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Summer isn’t over just yet. Taylor Swift announced Wednesday night (Oct. 18) that the live version of her resurgent Lover single “Cruel Summer” is here, in the same week that The Eras Tour concert film hit theaters. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “What a truly mind […]
Billie Eilish showed off some new ink in a red-and-black themed photo dump — likely inspired by her current hair color. The back tattoo, which was done by artist Matias Milan, features swirl and scratch patterns down her spine. The dump also featured a name drop from Drake in his “Another Late Night” lyrics, in […]
ENHYPEN made their highly anticipated return to The Kelly Clarkson Show less than two weeks before Halloween, to fittingly perform their steamy track “Bite Me” for the Wednesday (Oct. 18) episode of the newly returned daytime show. The K-pop group — which consists of members Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-ki — appeared on […]
Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer” is the full package when it comes to hit songwriting. Every aspect of the song is fully optimized and firing on all cylinders so that it fully connects and resonates with the listener without ever wearing out its welcome.
What follows are a few of the song’s strongest qualities that have contributed to its success.
Notably, the song spends a 10th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart (dated Oct. 21), marking Swift’s first double-digit-week leader on the list. It has reached a No. 3 high on the Billboard Hot 100, having become one of her 42 top 10s on the chart, the most among women. It was originally released on Swift’s 2019 album Lover before Republic Records started promoting it as a single this June.
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Strategically Placed Vocal Hooks
At the heart of “Cruel Summer” are its uniquely delivered and strategically placed vocal hooks that make it an irresistible earworm of a song that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish.
The bookending intro and outro and turnaround feature the vocoder-processed “yeah” hook that serves as an instantly recognizable calling card for the song.
Both verses also feature catchy vocoder-processed vocal hooks, presented in a background manner under Swift’s lead. Together, they create a catchy call-and-response flow while cleverly conveying Swift’s conflicted desire for her love interest.
The chorus features the nonsensical “ooh, whoa-oh” hook, which achieves a few key elements: The creative, melismatic and show-don’t-tell manner in which it’s sung communicates the emotion that Swift feels without the need to outright state it; it foreshadows and subsequently reinforces the summative, “it’s a cruel summer,” song title hook that directly follows; and it showcases Swift’s vocal chops.
Meanwhile, the bridge uniquely features two standout shouted vocal hooks that are primely placed at the end each stanza: “I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you,” and the even more stark, “‘I love you’ – ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?” A testament to the bridge’s overall strength is its interpolation in Olivia Rodrigo’s No. 3 Hot 100 hit from 2021, “Deja Vu,” which resulted in the writers of “Cruel Summer” – Swift, Jack Antonoff and St. Vincent – all receiving writing credits on Rodrigo’s song.
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Intriguing Lyricism
While many of today’s hits pepper in a bit of clever, metaphorical lyricism to make a narrative more engaging, “Cruel Summer” is atypically chock full of it. Every section, save for the action scene in the bridge, features an abundance of intriguing show-don’t-tell writing, as noted above, that delivers the story in a highly compelling and engaging manner.
A prime example is the pre-chorus’ “devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes” line. Along with conveying Swift’s likely futile gamble on her bad-boy love interest, the astute Swift fan will notice that it also cleverly alludes to a board game featured in the video for Swift’s 2019 hit “Lover.”
However, as shrewd as the song’s lyricism is, it remains easy to grasp and comprehend, which is a testament to Swift’s masterful lyric-writing skills.
Emotional Connection
One of the most important qualities of a hit song is its ability to emotionally impact the listener so that it connects on a profound level and keeps ears coming back for more. One highly effective way of achieving this is through the vocal performance, instruments and lyrics all working in tandem to create a unified expression, a combination known as prosody.
