Djo’s “End of Beginning” Meaning, Lyrics and Background

What Is “End of Beginning” About?

Djo’s “End of Beginning” is a song about looking back at the version of yourself that existed before your life changed. On the surface, it is tied to Chicago, a city that Joe Keery has directly connected to an important period in his life. On a deeper level, though, the song is about the strange emotional split that happens when you revisit a place from your past and suddenly feel close to the younger person you used to be.

What gives the song its emotional weight is that it does not treat nostalgia as something purely sweet. Instead, it frames memory as both comforting and painful. The track understands that growing up often means leaving behind a chapter that shaped you, even when moving forward is necessary. Keery himself described the song as being about longing for something in the past while also trying to appreciate the future and the present. (Chicago Sun-Times – Joe Keery on the song’s meaning)

Background and Release Context

“End of Beginning” first appeared on DECIDE, Djo’s second studio album, which was released on September 16, 2022. On the official DECIDE product page, the song is listed as track six, placing it right in the center of an album built around uncertainty, change, and emotional transition. (Djo official store – DECIDE)

Official Charts credits Joe Keery as the sole writer of “End of Beginning” and lists Keery and Adam Thein as co-producers. That matters because the song feels intensely personal, and the official credits support the idea that this is one of the clearest self-authored statements in Djo’s catalog. (Official Charts – “End of Beginning” credits)

The song did not become an immediate mainstream hit when DECIDE arrived. Instead, it developed a second life in early 2024, when it spread widely on TikTok through videos about hometowns, change, and memory. Official Charts notes that the track first entered the UK chart in February 2024, while the Chicago Sun-Times documented how strongly the song connected with Chicago-centered social media posts. That delayed breakthrough actually fits the song itself: it is a track about things taking on new meaning later. (Official Charts – chart history and breakout)

There is also an important artistic detail in how Keery has spoken about the track. In a 2022 feature with FLOOD, he said that “End of Beginning” felt like an introduction to a new way of being creative and making music that he wanted to continue pursuing. That comment makes the song feel even more significant: it is not only about the end of one life chapter, but also about the beginning of a new artistic direction. (FLOOD – Djo on DECIDE and “End of Beginning”)

The Meaning Behind “End of Beginning”

The title is the song’s central idea. “End of Beginning” describes the moment when a formative phase of life stops being open-ended and starts becoming memory. It is the point where youth, ambition, uncertainty, and possibility begin to harden into lived history. That makes the song less about a dramatic ending than about a threshold: the point where becoming someone turns into having become someone.

That idea is why the song resonates so widely. Keery may be singing from a very specific personal history, but the emotion is easy to recognize in other lives. For some listeners, “Chicago” will mean a hometown. For others, it will mean college years, an early relationship, a friend group, an artistic community, or simply the place where adulthood had not yet fully arrived.

The song also avoids the trap of glorifying the past as perfect. Keery’s own comments suggest a more mature tension. He is not saying the earlier version of life should come back exactly as it was. He is saying that looking back can make you realize both what you have lost and how far you have come. In that sense, the song is both wistful and grateful. It is about mourning a chapter without denying that the next chapter had to happen. (Chicago Sun-Times – Keery on memory, place, and change)

Lyrics Breakdown, Section by Section

Verse 1 Meaning

The opening verse feels intimate and controlled rather than theatrical. Instead of dramatic heartbreak, the emotional tone is reflective, almost as if the narrator is carefully trying to manage what memory is doing to him. That restraint matters. The song is not about being destroyed by the past; it is about being quietly undone by it in a way that feels familiar and unavoidable.

The early mention of age and remembrance gives the sense that the song is slipping back into a precise period of life. It does not present the past as abstract. It feels lived-in, textured, and immediate, which is one reason the track comes across as autobiographical even when it remains poetic.

Pre-Chorus Meaning

“End of Beginning” does not rely on a huge, clearly separated pre-chorus in the way some pop songs do. Instead, it uses a brief transition that feels like memory gathering force. This works well because nostalgia rarely arrives as a neat argument. It tends to come through fragments, flashes, and half-formed realizations before the larger feeling lands.

That structural choice mirrors the theme. The song moves the way memory works: not in a straight line, but in a sequence of emotional triggers that suddenly open into recognition.

Chorus Meaning

The chorus is where the song’s meaning becomes fully clear. Chicago becomes more than a city; it becomes a container for identity. Returning there is not just a physical act but an emotional one. The place seems to hold an earlier self, and stepping back into it briefly makes that self feel real again.

This is the song’s most powerful idea: that places can preserve versions of who we were. Keery told the Chicago Sun-Times that the song reflects the visceral feeling of going back somewhere and suddenly feeling the age you were when that place mattered most. That comment makes the chorus feel less like metaphor alone and more like lived experience. (Chicago Sun-Times – Keery on returning to Chicago)

Verse 2 Meaning

The second verse deepens the song by adding hindsight. If the first half captures the emotional rush of memory, the second half starts to reckon with what was exchanged when life changed. That is where the song becomes less about reminiscence and more about growth. Looking back is not only about missing something; it is also about recognizing the cost of moving on.

