We say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times
We're not trying (Oh yeah, you're right, I want it)

**[Pre-chorus]**
So cut the headlights, summer's a knife
I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
And if I bleed, you'll be the last to know

**[Chorus]**
Oh, it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
With you

**[Bridge]**
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
He looks up, grinning like a devil

**[Chorus]**
And it's new, the shape of your body
It's blue, the feeling I've got
And it's ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
It's cool, that's what I tell 'em
No rules in breakable heaven
But ooh, whoa oh
It's a cruel summer
With you

**[Outro]**
I'm drunk in the back of the car
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar (oh)
Said, "I'm fine," but it wasn't true
I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you
And I snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate (oh)
And I scream, "For whatever it's worth
I love you, ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?"
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

## Videos

Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer (Official Audio)Cruel Summer

## References

1. ↑ Taylor Swift Shares Intimate Details of 'Lover' Songs During Secret Session | iHeartRadio - https://www.iheart.com/content/2019-08-23-taylor-swift-shares-intimate-details-of-lover-songs-during-secret-session/