"I Know The End" by Phoebe Bridgers // Song Review

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For an album that Phoebe Bridgers once described in an interview with DORK as "sorta about the end of the world," Punisher ended up being released at a time that made that sentiment feel more relevant than ever. Although this album was completed before the pandemic hit, its release in early summer 2020 ended up becoming the perfect soundtrack for that surreal and uncertain time. Arriving alongside the height of a global health crisis and rising political unrest in the United States, Punisher ended up being this very timely release and a sign of the times in a lot of ways, without ever necessarily intending to be.

Nowhere does that notion resonate more than in the closing track, "I Know The End". The song begins in a quiet, disoriented frame of mind, with Phoebe singing, "Somewhere in Germany, but I can't place it, man, I hate this part of Texas, close my eyes, fantasize three clicks and I'm home," in the opening verse. "When I get back, I'll lay around, then I'll get up and lay back down, romanticize a quiet life, there's no place like my room".

The tension of this song keeps building throughout, as she depicts this rising sense of urgency and need to escape. The imagery begins to feel more surreal as the song progresses, almost like an apocalyptic Wizard of Oz-esque middle America dreamscape that is starting to unravel. "So, I gotta go, I know, I know, I know, when the sirens sound, you'll hide under the floor, but I'm not gonna go down with my hometown in a tornado, she sings. "I'm gonna chase it, I know, I know, I know, I gotta go now, I know, I know, I know".

The third verse is such a masterpiece and builds up to an explosive ending that feels like a culmination of all that she held in this entire album. It is drenched in Americana imagery, but again in a very warped and apocalyptic way. "Windows down, scream along to some America First rap-country song, a slaughterhouse, an outlet mall, slot machines, fear of God, windows down, heater on, big bolt of lightning hanging low," she sings. It's an intense portrait of a country in decline, with the world ending around her. Released in 2020, "I Know The End" unintentionally became a time capsule for a point in history that really did feel like the world was about to end at any moment, not even just because of the pandemic, but because of the political, social and emotional chaos that defined that entire year (and beyond). She vividly captured that distinct sense of disillusionment that many have continued to feel since that time. 


"Over the coast, everyone's convinced, it's a government drone or an alien spaceship, Either way, we're not alone, I'll find a new place to be from, a haunted house with a picket fence, to float around and ghost my friends," she continues to sing in the second half of the song. "No, I'm not afraid to disappear, the billboard said 'The End Is Near', I turned around, there was nothing there, yeah, I guess the end is here".

In the final moments of the album, she finally releases everything she's been holding back with such a cathartic, unfiltered scream to close the record. "This is a bunch of things I had on my to-do list: I wanted to scream; I wanted to have a metal song; I wanted to write about driving up the coast to Northern California, which I've done a lot in my life," Phoebe said in an interview with Apple Music. "It's like a super specific feeling. This is such a stoned thought, but it feels kind of like purgatory to me, doing that drive, just because I have done it at every stage of my life, so I get thrown into this time that doesn't exist when I’m doing it, like I can't differentiate any of the times in my memory. I guess I always pictured that during the apocalypse, I would escape to an endless drive up north." It feels like such a natural culmination of all the anxiety, grief, and dread that defined so much of Punisher in a way that ends this record in such a bold and definitive way. 

Thanks for reading! Check out my full review of Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers and more from my song of the week series here - many more are linked below and coming soon!

-Melissa ♡


 Photo Credit: Olof Grind, Phoebe Bridgers, Dead Oceans



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