In “Cruel Summer,” prosody is effectively achieved throughout the entire song. For instance, in the first verse, the synth creates a subtle, dark vibe that underscores the problematic love/relationships-themed story. In the chorus, Swift’s soaring, evocative vocals accentuate the passion she feels for her love interest. As for the bridge, the faster-paced vocals and synth pattern work in concert to bolster the anxiety-ridden, action-based lyrics.
David and Yael Penn co-founded Hit Songs Deconstructed. Earlier in October, Hit Songs Deconstructed and fellow song analysis platform MyPart publicly launched launched ChartCipher, a new AI-powered platform analyzing a deeper scope of hit songs, as defined by Billboard’s charts.
Kelly Clarkson needed a reboot, so she did what a lot of people do when they feel like shaking up their lives: she moved. But in her case, the Burleson, Texas-born singer and talk show host who lived and worked in Los Angeles for 20 years pulled up roots and moved as far away as possible and is rebooting her life in New York.
With a new Rockefeller Center space for her eponymous daytime talk show — which kicked off its fifth season on Monday — the divorced mother of two young children is now closer to her extended family in North Carolina and fully into living her best life in the city.
“At this point, I’m 40 years old. Mama rented something nice!” Clarkson told USA Today. “I was like, ‘I’m not living here unless it’s right by the park and really nice for the kids.’” And though Clarkson has been doing all the New York things, including cheering for her Dallas Cowboys as they stomped the N.Y. Giants last month and watching her friend Chelsea Handler do standup at the Beacon Theatre.
And as much fun as she’s having, the singer, 41, told the paper that after finalizing her divorce from ex-husband Brandon Blackstock last year she wasn’t sure the mid-life time zone refresh was a great idea. “I’ll be real honest: I thought I was making a horrible decision,” Clarkson said of her nerves before pulling up stakes. “I knew I needed a fresh start and couldn’t be in LA. I really wanted to be in Montana, but you can’t really do a show from there quite yet. So I was like, ‘The only other option would probably be New York.’”
But after a couple of weeks, she said she realized she “genuinely” loves New York, “and I love that my kids love it,” she said of daughter River Rose, 9, and son Remington, 7. She immediately leaned in on the show, spotlighting some quintessentially N.Y. apartment/hotel door people during a taping last week in her new space, which was formerly home to David Letterman’s late night talk show.
Clarkson also talked about learning how to dial back her over-busy calendar, which included leaving her spot in a red chair on The Voice last spring after exhaustedly grinning and bearing it for the first four years of her talk show. “Full disclosure, I put on a smile a lot of those times because I was struggling a lot in my personal life,” Clarkson said. “I’ve learned a lot about what I’m capable of handling, and also what you should not handle. That was me saying ‘bye’ to The Voice and having this big move. I love that family, but I was like, ‘I’m struggling. I can’t smile anymore. I don’t feel like smiling.’”
Now, with the move and season five of the show on the air, Clarkson said she’s in “such a great place,” with her kids, her new home, the show and in her personal life. “I feel like a weight has lifted. That move was very needed,” she said. “I think the thing I’m most excited about with Season 5, on a selfish level, is just showing up to work smiling and actually meaning it. That’s a beautiful gift that you don’t realize until you’re out of it.”
Cher has never been shy about her feelings about Donald Trump. The pop icon spent much of Trump’s one-and-done White House term calling out the now four-times indicted former reality TV star for his divisive policies and pronouncements, at one point dubbing DT “President Troll.” But with Trump still holding a commanding lead over the […]
Your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen is ready to give you all the affirmation you could hope for — all she asks is that you match her energy.
On Wednesday (Oct. 18), RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby revealed the release date for her brand new single “Feel the Power.” Featuring producer Glovibes and vocalist Luciana and due out everywhere on Friday (Oct. 20), the house single sees Colby entering her club banger era as she celebrates her own impressive influence.
For fans who want to celebrate the new single with Colby live and in person, the drag icon also announced her upcoming headlining show, Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour, in partnership with Live Nation. Kicking off in February 2024, the 22-date tour will see America’s Next Drag Superstar giving fans live music, drag, dancing and much more.
