The Summer I Turned Pretty is having a party in Cousins Beach!
Following the shocking revelation that Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad’s (Christopher Briney) aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) sold their beloved summer house, the group decides to throw one last rager in episode 6.
Among many romantic developments that unfold during the party, Taylor ( Rain Spencer) and Steven (Sean Kaufman) have an incredibly heartfelt moment on the dance floor as they do a choreographed number to Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.”
On July 13, Spencer, 23, said the scene was “so fun” to put together. “I grew up loving that song,” she explained of the hit track. “My mom and I would blast that song in the car. We still do. It’s like the best song for that moment. It reminded me of being a kid and dressing up and putting on a fashion show for the parents and creating a dance.”
“I remember when I was a kid, I created a dance to ‘Paper Planes’ with my childhood friend and those moments are so special and wholesome and beautiful and it was fun to create that moment for these characters,” she added. “It’s something you always remember and it’s something that really bonds you with someone else. We had a few rehearsals to learn the dance. It was just wholesome content.”
Of course, after that dance sequence comes another pivotal moment for Taylor and Steven as the latter finally confesses his feelings.
“I love that moment,” Spencer said of the scene. “That really sums up every moment that they’ve had before that. Which is just that push-and-pull power dynamic. So he finally [is like], ‘I don’t want to play this game anymore’ and I love that.”
Just as their slow dance in the deb ballroom was “a moment of surrender” for her character, Spencer said Steven’s confession is “a moment of maturity” for his character.
“He’s actually communicating how he feels,” she continued. “Taylor’s really taken aback by it. He’s [like], ‘I don’t want to play, I don’t want to have to do this anymore. I just want to be with you.’ That is the most mature thing I think Steven’s ever said to Taylor.”
For that scene, Spencer recalled how creator Jenny Han told her to tap into “ expressing how conflicting this moment is for Taylor.”
“Taylor has so many things going through her head at this very moment because she’s still in a relationship,” she explained. “She doesn’t want to be unloyal, but this is also something she’s wanted to hear her entire life. What happens when you finally hear what you’ve been wanting to hear your entire life? You think it’s going to go one way, but then it’s not that simple. It’s a lot more complicated than that. This is not an easy thing to hear, even though you’ve been wanting to hear it forever.”
For Spencer, she said Taylor’s growth has been “really exciting” to witness this season.
“I definitely can relate to some of what she goes through or I have related to it in the past,” she said. “Feelings are super scary. Being vulnerable is terrifying with someone that you love. But it’s so worth it to find someone that you feel safe with and someone that you trust with your feelings.”
“Taylor’s learning how to say, ‘I feel like this, this is what I’m experiencing and I trust you with what I’m feeling,’” she added. “It’s beautiful to play someone that’s going through that journey. I think so many of us have been or are still going through that journey.”
New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 drop Fridays on Prime Video through Aug. 18.
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