Kelsea Ballerini Paused Her Concert to Find Out if Taylor Swift Performed ‘Cruel Summer’ at ‘The Eras Tour’
On March 17, Taylor Swift kicked off her highly-anticipated The Eras Tour, and it was such a cultural event Kelsea Ballerini felt the need to pause her own concert. When Ballerini stopped her concert, she asked fans present if they knew if Swift included “Cruel Summer” on the setlist for The Eras Tour.
Kelsea Ballerini paused her concert to ask about Taylor Swift
Swift’s first concert for The Eras Tour was held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. That same night, Ballerini was performing a concert for her Heartfirst Tour in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Fans present at Ballerini’s concert posted videos of Ballerini on social media. In the videos, Ballerini is seen onstage with a guitar.
“Can I just level with you for a minute?” Ballerini said. “Is anyone stalking The Eras Tour? Has it started?”
At this, the crowd cheered.
“I have, I just have one, I’m gonna stalk it after this but I have one question. Has she — is ‘Cruel Summer’ on the setlist?” Ballerini asked.
The crowd cheered loudly again, answering Ballerini’s question.
“It is? Wow, that’s my Super Bowl. I gotta be honest,” Ballerini told fans.
Taylor Swift’s song ‘Cruel Summer’ is a fan favorite
Swift released “Cruel Summer” on her 2019 album Lover. The song is the second song on the tracklist. Almost immediately following the release of Lover, “Cruel Summer” became a fan-favorite song among Swifties.
Despite its popularity, “Cruel Summer” was never released as a single. Swift is typically aware of how much fans love her deep cuts and will oftentimes perform fan-favorite tracks or find different ways to honor songs that fans love.
Because of this, fans of Swift were hopeful that the song would be included on The Eras Tour setlist. To fans’ relief, “Cruel Summer” is the second song on the setlist and is performed during the concert’s opening.
Taylor Swift and Kelsea Ballerini are friends
Ballerini and Swift have been friends for years and are both fans of each others’ music. At the 2022 Grammy Awards, Ballerini was interviewed about Swift.
“I feel like she constantly makes people proud, whether you know her or not,” Ballerini told People Magazine. “She’s always just advocating for change and moving everything forward for everyone. I haven’t seen her in so long. I hope I get to hug her tonight if she’s coming… I’m always on her team.”
After the 2023 Grammy Awards, Swift put on her own after-party with many stars in attendance. Ballerini attended the after-party with her friend and collaborator Fletcher.
Fletcher shared a photo with Ballerini and Swift on Instagram. She captioned the photo, “3am version,” a reference to Swift’s album Midnights (3 am Edition).
Ballerini commented on Fletcher’s photo, “i’m gonna tell my kids this is charlie’s angels.”
With “Cruel Summer” confirmed to be on the setlist of The Eras Tour, only time will tell if Ballerini attends the tour to see Swift perform the song live.
