As the summer months near, it’s time to start switching up playlists, and luckily, Taylor Swift has an array of perfect summer songs.

Swift has written about all the different seasons, from winter in “Back To December” to autumn leaves in “All Too Well.” Swift, however, is also a certified queen of summer.

The pop star loves writing about sunlight and oceans as well as beautifully tragic summer flings. The star has also become a massive part of The Summer I Turned Pretty universe, as the show has utilized her catalog a lot throughout its run.

From summer affairs to indulging in the sun’s rays, Taylor Swift has plenty of summer songs for the warmer months, and here are the 10 best she has to offer.

10

Starlight

Red (2012)

Taylor Swift begins verse one of her Red track “Starlight” with the line “I met Bobby on the boardwalk, summer of ’45.” Swifties know the singer wrote the pop song about Robert and Ethel Kennedy after seeing an old black and white photo of them when they were around 17 years old. Swift would go on to meet Ethel Kennedy and form a connection with her family, even dating her grandson, Connor Kennedy, during the summer of 2012.

I said oh my, what a marvelous tune

It was the best night never would forget how he moved

The whole place was dressed to the nines

And we were dancing dancing, like we’re made of starlight

“Starlight” is the perfect song for a New England summer, as Swift herself spent most of her 2012 summer at the Kennedy estate in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Swift also sings about skipping rocks on the ocean and crashing yacht club parties.

The whole song feels like a summer romcom concluding with having 10 kids together. Though even if listeners don’t plan on building a family of ten with their summer love, it’s still the perfect upbeat song to play all summer long.

Fearless

Fearless (2008)

While there’s no distinct mention of summer in “Fearless,” the upbeat pop-country production matches the lighthearted feeling of the warm season. Taylor Swift admitted the song was written about the best first date ever, as she sings about dancing in a storm in her best dress, reminiscent of a summer rainstorm. The song also has a carefree energy throughout; from driving around a small town to first kisses, summer is the one season that truly feels fearless.

Swifites also have newfound summer memories with the song thanks to the Eras Tour. The record-breaking tour is most associated with summer 2023, and in a lot of cities, it was still light out during the Fearless set. The memory that stands out the most is Swift holding up her hand heart after the song’s bridge, with the crowd mimicking her as a pink sunset lit up the sky around the stadium.

8Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)

Taylor Swift (2006)

“Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)” has one of the most heartwarming backstories of any Taylor Swift song. The pop star wrote it about her next-door neighbors, an older couple that had known each other their entire lives. Swift’s debut track tells the story of them growing up as kids, falling in love as teenagers, getting married and having kids, and growing old together in their 80s.

Like “Fearless,” Swift doesn’t specifically mention summer, but she does mention playing in the backyard, riding around late at night, and rocking babies on the front porch. The song paints a picture of falling in love during the summer in a small town. It’s also been used several times in fan edits of The Summer I Turned Pretty characters, Belly and Conrad, cementing it as a summer love anthem.

7Fresh Out The Slammer

The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

Recently, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department track “Fresh Out The Slammer” took over TikTok, as Swifties flooded the app with videos using the song. Fans were on a mission to make it the song of the summer. The song is about Swift leaving a relationship behind after staying in it too long and watching her partner slowly fade away. When she finally breaks free, she runs right to the man who has been confessing his feelings to her the way she wished her former partner would – or, as some think, back to herself.

Swift sings “another summer taking cover,” but what really makes the song a summer anthem is how it represents leaving the darkness behind for freedom, like the sun hitting your face after a long winter. Despite TTPD being full of heavy, heartbreak songs, “Fresh Out The Slammer” is surprisingly perfect for the summer season.

6Wildest Dreams

1989 (2014)

While 1989 was released both times on October 27th, the album has always felt like a summer album. The initial release was very New York City-inspired, while 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was beach-inspired, likely due to how much time she spent at her Rhode Island house during the 1989 era. One of the most summer-esque songs on the album is “Wildest Dreams.” The song is seemingly about a secret summer affair, where Swift predicts things will ultimately end.

Say you’ll remember me

Standing in a nice dress

Staring at the sunset, babe

Red lips and rosy cheeks

Say you’ll see me again

Even if it’s just in your

Wildest dreams

However, she hopes her lover will remember all the good moments, like her standing in a dress staring at the sunset. Swift’s mention of sunsets paints the visual of Swift standing on a beach staring out at an orange sky over the ocean. The lyric has been used countless times in summer Instagram captions, as the season is the best time of year for watching the sun go down.

