Taylor Swift promised “tortured poetry” when she released The Tortured Poets Department, and she delivered. Her new work is an emotional breakup album that includes several songs ready-made for her fans’ heartbreak playlists. But a breakup is different when you’re Taylor Swift, and if there’s one song on the anthology’s surprise Part 2 that truly captures that fact, it’s “How Did It End?”
Swift wrote on Instagram beforehand that the anthology reflects “events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.” That’s especially true on “How Did It End?” The raw ballad depicts the experience of going through a crushing split in the public eye.
Fans’ Part In Swift’s Pain
“How Did It End?” shares the struggle of dealing with the death of a relationship, all while knowing that the masses can’t stop wondering about and discussing what happened. “The empathetic hunger descends,” she sings. “We’ll tell no one except all of our friends.”
Swift seems to call out concern from her fans and followers that is accompanied by gossip and speculation. This time, the villain of the song isn’t one of her exes — it’s all of us.
Which Split Is “How Did It End?” About?
The Tortured Poets Department seems to be about not just one, but two splits, but “How Did It End?” could theoretically apply to any of her breakups over the years, given how much attention they’ve always gotten. That said, certain lyrics do seem to connect the track to the period after Swift and Joe Alwyn ended their six-year relationship.
In May 2023, Swift released “You’re Losing Me,” a “from the vault” track from Midnights, and her first breakup song after splitting from Alywn. It shows a sick and dying relationship that only one of them is fighting to save until it’s too late. “We thought a cure would come through in time, now, I fear it won’t,” she sings.
Similarly, “How Did It End?” has lyrics about sickness and death. “Our maladies were such we could not cure them,” she sings. She also mentions a “post-mortem” and “the death rattle breathing.”
That said, the breakup details aren’t the point here. Swift’s song is more about the speculation, curiosity, and questions that rise up in the aftermath.
The “How Did It End?” Lyrics
Read the song’s full lyrics below.
(Uh-oh, uh-oh)
We hereby conduct
This post-mortem
He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsmen
Our maladies were such
We could not cure them
And so a touch that was my birthright became foreign
Come one, come all
It’s happenin’ again
The empathetic hunger descends
We’ll tell no one
Except all of our friends
We must know
How did it end?
(Uh-oh, uh-oh)
We were blind to unforeseen circumstances
We learn the right steps to different dances (Oh, oh-oh)
And fell victim to interloper’s 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 (Oh, oh)
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?
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
It’s happenin’ again
How did it end?
I can’t pretend like I understand
How did it end?
Come one come all
It’s happenin’ 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?
