"End of Beginning" by Djo // UK exclusive cassette + Song Review
"End of Beginning" is a powerful reflection on a time - and even more so, a place - that continues to represent a very specific chapter of Djo's life. At the heart of it, the song tells a coming‑of‑age story and serves as a love letter to the people and the city that shaped so much of who he is today.
For Joe Keery, who has been releasing music under the pseudonym Djo since his debut album in 2019, this song marked a major breakthrough moment for him. Released in 2022, it captured the feeling of being on the precipice of a major life change while simultaneously looking back at how formative living in Chicago was for him. After moving there for college, he spent much of his early twenties auditioning for acting jobs, playing in his band Post Animal, waiting tables, and building a life there as a young adult on his own for the first time.
"And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it, another version of me, I was in it," he sings in the chorus. "I wave goodbye to the end of beginning".
Everything shifted really quickly when he auditioned for Stranger Things, originally for a role that was only meant to appear in a few episodes as a minor character. No one, obviously, could have anticipated that the show would become what it did, or that his character would evolve into such a defining part of it. With all of those big changes happening at the same time, it meant he never really got to say goodbye to that version of himself that existed in that earlier chapter of his life.
In a 2024 interview with Variety, Joe said "End of Beginning" is about "...coming back to a place that meant so much to you and was a really big part of your life, but your life has moved on and taken you elsewhere." He continued, "That's what happens to me when I go to Chicago. It's hard for me not to imagine who I was, what my life was like. It is obviously a nostalgic song - I think it sounds pretty nostalgic too, just the whole atmosphere of the song. But I think ultimately, the song is about living for the day and not getting too wrapped up in the past but appreciating it for what it was."
The hindsight in which this song was written, several years after he had already moved away, gives the song an added weight. The feeling of growing up and finally looking back on a time that impacted you far more than you allowed it to in the moment is at the forefront. Not really knowing, at the time, that the sacrifice you were making would end up changing the entire trajectory of your life. The butterfly‑effect of it all is really captured in this song. "Your late 20s are a wild time," Joe told Billboard in a 2024 interview. "The gist of it is being sad that I wasn't more appreciative for something in the moment - longing for something that's over, but also being happy that it happened."
One of the defining lyrics of the entire song follows and it's truly among the most striking and straightforward he has ever written. It's a shoutout to his sister's advice: "Enter, Caroline, 'Just trust me, you'll be fine.'" That line is such an anchor in the song and also a testament to the people that remain constants in your life despite any changes, which is a recurring theme throughout so much of his music and is captured it in such a simple, heartfelt way.
"End of Beginning" largely represents the ache of leaving a place that shaped you - but also the profound feeling that every time you return, that version of yourself is still there waiting and you carry a bit of that person with you everywhere else your journey takes you. "You take the man out of the city, not the city out the man," he repeatedly sings in the powerful bridge.
Despite being an underrated deep-cut from his sophomore album, DECIDE, in 2022, the song slowly built a life of its own. It was never pushed as a single or had any kind of traditional rollout or promotion attached to it, "End of Beginning" naturally started gaining traction on TikTok in early 2024, two years after its initial release, and quickly made the shift from being a fan-favorite to a massive worldwide hit.
There truly is something so special about seeing an independent artist, one who solely writes, performs and produces so much of his own work, find this kind of success in music the way Djo has. This song was co-produced by his longtime collaborator, Adam Thein as well. While Joe Keery is, of course, a very accomplished actor, Djo was still sort of an inside secret at the time the song began to take off. It was very much an if you know, you know kind of deal. For many years, and maybe even still now to an extent, a lot of listeners don't even realize that he was the voice behind this song.
It experienced another huge surge in late 2025 and early 2026, coinciding with the release of the final season of Stranger Things. By then, it had come to represent something so much bigger, this collective nostalgia and an end‑of‑an‑era feeling for a show that shaped so many people's lives for nearly a decade, which is a feeling that is inherently so present within this song. "End of Beginning" having a second massive boost because of the finale is so full-circle, considering how much of this song was inspired in part by the show and the bittersweet feelings Joe felt while leaving behind the life he had in Chicago in order to pursue acting professionally. Sonically as well, it feels very rooted in the music of the 1980s with the synthy electronic elements.
In January 2026, the song reached the top of Billboard's Global 200 chart for the first time, officially becoming the biggest song in the world. It also achieved a rare and impressive milestone of being the #1 song on the Global Spotify charts for over 30 days straight in early 2026 as well.
The list of accomplishments and accolades goes on, but what truly cannot be overstated is the universal appeal of "End of Beginning". In every way it has transcended the original meaning of which it was written and very much has taken on a life of its own. While it was written by Joe spending his early twenties in Chicago, it has come to mean so much to so many people for other reasons as well. To me, the most special part of this song is that while it's about Chicago and his very specific experience there, everyone has their own "Chicago" in a way. It's a place where they can look back and see a different version of themselves every time they return. It is so specific, but also a message that so many people will be able to see a piece of themselves in at the same time.
One of my favorite ways to experiment with photography is using a scanner to capture abstract, glitchy shots. I was inspired by this cassette single of one of my favorite songs ever to be a little more experimental with the way I photographed this piece of my collection. I also love collecting Djo's music on physical variants because the attention to detail and design is always so intentional.
Compared to vinyl, my cassette collection is much smaller, but I still wanted to highlight this specific song in a special way and I loved how these photos turned out! I feel like it represents the aesthetic of his 2022 album DECIDE so perfectly, it was so fun playing around with different movements to warp the cassette and cover. I wanted to especially capture some of the more surrealistic tones that he took with the marketing of this album when DECIDE was initially released in 2022.
This cassette single was originally sold in 2024 on his website as a UK exclusive. In early 2026, it was brought back in stock on his UK site again, but I was lucky enough to grab a copy online at Rough Trade in the US earlier this year! I don't typically collect cassettes, but I love this song so much and love having a piece of this era in a format that is so nostalgic and representative of so many of the themes within this song.
Thanks for reading! I have written about Djo's music many times over the years. Be sure to check out my review of a special limited edition Record Store Day pressing of his album DECIDE, as well as in-depth reviews of The Crux, The Crux (Deluxe) and many more linked below and coming soon!
All photos are my own!
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