In October, Taylor Swift‘s “Cruel Summer” unexpectedly climbed its way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, four years after it was released as a non-single on 2019’s Lover. And in an interview with People published Friday (April 26), St. Vincent — who co-wrote the smash with the pop star and producer Jack Antonoff — revealed that she was just as stunned as everyone else by the song’s delayed success story.
“[Swift’s] just so incredibly intelligent and so hardworking,” the indie rock star, born Anne Clark, told the publication. “That’s a given. I am so incredibly blown away and amazed by Taylor’s fans because they are just a force of nature. They took a song that was, what? Almost four records ago now, that was not a single off a record.”
“They were like, ‘No, this song’s a hit,'” she continued. “Then, by force of will, they made that song a worldwide hit.”
Clark also opened up about her friendship with Olivia Rodrigo, who retroactively credited St. Vincent, Swift and Antonoff as writers on her Sour hit “Deja Vu” in 2021 after listeners drew comparisons to the track and “Cruel Summer.” Last fall, the “Vampire” singer said in a New York Times interview that Clark had been a “mentor” to her during the process of making her sophomore album, Guts, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“I love Olivia, she’s just a wonderful person,” Clark told People. “But I don’t lead with advice. The only advice I have ever given Olivia was just to trust her instincts and to make exactly the record that she wants to make that’s in her heart. That’s it.”
“What’s going to resonate with people is her authentic voice, and she did,” added the “Los Angeles” musician. “She made a great record.”
The new interview arrived on the same day St. Vincent’s latest album, All Born Screaming, hit streaming services. It features the previously released singles “Broken Man,” “Flea” and “Big Time Nothing.”
“All we have is love and the people we love, and it’s the only reason to do anything, and the only reason to be alive,” Clark told People of the project. “So the first part of the record is a little bit of a season in hell, but you get to this place and the record ends with an ecstatic mantra of, ‘We’re all born screaming.'”