I Know the End

The song's Alissa Torvinen-directed official music video was released on July 29, 2020. It features Bridgers "as she navigates dark corridors, emerges from a tub of water, and discovers a locker room full of skeleton onesies." This leads to "an epic finale" at the empty Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where she has a screaming match with an older woman, whom she kisses. The abstract style recalls Wes Anderson and David Lynch as Bridgers' grapples with her own mental health.^[5]

The song made its live debut on September 10, 2020, with a virtual performance on NPR Tiny Desk, where Bridgers performed in a fake Oval Office set.^[6] Later in the month she performed the song on CBS This Morning and Late Night with Seth Meyers.^[7] The latter performance was filmed as one continuous shot in an empty theater in Covina, California.^[8] She performed the song as her Saturday Night Live on February 6, 2021, a performance she ended by smashing her guitar on a prop stage monitor.^[9]

"I Know the End" received acclaim from music commentators, with many highlighting the song's emotional resonance and themes. It was referred to as the best song of the year by Vulture, with the website saying "The final seconds of "I Know the End" are spent on Bridgers a capella, gasping for more air to scream with—only to choke on it. Frankly, I can't think of a better metaphor for 2020."^[10] A review for Pitchfork said that it "packs an album's worth of ideas into five minutes and 45 seconds. One moment the Punisher closer is a hushed acoustic ballad, the next it's a swelling mid-tempo strummer, and then it explodes into an orchestral fanfare, and each section has its own emotional arc".^[11] A review for NME called it "an epic cacophony; musing on the apocalypse while boasting the singer’s delicate, calm and reflective side before blossoming into the biggest thing she's ever done".^[12] A Consequence of Sound review read "The ominous ballad returns to the singer-songwriter's narrative abilities and chronicles a bleak look at the world in step with references to American culture and recent happenings through orchestrated folk hymns and electric guitar."^[13]

Year-end lists

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"I Know the End" on year-end lists

Publication	List	Rank	Ref.
Consequence of Sound	Top 50 Best Songs of 2020	2	[13]
The Fader	The 100 best songs of 2020	39	[14]
NME	The 50 best songs of 2020	9	[12]
NPR	Best Music of 2020	17	[15]
Pitchfork	The 100 Best Songs of 2020	39	[11]
The Ringer	The Best Songs of 2020	2	[16]
Spin	The 30 Best Songs of 2020	19	[17]
Uproxx	Top Best Songs of 2020	6	[2]
Vulture	The Best Songs of 2020	1	[10]

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