During her performance of “Champagne Problems” on Saturday night (June 17) at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Taylor Swift took a moment to reflect on her musical journey across different eras.
From the stage of her Eras Tour, Swift confessed to a most enchanting and unexpected occurrence. “This is something utterly unprecedented for me, in all my years of performing,” she said.
She continued by speaking about “Cruel Summer,” a song from her set that she had just finished playing. She reminded the audience of the energetic song, mentioning the memorable bridge where everyone joined in a unison scream, which is a part of the opening segment of her live Lover set.
“Cruel Summer” belongs to the Lover album that was released four years ago. Swift shared a special fondness for this song, expressing, “This particular song was the centerpiece of that album for me,” referring to the track from her 2019 album, a track that coincidentally is also widely cherished by her fans.
Swift disclosed, “Before the release of an album, there’s always a discussion about potential singles. I was finally on the verge of having my favorite song be the single from Lover.”
But unfortunately, before the summer of 2020 when releasing a liberating summer anthem would have made perfect sense, the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. “I don’t mean to point fingers at the global crisis,” Swift said, “but it’s a fact that it prevented ‘Cruel Summer’ from ever being a single.”
Yet, she added, “Despite this, there’s something inexplicable happening right now in 2023. ‘Cruel Summer’ is being streamed so heavily that Republic Records, my recording label, decided to officially promote it as the next single.”
Taylor talking about how Cruel Summer was her favorite and it’s finally becoming a single!!! 🥹#TSTheErasTour #PittsburghTSTheErasTour #CruelSummer@taylornation13 pic.twitter.com/ceK4Zxc6D1
— Holly Caitlin (@holly_caitlin) June 18, 2023
Billboard validated the news on the previous Friday, announcing that from Tuesday, June 20, Republic will begin to actively endorse “Cruel Summer” on pop radio stations, while also continuing to push the Midnights single, “Karma.”
Taylor talking about Cruel Summer #PittsburghTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/vMHsS5cGSz
— Bethany (@SwiftBethany13) June 18, 2023
“Cruel Summer” re-emerged on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 3, having previously been on the chart for a couple of weeks in September 2019. As of June 17, it holds the No. 47 position on the Hot 100, with 9.6 million authenticated streams, 2.6 million radio airplay audience impressions, and 1,500 downloads sold in the US from June 2-8, as per Luminate’s data.
Swift concluded with a light-hearted comment in Pittsburgh, saying, “A big thank you to anyone who’s had ‘Cruel Summer’ on repeat, like, 500 times a day.”
Artical Source http://www.billboard.com
