In Taylor Swift’s “How Did It End?,” She’s Tired Of The “Empathetic” Public

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 her surprise Part 2, TTPD: The Anthology, 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. She describes falling victim to the “interlopers’ glances,” and then imagines those people going home to discuss her latest breakup.

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.”

However, 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 hothouse flower to my outdoorsman

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 happening 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 learned the right steps to different dances (Oh, oh-oh)

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 (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 happening again

How did it end?

I can’t pretend like I understand

How did it end?

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?