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Top 10 Song Moments from The Summer I Turned Pretty

I woke up at 4:30 am today, but there’s no new The Summer I Turned Pretty episode. To ease myself out of the grief of the series ending while waiting for the movie, I’ve been mainlining the Apple Music playlist, which includes every song played in the series. I’ve concluded the third season has the strongest song and scene pairings overall, but there are standout moments in the first and second season as well.

Honorable Mentions:

“Mystery of Love”- Sufjan Stevens from Season 3, Episode 2 “Last Christmas”

Best line:

Belly: “He left just like I thought he would. No goodbye, just gone like a ghost. Conrad Fisher, the ghost of Christmas past.”

Best lyrics:

Oh, to see without my eyes
The first time that you kissed me
Boundless by the time I cried
I built your walls around me

I couldn’t fully leave this one out, I love “Mystery of Love” and it’s beautiful in this scene. The music works hard to create intimacy between Conrad and Belly, and Jeremiah refers to Christmas later as when she started to love Conrad again. I only dropped it off my top 10 list because there are so many well paired songs in this series.

“This Love”- Taylor Swift from Season 1, Episode 7, “Summer Love”

Best line:

Belly: “I don’t want you to need me, I want you to want me.” Conrad: “I do want you.”

Best lyrics:

Your kiss, my cheek
I watched you leave
Your smile, my ghost
I fell to my knees
When you’re young, you just run
But you come back to what you need

The moment Belly and Conrad first kiss at the end of Season 1 needs an honorable mention. They are so young and hesitant in this scene. It’s refreshing to hear him tell her he wants her and to see them connect here.

10. “The Way I Loved You”- Taylor Swift from Season 1, Episode 7 “Summer Love”

Best line:

Conrad: “I think I remember most of the steps.”

Best lyrics:

I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain
It’s 2 a.m. and I’m cursing your name
I’m so in love that I acted insane
And that’s the way I loved you
Breaking down and coming undone
It’s a roller coaster kind of rush
And I never knew I could feel that much
And that’s the way I loved you

The first time I saw this episode, my heart melted for Belly when she saw Conrad appear at her debutante ball. He is fully lit by the spotlight, emphasizing how he eclipses everything for her. “The Way I Loved You” was a summer anthem for me in 2010 before I moved to Greensboro. At the time I loved the roller coaster of emotions, and I worried about Belly and Conrad in season 1 because they were presented this way.

9. “Out of the Woods”- Taylor Swift from Season 3, Episode 11, “At Last”

Best line:

“I still love her. And I still love him. I have brown eyes and brown hair, and I will always love Conrad Fisher.”

Best lyrics:

Remember when you hit the brakes too soon?
Twenty stitches in a hospital room
When you started crying, baby I did too
But when the sun came up I was looking at you
Remember when we couldn’t take the heat?
I walked out, I said, “I’m setting you free”
But the monsters turned out to be just trees
When the sun came up you were looking at me

This song is perfect for a desperate to profess love scene. I especially loved the imagery of hitting the brakes too soon before the sun came up image because Belly’s mom Laurel called Conrad the sun for Belly. I found this scene very satisfying, and I love a romcom moment, but I prefer the power of the songs in more painful moments.

8. “Cardigan”- Taylor Swift from Season 3, Episode 8 “Last Kiss”

   

   Best lines: No spoken lines here, but the moment Belly sees Conrad across the airport is a top 5 Pinter moment for me (Dawson’s Creek taught me about Pinter moments when ex English teacher Tamara Jacobs tells Pacey- “Everything is said in silence because the emotion behind what we really want to say is just too overwhelming.”)

   Best lyrics:

   I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs
   The smell of smoke would hang around this long
   ‘Cause I knew everything when I was young
   I knew I’d curse you for the longest time
   Chasin’ shadows in the grocery line
   I knew you’d miss me once the thrill expired
   And you’d be standin’ in my front porch light

   And I knew you’d come back to me

   “Cardigan” has been moving up in the ranks of the Heavy Rotation Mix playlist, I made it through all of episode 8 without crying until this song started. The montage as Belly talks to her mom and packs to leave for the airport is beautiful, and the moment we see her see Conrad feels filled with promise paired with “And I knew you’d come back to me.” I anticipated she wouldn’t talk to him, but that moment as a cliffhanger was expert lyric and scene pairing.

7. “Landslide”- Fleetwood Mac from Season 3, Episode 4 “Last Stand”

   

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   Best lyrics:

   Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
   Can the child within my heart rise above?
   Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?
   Can I handle the seasons of my life?

   Fleetwood Mac is my favorite band of all time. I sang “Dreams” at bedtime for approximately 4 years, and my youngest hilariously thought I had written the song myself until he was 4 years old, and he heard Fleetwood Mac’s version in the car. Belly crying while “Landslide” plays when she feels so isolated from her mom hit me very hard in this episode. It reminded me of the time my mom wasn’t talking to me when I was in a relationship with a sketchy guy in early fall of 2010. I love the moment when Conrad decides to stay and be there for her so she won’t be alone in her grief and the hand flex on the partly open door as he struggled not to touch her to comfort her brought to mind the 2005 Mr. Darcy helping Elizabeth Bennett into the carriage moment.

