Taylor Swift Taylor Swift - 'Lover' album cover
Cruel Summer is the second track on the Lover album, Taylor Swift’s seventh studio album. Lover releases in full on August 23, but the lyrics to all 18 of the songs were released on August 22.
Based off of an Easter egg nestled in Swift’s recent ad for Amazon, Cruel Summer is believed to be the next single off of the Lover album. And according to Pitchfork, Cruel Summer features a collaboration with St. Vincent, also known as Annie Clark.
Jack Antonoff is also credited on the song; he is attached to eight songs on the new album.
Here’s what you need to know:
Cruel Summer Full Lyrics: ‘Devils Roll the Dice, Angels Roll Their Eyes’
CRUEL SUMMER IS SO GOOD WHY WASNT THIS THE LEAD
Here are the full lyrics to Cruel Summer, per Genius:
[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, unbreakable 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 buying (Oh yeah, you’re right, I want it)
You 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 2]
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, unbreakable 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 screamed for whatever it’s worth
“I love you,” ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?
He looks so pretty 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, unbreakable 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 screamed for whatever it’s worth
“I love you,” ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?
(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Cruel Summer Meaning & Easter Eggs: All the Fan Theories
Cruel Summer has been plugged a number of times in Swift’s recent work, so subtly that it might have escaped notice if not for the shrewd eye of the Swiftie universe.
Some of those clues are collected by a fan above. In the top right, is a butterfly whose wings reveal “Cruel Summer” for a single moment in the Amazon ad. See if you can spot the moment in the official ad below:
“Alexa, play the new @taylorswift13 on Amazon Music.”
In addition to that little Easter egg, “cruel summer” is also the tattoo getting done in the music video for ME!.
Many Swifties who claim to have gone to Secret Sessions for the Lover album list Cruel Summer as one of the best songs on the album.
One fan tweeted, “everyone who met her in secret sessions has said track 2 is a bop …. which is cruel summer”
Others have noticed that Swift’s lover is often described with the color blue. In Cruel Summer, she’s got a “blue” feeling. In Lover, she sings, “my heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue.” In Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, she writes, “we paint the town blue.”
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Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift: Song Meaning & Easter Eggs