5august

folklore (2020)

The folklore track “august” is one of Swift’s most explicitly summer songs. Not only does it mention a summer month in its title and lyrics, but the storyline follows a summer affair that Swift wrote about in three songs on the folklore album. “august” is a part of the folklore love triangle along with “cardigan” and “betty.” Swift begins the song with “salt air and the rust on your door,” immediately setting the story in a beach town.

In the second verse, Swift mentions the main character reminiscing about her partner’s back underneath the sunlight as if he were lying on the beach tanning. Later, as the love affair comes apart, Swift belts “so much for summer love,” as the narrator realizes the relationship was never meant to last. In “betty”, James even refers to the “august” fling as “just a summer thing.”

With all the summer references, “august” has become a summer staple of Swift’s catalog. The song was also used in the teaser trailer for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2, representing the end of Belly and Conrad’s relationship.

4Slut!

1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023)

“Slut!” was one of Taylor Swift’s vault tracks on 1989 (Taylor’s Version). It fits the album’s summer theme perfectly, with lines like “flamingo pink, sunrise boulevard” and “aquamarine moonlit swimming pool.” Like “Wildest Dreams,” the song seems to be about a summer love affair that likely won’t last, but in retrospect, it was worth it. The song’s light production and synths also match the carefree spirit of summer.

“Slut!” is like a pastel creamsicle in music form. The song has also inspired a series of edits using footage from the 2006 summer film Aquamarine, about a mermaid who falls in love with a lifeguard. Not only does the song fit the film because of the “aquamarine” lyric, but its summer love story theme fits perfectly into the plot of the movie.

3Daylight

Lover (2019)

The Summer I Turned Pretty recently released its first trailer for the show’s third and final season. Swifties instantly recognized “Daylight” as the song being used to represent Belly and Jeremiah’s relationship. Similar to “Fresh Out The Slammer,” the Lover track “Daylight” is about leaving the darkness behind to live in the sun. Swift wrote the lyric “Step into the daylight” about her own life experience, leaving the bitterness of the reputation era behind for her newfound freedom and happiness.

After years of releasing albums in the fall, Lover was the first album Swift ever released in the summer. Understandably, most of the songs fit into summer, as the whole album feels like a new beginning. Swift even compares love, which she once thought was black and white or burning red, to being golden. “Daylight” is one of Swift’s best songs for leaving the winter blues behind and embracing the essence of summer.

2Hits Different

Midnights Lavender Edition (2022)

One of Swift’s most underrated songs from Midnights is the pop track “Hits Different.” The song was originally included on the Target exclusive Midnights Lavender Edition. However, Swift finally released it on streaming seven months later when she dropped Midnights Til Dawn Edition. The song chronicles Swift’s inability to move on from a relationship the way she previously did because this time it just “hits different.”

The line that most fits the summer season is “Freedom felt like summer then, on the coast / Now the sun burns my heart and the sand hurts my feelings.” However, the song also came out on streaming just a few months before the summer blockbuster Barbie hit theaters. Swift mentions how she “used to switch out these Kens” in the second verse, making Swifties believe the song could be included in Greta Gerwig’s film.

While it ultimately didn’t make the soundtrack, as it didn’t relate to the film’s plot at all, “Hits Different” will always feel like a summer of 2023 song. Unfortunately, it wasn’t on the Eras Tour set list, but Swift did play it as a surprise song a few times.

1Cruel Summer

Lover (2019)

“Cruel Summer” was always destined to be Taylor Swift’s ultimate song of the summer. While the pandemic pushed its success back a few years, the Lover single eventually had its moment. It became the defining song of the Eras Tour, which was most prominent in the summer of 2023. While “Cruel Summer” didn’t hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 until October 2023, it still defined the summer of 2023. The song once again follows a fragile summer affair, which has become one of Taylor Swift’s favorite topics to write about.

However, this time, Swift’s partner confesses he feels the same way she does, and the relationship actually works out. Aside from the lyrics “it’s a cruel summer” and “summer’s a knife,” the mention of sneaking in through the garden gate also sets the song in the summer months. Songs like “All Too Well” and “Red” may have cemented Taylor Swift as an autumn queen, but she also has a decent number of songs in her catalog to help Swifties soar through the summer months.