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How Did It End?

Bonus Track | THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT: THE ANTHOLOGY (2024)

“How Did It End?” is track twenty-one on THE ANTHOLOGY, the double album edition of Taylor’s eleventh studio album, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT (2024). It was released on April 19, 2024, through Republic Records. Written by Taylor and Aaron Dessner, the song is a metaphorical “post-mortem” of a relationship, suggesting a detailed examination of its demise.

“How Did It End?” delves into the emotional aftermath of heartbreak and the societal reactions that accompany it. It moves beyond just the narrative of the breakup, rather exploring deeper themes of personal loss, societal voyeurism, and the quest for understanding what happened.

Background and Release

Taylor released her tenth studio album, Midnights, on October 21, 2022, to widespread commercial and critical success. It was eventually nominated for six awards at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024. That night, Taylor won the categories for “Best Pop Vocal Album” and “Album of the Year” for Midnights. In her acceptance speech for the former, she revealed a new studio album, titled THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, and announced its release date of April 19, 2024, which she had been keeping secret for nearly two years. Its cover artwork was subsequently posted on her social media accounts, along with a photograph of a handwritten note.

“How Did It End?” was part of the surprise double-album, THE ANTHOLOGY, which was released on April 19, shortly after the album’s standard edition. It was later added to Taylor’s “Old Habits Die Screaming (Depression)” playlist on Apple Music.

The song is speculated to be about Taylor’s split from her partner of six years, Joe Alwyn, which was announced on April 8, 2023. A source told Entertainment Weekly at the time that “it was more of Taylor’s decision to break up, but both of them realized that they weren’t completely right for one another. They had been together for such a long time and were spending so much time together, but their personalities were just too different.”

Lyrical Theme

“How Did It End?” captures the essence of incompatibility and the struggle to maintain a connection when fundamental differences prevail. The repeated, “How did it end?” reflects a societal obsession with the details of personal failures and breakups. This curiosity is depicted as an “empathetic hunger” that descends upon those around, who are eager to learn about the personal details of others’ lives. When promoting her documentary Miss Americana in January 2020, Taylor described how she perceives the public reacting to things happening in her personal life:

«For so much of my life in the public eye, when I get sad, or upset, or humiliated, or angry, or go through a really horrible time...I feel people lean in with this hunger.»

Taylor Swift

In “How Did It End?”, Taylor critiques this voyeuristic aspect of society, where people are more interested in the spectacle of a breakup rather than the emotional well-being of those involved. The mention of people gossiping about the relationship’s end in public places like shops underscores this theme of public scrutiny and the spread of rumors.

Throughout the song, Taylor also touches on the emotional toll of the breakup through imagery and metaphors. The line “My beloved ghost and me / Sitting in a tree / D-Y-I-N-G” poignantly expresses the feeling of dying inside due to the loss of a loved one.

Live Performances

“How Did It End?” received its first live performance acoustically on piano on May 19, 2024, in Stockholm during one of Taylor’s shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). The live audio was released on July 11, 2024. In Toronto on November 23, 2024, she paired the song with “You’re Losing Me” (2023).

Critical Reception

Roisin O’Connor of The Independent listed “How Did It End?” as the 20th best song of 2024, writing: “Buried like a treasure in the 31-song tracklist of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT’s “Anthology” edition is ‘How Did It End?’ – a stark piano ballad in the vein of 2020’s sepia-toned evermore. Over arpeggiating notes that rise and fall like waves on a shoreline, Swift alludes to the gleeful press frenzy surrounding another public heartbreak: ‘Come one, come all/ It’s happenin’ again/ The empathetic hunger descends…’ Then comes the tussle between mature acceptance and childish disbelief: ‘The deflation of our dreaming/ Leaving me bereft and reeling/ My beloved ghost and me/ Sitting in a tree/ D-Y-I-N-G.’ Songwriting of the most exquisite kind.”

Commercial Performance

Upon the release of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, “How Did It End?” debuted at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100, during the chart week ending on May 4, 2024.

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
We hereby conduct this post mortem
He was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman
Our maladies were such we could not cure them
And so a touch that was my birthright became foreign

[Chorus 1]
Come one, come all
It’s happening again
The empathetic hunger descends
We’ll tell no one except all of our friends
We must know
How did it end?

[Verse 2]
We were blind to unforeseen circumstances
We learned thе right steps to different dancеs
And fell victim to interlopers’ glances
Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?
Soon they’ll go home to their husbands
Smug cause they know they can trust him
Then feverishly calling their cousins

[Chorus 2]
Guess who we ran into at the shops
Walking in circles like she was lost
Didn’t you hear they called it all off
One gasp, and then
How did it end?

[Bridge]
Say it once again with feeling
How the death rattle breathing
Silenced as the soul was leaving
The deflation of our dreaming
Leaving me bereft and reeling
My beloved ghost and me
Sitting in a tree
D-Y-I-N-G

[Pre-Chorus]
It’s happening again
How did it end?
I can’t pretend like I understand
How did it end?

[Final Chorus]
Come one, come all
It’s happening again
The empathetic hunger descends
We’ll tell no one except all of our friends
But I still don’t know
How did it end?