But what exactly can fans expect to see on this tour? Below, Billboard chats with Colby about plotting out her first-ever headlining run, her debut single and how drag has taken over the mainstream:
Congratulations on the single This is huge. I’m so happy for you. How are you feeling with everything that’s literally just about to happen?
You know, it’s been non-stop, and it’s been amazing. To be able to do a lovely victory lap, as far as Drag Race goes, feels amazing. Like, my bucket list has slowly been checked off. And it hasn’t even been a whole year yet! So I’m really excited.
Let’s start with the single — “Feel the Power” has these really great house vibes, and it’s so nice to hear you having this much fun. At what point did you know that you wanted to get into music?
Probably about 10 years into my drag career. I already knew, especially watching Drag Race happen for the past 15 seasons and not being on the show trying to figure out ways to to express my art and play bigger venues, more and more people want to come and see me be me instead of me performing other people’s material. That’s always been a big deal for me. Now, the opportunities are coming where I can actually do that. I’m really excited that this is all allowing me to create and find my own sound and experiment with amazing producers. So yeah, I wanted a feel-good party anthem. I wanted something that would help the Drag Race fans ease into what I wanted for my next chapter of me.
What was it about the house genre that immediately felt appealing for your music?
Well, I don’t know if anybody really knows this except for the people from Hawaii, but I used to be part of this group. I danced growing up — ballet, jazz, hip hop, all at a dance studio called Dance Company. After high school and transitioning, my good friend Ruby created this house music night every Sunday in Hawaii in the early 2000s. It was all of our friends having the space to go and dance to house songs; you’d have the B-boys there, people would be voguing, and I would get to be Queen Sasha.
So, I’ve always loved house music; I love a good chill house and I love a good disco house, but I knew I needed this first single to be a little more amp-y as a good way to show what I want. I even told Luciano and Glovibes when we were coming up with the song that I wanted to it to be “Satisfaction” mixed with Cascada; just all the things that I grew up on.
When you were getting started on this song, what artists did you find yourself looking towards as inspiration, either musically or professionally?
I genuinely don’t think there is a model for someone like myself. I think my model has been my drag persona, and how to extend that through music. For me, my power is when people are watching me live on stage; you can watch me on TV, but there’s something special that I think has a lot to do with my indigenous culture and my hula performance and my storytelling that comes through. A great way to show me live is to have music, so it all kind of coincides.
When I thought of the type of music I want to do, it was very much like “Blame It on the Edit.” That’s kind of where my pocket is, you know? I’m not a singer singer, but I have fun stories to tell and great musicality. I take pride in my performances, because a lot of people will hear a song that they would never hear before they saw me doing it. I like being able to open people’s perceptions.
How did Glovibes and Luciana get involved on “Feel the Power?”
My management team works pretty closely with both Glovibes and Luciana, and we actually met during DragCon! We really just hit it off from the jump, Luciana said, “I would love to do music with you.” They could both feel the energy and really wanted to create something with me. They allowed me to give my input on the song and explain my whole purpose for the song, because “Feel the Power” is my daily motto. Every time I hit the stage, every time I do something that is in the public’s view and for public use, I always want somebody to leave feeling empowered. That’s what the song is about — yes, I’ve got the power, but it is also attainable for everyone else. It’s not just that I got lucky. It’s all about that manifestation, that ascension, all the witchiness that I love.
You also have this headlining show, Sasha Colby: Stripped, that you’re going to be heading out on next year — what can fans expect to see from this show?
This was this is the first time that I got to create a world from scratch. Usually I’m entering another person’s world or another person’s show, so this is really exciting for me to allow people to see the inner workings of my brain and what I find exciting. So, I wanted to do this tour in a way that was devoid of a lot of the high tech, you know? Because really, I feel like I’m most effective when it’s just stripped down — it could be just a bare stage and me creating the world through my drag.
