The Summer I Turned Pretty just flipped the script by including a Taylor Swift needle drop for Belly’s romance with Jeremiah — instead of Conrad.
During the newest episode of the Prime Video series, which started streaming on Thursday, August 3, Belly (Lola Tung) pushed Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) into the pool as “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” started playing. The pair shared a charged moment before she swam away.he song started back up when Belly and Jeremiah’s fingers brushed against each other in the water.
The musical decision came as a surprise for viewers since creator Jenny Han previously chose to use Swift’s songs primarily for Belly and Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) love story. The Summer I Turned Pretty, which is based on a book series of the same name, explores the complicated love triangle between Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah.
After the show debuted, Han, 42, discussed getting to highlight pivotal scenes with Swift’s discography.
“It’s really just that I’m a fan. It’s that the book fans are fans. And it’s a really perfect marriage of those two things,” she told TVLine in June 2022. “The Venn diagram of Swifties and Summer fans, it’s like a circle. It’s, like, all overlap. And as we were telling the story, there’s just so many moments where I [was] like, ‘This could use a little bit of Taylor Swift.’ It was as simple as that. We have a lot of great music on the show, but I’ve always felt that her storytelling as a songwriter really matches up to the vibes of Summer.”
Christopher Briney as Conrad and Lola Tung as Belly in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’. Courtesy of Amazon Studios
The author has since hinted that her vision for the show may not mirror the outcome of the books.
“I really had to weigh what the fans are expecting with where the show is going creatively and find that balance,” she told Variety at the time. “My priority has always been that I want fans of the book to feel really satisfied by the story we’re telling, but also for them to know that this is an adaptation in a new medium, so it’s not going to be exactly the same. I think those are sort of the two things that are always in my head.
Han added: “I don’t want to spoil too much but the books have been out for a while. You never know what could happen with the show. I was open minded going into it. I was considering a lot of different possibilities.”
More recently, Casalegno, 23, further teased that viewers might be in for a surprise when it comes to Belly’s final choice.
Lola Tung as Belly and Gavin Casalegno as Jeremiah in ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’. Courtesy of Amazon Studios
“I do feel like there’s a strong chance that that’s a possibility,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in June about the hit series potentially straying from the original endgame.
The actor recalled not focusing too much on his character’s future arc while filming season 2, adding, “I try to keep it as real as possible in that regard. Obviously, I know where he ends up going and what ends up happening. But I don’t emphasize on that. Because I think Jenny writes it so well that I’m able to kind of get there naturally without having to force it a certain direction.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty episodes are available to stream on Prime Video Fridays. The Prime Video series has been renewed for season 3.