TempoPeek

Bananarama · Bananarama

Cruel Summer

Cruel Summer is in E major at 108.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

108 BPM · Moderatomedian of 253 analyses · 107.8–108.5 across the middle eight tenths
Key
E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
59%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
253people who ran the extractor
One beat
553.5milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
439Hz · -4 cents from A 440
Dynamics
3.5dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.874Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.347Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

253 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 59% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 253 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 108.4 BPM one beat lasts 553.5 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 138.4 ms and a dotted eighth 415.1 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 54.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 216.8. A score would mark that Moderato, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 439 Hz, which is 4 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 3.5 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.874 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in E major; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with E major

Each of these differs from E major by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 108 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note422140.45
Half note211070.9
Dotted quarter1.5830.31.2
Quarter note (one beat)1553.51.81
Quarter triplet0.6673692.71
Dotted eighth0.75415.12.41
Eighth note0.5276.83.61
Eighth triplet0.333184.55.42
Dotted sixteenth0.375207.64.82
Sixteenth note0.25138.47.23
Sixteenth triplet0.16792.310.84
Thirty-second note0.12569.214.45

Half time 54.2 BPM · double time 216.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (553.5 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

The same title by somebody else

  1. Cruel SummerAce of BaseC♯ minor110BPM

Matched on the title alone, so this list can hold a different song that happens to share a name. Nothing here claims one is a cover of the other.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. New Kid in TownEaglesE major108BPM
  2. Prodigal SonThe Rolling StonesE major108BPM
  3. Voodoo People (Dust Brothers remix)The ProdigyE major108BPM
  4. I Want to Break FreeQueenE major109BPM
  5. I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)Aretha Franklin with George MichaelE major108BPM
  6. PhotographEd SheeranE major108BPM
  7. Heart’s Done TimeAerosmithE major108BPM
  8. Aún existe amorCéline DionE major108BPM
  9. Midlife CrisisFaith No MoreE major108BPM
  10. Waterloo SunsetThe KinksE major108BPM

Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 108 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in E majorAll songs at 108 BPME major at 100–109 BPMBananarama

MusicBrainz collapses 33 recording ids into this one. Recording id 6651608b-55ab-4903-8c29-b8cbc21d99b7.