I love watching Sasha Velour do her Nightgowns show and getting to perform in that show, and one of my favorite things is how she stays on stage and watches the other performers. That’s such a special thing. So I wanted, in some way, to bring that essence. What we’re coming up with is actually that my quick change room will never leave the stage — it’s actually on part of the set. It will be opaque, then you’ll get a little silhouette and then it’s fully transparent, and you’ll get to see me and my best friend who is my makeup artist, my other friend who does my hair and my best friend from high school who’s styling me, all in one beautiful dance.
I really like that Nightgowns comparison, because Sasha Velour has really made an effort out of making that stage show such a bold piece of collaborative art.
Exactly, and it’s also just the respect of the person putting this on. Like this is my show. I’m gonna sit right over here and watch what y’all are doing on stage, because that cues the audience to be invested. Also I just really want to see the rest of the show [laughs].
The story for the most part is going to revolve around the past, present and future. So we’ll have things I loved when I was growing up, whether that’s pageants, old school Hollywood, or even my hula performance. And then to make more than a one-woman show, we’re going to do a past, present and future for different each city — so we’re going to have a legend from that city or that area, and then some up-and-coming drag performer guests. I just want to show people that if you like mother, then you’re gonna love what mother likes. You really don’t know the story of drag until you know the history, right? Once you know what what has happened, then you feel more invested.
It’s also worth pointing out that you’re doing this headlining tour in partnership with Live Nation, marking one of the first times they have signed on to promote a drag artist’s solo tour. What does that mean to you, as an artist, having the backing of a tour promoter as massive as Live Nation?
We both have a lot of faith in each other and we’re really excited because we’re kind of making this cool path. A lot of the touring drag shows that do really well are usually focused a little more on comedy, like Trixie [Mattel] or Bianca [del Rio]. They can hold a show on their own, but I think my strong suit is a little different from that. So we’re definitely trying new things.
To be honest, it all feels feels like the culmination of my 20 years of hard work. I’m excited to be able to feel appreciated as a performer, as a trans woman of color and as someone who’s been doing this for so long. To have my voice count and have them invest in me means a lot. This kind of a partnership allows people to be like, ‘Oh, look at what she’s doing’ in a way that they wouldn’t necessarily before.
It also speaks to the fact that we’ve definitely entered a new era of recognition for drag artists in mainstream culture, even when lawmakers around the world are actively trying to legislate against the artform.
Oh, absolutely — I always say that drag has always been a mirror to pop culture, but since Drag Race and RuPaul and the platforming we’ve seen, now we are the tastemakers. We are pop culture instead of just mirroring it, which is so cool. We’re mingling with the same people that are making our clothes and are making clothes for pop stars. Who could have thought in 2023 that this would ever happen?
Tickets for Sasha Colby: Stripped Tour go on-sale Friday, Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. ET on Sasha Colby’s website. Check out the official dates for the tour below:
Feb. 29 — Bella Concert Hall, Calgary, Alberta
March 1 — Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, BC
March 7 — Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Calif.
March 8 — The Van Buren, Phoenix, Ariz.
March 9 — Palace Theater, Los Angeles, Calif.
March 14 — House of Blues, Houston, Texas
March 16 — House of Blues, Dallas, Texas
March 17 — Emo’s, Austin, Texas
March 20 — The Wilbur, Boston, Mass.*
March 21 — The Fillmore, Philadelphia, Pa.
March 22 — Marathon Music Works, Nashville, Tenn.
March 23 — Buckhead Theater, Atlanta, Ga.
March 27 — Howard Theater, Washington, D.C.
March 28 — Town Hall, New York, N.Y.
March 29 — Theatre Beanfield, Montreal, Quebec
March 30 — Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, Ontario
April 4 — Saint Andrews Hall, Detroit, Mich.
April 6 — Thalia Hall, Chicago, Ill.*
April 7 — The Fillmore, Minneapolis, Minn.
