The power of a song is one thing, but the power of Swifties is quite another. St. Vincent – aka Texan alt-rock powerhouse Annie Clark – can testify to both matters. It was towards the latter half of the last decade that Clark went into the studio with Taylor Swift and producer Jack Antonoff and the trio wrote Swift’s song Cruel Summer together. It featured on the pop superstar’s 2019 album Lover and, seemingly, that was that.
Except that was not that - last year, on the back of Cruel Summer being performed at Swift’s record-breaking Eras shows, currently making their way round the UK, Swift fans caused the song to go viral. Swift’s record label Republic pretty much had no choice but to reissue it as a single, some four years after its initial release. Recently, Clark told this writer in an interview for Music Week what it was like seeing Swifties demonstrate their full might.