6. “False God”- Taylor Swift from Season 3, Episode 5 Last Dance

   

   Best line:

   Belly: “This time wasn’t like with the peaches. This time it was all me.”

   Best lyrics:

And I can’t talk to you when you’re like this
Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town
I’m New York City, I still do it for you, babe
They all warned us about times like this
They say the road gets hard and you get lost
When you’re led by blind faith, blind faith

I can’t believe anyone thought Jeremiah and Belly had a chance of ending this series together after this scene. The romantic tension has never been higher. “False God” also played during the Season 1 episode where Conrad and Belly almost kiss but are interrupted by Jeremiah shooting a firework toward them. This callback makes the moment more evocative. They’re fully lit throughout this scene in golden light, and we see Belly with a floored expression as Conrad pulls himself away from her.

5. “loml”- Taylor Swift from Season 3, Episode 7 “Last Hurrah”

   

   Best lyrics:

   Who’s gonna stop us from waltzing
   Back into rekindled flames?
   If we know the steps anyway
   We embroidered the memories
   Of the time I was away
   Stitching, “We were just kids, babe”
   I said, “I don’t mind, it takes time”
   I thought I was better safe than starry-eyed
   I felt aglow like this
   Never before and never since

   I cried the moment the first note of “loml” played when I watched this episode for the first time at 5 am. I felt desperately sad for Belly as she cried facing away from Taylor and for Conrad as he sat by himself trying to hold himself together after Belly walked away from him. Watching Conrad hug himself still makes me think about how much he needs his mom there to hug him. My husband assured me his mom hugged him the last time he went through a breakup, and watching this scene now I think of heartwrenching pain for my boys in their future when they are heartbroken. When Belly knocks on the wall to see if Jeremiah will respond, the answering silence shows the full disconnect in their relationship.

4. “Dress”- Taylor Swift from Season 3, Episode 11 “At Last”

   

   

   Best line:

   Conrad: I dream about this. You.

   Best lyrics:

   Say my name and everything just stops

   I don′t want you like a best friend

   Only bought this dress so you could take it off

   The “Dress” scene is the hottest scene of the entire series. The song is perfectly chosen, the lyrics match perfectly. Every fan has watched this scene multiple times, it starts at minute 54 of the finale. The five years between their last kiss and this moment create heightened anticipation and expectation, and the moment when he says “I want to do it” about taking her dress off also fits perfectly. The pause in the song is well used to frame his “I dream about this. You.” line.

3. “when the party’s over”- James Blake from Season 3, Episode 7 “Last Hurrah”

   

   Best line: Belly’s sobbing while clutching her chest is the only cue we need to see how painful it was for her to say, “You and I were never anything” to Conrad.

   Best lyrics:

   Quiet when I’m comin’ home and I’m on my own
   Well, I could lie, say I like it like that, like it like that

   This song highlights the most painful agony of Belly walking away from Conrad after he tells her he still loves her. Belly collapses from how hard it is to lie to him about how little he means to her. She feels she has to say this to preserve her relationship with Jeremiah, and the song lyrics assure us she’s lying. She waited her whole life to hear he loved her, but she didn’t want to hear it like this.

2. “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”- Ariana Grande from Season 3, Episode 7 “Last Hurrah”

Best line:

Belly: “I only ever pictured Conrad.”

Best lyrics:

I didn’t think you’d understand me
How could you ever even try?
I don’t wanna tiptoe, but I don’t wanna hide
But I don’t wanna feed this monstrous fire
Just wanna let this story die
And I’ll be alright

This song and scene pairing are a very strong contender for my number one. It’s the favorite playlist song for my kids, and they agree Ariana Grande has the most beautiful voice. The montage shows a great highlight reel of every meaningful moment between Belly and Conrad, and it emphasizes how much she only pictured being with Conrad her whole life. She can’t let the story die, and the discussion with Taylor about how Christmas brought back many of her feelings is a pivotal moment of the whole series.

1. “exile”- Taylor Swift featuring bon iver from Season 2, Episode 8 “Love Triangle”

Best line:

Conrad: “Make sure she gets home safe.”

Best lyrics:

And it took you five whole minutes
To pack us up and leave me with it
Holding all this love out here in the hall

I think I’ve seen this film before
And I didn’t like the ending
You’re not my homeland anymore
So, what am I defending now?
You were my town
Now I’m in exile, seeing you out
I think I’ve seen this film before

“exile” is definitively my top song moment of the series, and my favorite song of all time. I went back to watch it after the beach confession scene when Conrad said he fucked up four years ago. When I initially watched the Season 2 finale, I had less sympathy for Conrad because I thought Belly would be happier with Jeremiah. Watching this scene back now shows how Conrad felt Jeremiah was better for Belly than him, and how he didn’t want to drag her down into his grief. He walks away from the motel room and falls to the ground. Seeing Conrad feel he has lost the love of his life forever is devastating.