There is a quiet maturity in that perspective. The song does not claim that success, distance, or personal change are mistakes. Instead, it suggests that even necessary progress can leave an ache behind. That is a more complex emotion than simple regret. It is closer to acceptance mixed with longing.

Bridge Meaning

The bridge does not explode into revelation. Instead, it feels like the song folding back in on itself. That subtle approach fits the emotional subject. Memory is repetitive. It circles. It revisits. It does not always offer a breakthrough, only a sharper awareness of what still hurts or still matters.

Because of that, the bridge acts like a suspended moment between farewell and attachment. The narrator is trying to let go, but he is also admitting that some places and periods never fully leave you.

Outro Meaning

The outro feels like a soft release rather than a triumphant conclusion. The song ends with the sense that the past cannot be recovered, only recognized. That is why the track lingers after it finishes. It does not solve nostalgia. It simply gives it a shape and a name.

This understated ending is part of why the song feels emotionally truthful. It understands that major life transitions often do not end with closure. They end with the quieter knowledge that something is over, even though it still lives vividly inside you.

Hidden Meanings, Metaphors, and Symbolism

The biggest symbol in “End of Beginning” is Chicago itself. In literal terms, it refers to the city where Joe Keery spent important years in music and early adulthood. In symbolic terms, it stands for origin, formation, and the self that existed before a larger public life took shape. The city functions almost like an emotional archive.

Another major theme is the idea of the split self. The song suggests that the person you used to be does not disappear completely. Instead, that former self remains stored in memory, attached to certain streets, smells, relationships, and routines. When you go back, you do not become that person again, but you briefly feel the distance between who you were and who you are now.

The title itself is also symbolic. It captures the painful transition between becoming and having become. A “beginning” sounds hopeful, but the “end” of it is bittersweet because it means a formative time has closed. The phrase turns growth into something emotionally complicated rather than purely positive.

There is also an understated tension between success and loss in the song. Keery has spoken about Chicago as a collaborative, inclusive scene that shaped him before his career moved into a different scale. That context gives the song an additional layer: it is not just about missing youth, but about understanding that ambition can take you away from the environments that first made you feel possible. (PEOPLE – Keery on Chicago, memory, and why the song connected)

Is the Song Based on a Real Person or Event?

There is strong evidence that the song is autobiographical in its foundation. Keery has directly linked it to his years in Chicago, his memories of the city’s music scene, and the transition into a different stage of life and career. That does not mean every line should be treated like literal diary writing, but the emotional source is clearly real. (PEOPLE – Keery on the song’s personal roots)

The safest conclusion is that “End of Beginning” is based on real feelings, real places, and a real life transition, even if some lyrical details remain intentionally poetic. That balance is part of what makes the song work. It feels personal enough to be believable and open enough to become universal.

How This Song Fits Into Djo’s Catalog

“End of Beginning” fits naturally into the emotional world of DECIDE, an album strongly associated with change, uncertainty, and saying goodbye to chapters of life. In his FLOOD interview, Keery spoke openly about how hard it is to say goodbye to parts of life you will never revisit. That theme runs directly through this song and helps explain why it became one of the defining tracks of the era. (FLOOD – Keery on the album’s themes)

It also stands out in Djo’s catalog because it balances atmosphere with direct emotional clarity. The production still has the dreamy, synth-led texture associated with the project, but the core message is especially accessible. That combination made it the rare song that could work both as a deeply personal album track and as a large-scale breakout hit.

In that sense, the song looks backward and forward at the same time. Lyrically, it mourns a former self. Artistically, it signals a clearer and more emotionally direct path for Djo as a songwriter.

Final Thoughts

The most convincing reading of “End of Beginning” is that it is a farewell to the self you were before life changed. Chicago gives the song a real setting, but its deeper subject is more universal: the ache of revisiting a place, time, or identity that still feels alive even though it is gone.

That is why the track has connected so strongly with listeners. It takes a highly specific personal memory and turns it into a song about the cost of growing up. Joe Keery has said it felt validating to see people connect with something that was so specific to his life. In the end, that may be the best summary of the song’s power: it transforms private nostalgia into a feeling that belongs to almost everyone. (PEOPLE – Keery on why the song resonated)

Sources Used

• Djo official store – DECIDE album page
• Official Charts – “End of Beginning” song page and credits
• Chicago Sun-Times – Joe Keery on Chicago and the meaning of “End of Beginning”
• FLOOD – Djo interview about DECIDE and “End of Beginning”
• PEOPLE – Joe Keery on the song’s personal roots and viral success