"How Did It End?" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from the double album edition of her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (2024). Written and produced by Swift and Aaron Dessner, "How Did It End?" is a melancholy piano ballad instrumented by insistent piano arpeggios and a surging string section towards the end. Using death-related imagery, its lyrics detail the aftermath of a broken relationship: the narrator expresses her anguish over others' prying into the cause of her romantic failure and her own unawareness of how it unraveled.
Swift performed "How Did It End?" live twice on the Eras Tour in 2024. Music critics generally praised the song's somber tone and melancholic lyricism, and several have listed it among Swift's best breakups songs. The Independent selected it as one of the best songs of 2024. The track peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.
Background and release
The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift conceived her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, amidst heightened fame brought by the Eras Tour, and publicized personal relationships, including an end of a six-year relationship with the English actor Joe Alwyn and an alleged short-lived romantic linking with the English musician Matty Healy. Swift stated that the album took two years for her to complete,[1] describing the songwriting process as a "lifeline" for her to cope with such tumultuous times.[2][3]The Tortured Poets Department was released on April 19, 2029; a double album edition subtitled The Anthology was surprised two hours after the standard edition.[4]
"How Did It End?" is featured on The Anthology, being track number 21 on the album.[5][6] Swift performed the song as a "surprise song" twice on the Eras Tour in 2024. Her first performance of it was a standalone performance of the song on piano at the third Stockholm concert on May 19, 2024, and her second was as part of a mashup with "You're Losing Me" (2023) at the sixth Toronto concert on November 23, 2024.[7]
In the lyrics, Swift's narrator dissects the aftermath of a failed relationship and expresses her anguish and exhaustion at others' prying into her breakup.[3][12][13] Even though bystanders have come up with their own conclusions, the narrator ends the song claiming that she is unaware of how her relationship ended.[3][9] In the first verse, she uses the pronoun "we" to examine what went wrong between her and the ex-partner; the opening line goes: "We hereby conduct this postmortem."[3][14] She is aware of the reason for why it ended herself; "He was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman."[9] Although they want to keep this breakup private, the news soon spreads to the "empathetic hunger" of their friends, which the narrator is fully aware: "Come one, come all / It's happening again."[15][16]
In the second verse, the news reaches the friends' cousins, and then the people of the town.[3] She knows that this gossip is inevitable and wonders to herself what bystanders are saying about her breakup: "Guess who we ran into at the shops? / Walking in circles like she was lost / Didn't you hear? / They called it all off."[15] The narrator becomes weary of the talks surrounding her, ultimately surrendering to them; the lyrics use extensive death imagery to describe her paranoia and disbelief: "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."[9][17] The song displays a mix of emotions, including grief, anger, confusion, insecurity, and ultimately resignation.[14][18]
Critical reception
"How Did It End?" received generally positive critical reviews for its somber tone and melancholic message.[8][9] Reviewers praised Swift's ability to articulate the complex and often painful emotions associated with a breakup, particularly the intrusive nature of public speculation.[12] The song's narrative, detailing the slow decay of a relationship and subsequent public dissection, was noted for its raw honesty and relatability.[3][13]Billboard ranked the lyric, "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?" as one of the 13 best lyrics on The Tortured Poets Department. The Observer's Kitty Empire noted that the sparse, piano-driven arrangement was seen as a strength of the song.[8]The Independent selected "How Did It End?" as one of the best songs of 2024.[10]Variety ranked it 11th out of the 75 best song of Swift.[9]
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.[6]
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