Taylor Swift Praised “HSM” Series Star Olivia Rodrigo’s “Cruel Summer” Cover

Taylor Swift is all about lifting up and shining a light on young musicians. The latest star to get some public Taylor love is High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star Olivia Rodrigo, who posted a video of herself singing Taylor’s Lover song “Cruel Summer,” only to find it reposted (!!) by Taylor in her Instagram Stories.

Olivia, who plays Nini on the Disney+ revamp of the HSM franchise, took on the song for MTV’s Alone Together Jam Session, covering it from what appears to be her home. She does a beautiful job taking on Taylor’s song about love and yearning — so good that Taylor herself took notice and posted the video to her Instagram Stories, praising Olivia’s vocal skills and interpretation of her song.

“THE TALENT,” Tay wrote. “Love This!!! Thanks for this beautiful performance @olivia.rodrigo @mtv.” Taylor also included a few video frames of Olivia performing her song to show her support for the cover.

To say that Olivia was thrilled is a total understatement. She posted series of pics of herself looking overwhelmed with joy to Instagram after the fact, writing, “TAYLOR SWIFT IS THE REASON I WRITE SONGS AND SHE POSTED ME ON HER STORY AND TOLD ME I WAS TALENTED??? WHEN IS ASHTON KUTCHER GONNA JUMP OUT OF A BUSH WITH A CAMERA CREW!!!!???!??!” Olivia also continued sharing her excitement on Twitter. “TAYLOR SWIFT POSTED A VIDEO OF ME SINGING CRUEL SUMMER ON HER INSTAGRAM STORY. I WILL NEVER STOP SCREAMING,” she wrote. “I AM GONNA FRAME THIS SCREENSHOT AND HANG IT ABOVE MY FIRSTBORN’S CRIB.”

While Taylor has postponed all Lover Fest events for the rest of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when she gets back on the road, maybe she’ll invite Olivia to sing a bit of “Cruel Summer.”