April 12 — Revolution Hall, Portland, Ore.
April 13 — Neptune Theatre, Seattle, Wash.
April 19 — Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii
*Independent shows outside the Live Nation tour
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The way pop singer/songwriter Troye Sivan describes his new album Something to Give Each Other, it’s really about “every sort of connection being beautiful in its own way, and of togetherness and community and joy.”
On the new Billboard Pop Shop Podcast (listen to Sivan’s interview, below), the musician and actor says that he wrote the just-released project “over a long period of time” and realized at one point that “the overarching themes of the last two-and-a-half-three years of my life are mostly really joyous themes.”
Sonically, Sivan says the only intent with the new album was that he knew he was very “drawn to warmth.” He says in the past, it’s “sort of been like this melancholy warmth, and this time I didn’t feel that way.”
“I talk a lot about Janet Jackson,” Sivan tells Pop Shop hosts Katie and Keith, “because she’s so important to me, but I saw her show at the Hollywood Bowl really early on in the process. And, to me, it took me right back to when was I was like, however old I was, I was probably like 7… hearing ‘Together Again’ for the first time. And that melody and those chords and the warmth that’s in that song literally changed the trajectory of my life. The trajectory of my life as a musician and as a songwriter, specifically. And that’s something that I was really really striving for [on the new album]. I wanted something warm.”
The album’s lead single “Rush” brought the warmth – and the heat! – when it was released in July. It reached the top 40 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The “scorching” track was accompanied by an equally hot, dance-heavy music video, directed by Gordon von Steiner (who also “creative directed” the album) and lensed by cinematographer Stuart Winecoff (who also photographed Something’s album cover).
But the video didn’t necessarily come easy, Sivan says. “First things first, considering all of my references for a good pop star growing up, were those who made these mega mega mega videos where the budgets were very very different from what they are now. I had so many times, in so many meetings (where people said), like ‘music videos don’t matter, the music is dead,’ and I pushed and pushed and pushed and I’m so grateful that we go to make the music video of my dreams for ‘Rush’ … It went wider than I think anything ever has of mine before, and that’s really cool. I’m very grateful and thankful.”
“Rush” was followed by two more buzzy singles and videos, both from the von Steiner and Winecoff teaming: “Got Me Started” (which features Sivan and his co-stars dancing through Bangkok) and “One of Your Girls” (in which Sivan is seen through a whole new light, alongside his main co-star, musician and actor Ross Lynch).
With Something to Give Each Other now out for fans to listen to, will Sivan bring that special Something on tour soon? Though he doesn’t have a plan yet, he’s thinking about it – and he’s feeling the pressure. “I’m intimidated because … when this tour happens, I want it to be the tour of my life. I really do. And I want to give the big pop show that I think this album is asking for, and these visuals [his music videos] are asking for. And so it’s a big job. … So, I’m gonna take a second and regroup and then figure it out. For some reason, I really really really feel the pressure, I really do.”
Also on the new edition of the Pop Shop Podcast, we’ve got chart news how Drake pulls double-debut duty at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on Billboard Hot 100 songs chart thanks to For All the Dogs and “First Person Shooter,” featuring J. Cole, respectively. Plus, Keith details his experience being at opening night of Madonna’s The Celebration Tour in London on Oct. 14, while Katie recounts what it was like attending the red carpet premiere of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour concert film on Oct. 12 in Los Angeles.
The Billboard Pop Shop Podcast is your one-stop shop for all things pop on Billboard‘s weekly charts. You can always count on a lively discussion about the latest pop news, fun chart stats and stories, new music, and guest interviews with music stars and folks from the world of pop. Casual pop fans and chart junkies can hear Billboard‘s executive digital director, West Coast, Katie Atkinson and Billboard’s managing director, charts and data operations, Keith Caulfield every week on the podcast, which can be streamed on Billboard.com or downloaded in Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast provider. (Click here to listen to the previous edition of the show on Billboard.com.)