As millions of Americans eagerly await election results a day after the polls closed, it can be easy to get emotionally swept up in the never-ending news cycle and constant refreshing of electoral maps. On Election Night, Phoebe Bridgers released footage of her impassioned performance of “I Know The End” from Late Night with Seth Meyers. Though the performance originally aired back in September, the raw emotion and subject matter of the song still stand as a perfection accompaniment to election anxiety.
The song, featured on the indie darling’s 2020 smash hit album Punisher, took on added context as the country sits on the edge of its seat. As election results continue to roll in from key battleground states, it’s important—even imperative—to one’s mental health to slow down, take a breath, and relax if even for a moment.
Beginning her performance in what looks like the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks (it sure would explain a lot if we had been in this extradimensional zone this entire time) Bridgers immediately sets the scene with the opening line, “Somewhere in Germany but I can’t place it/Man, I hate this part of Texas.” Regardless of political persuasion, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter is able to paint a bleak picture that, hopefully, all peoples of the United States are united in preventing.
As she begins to move throughout the corridors of the studio, the lyrics toggle between the uneasy and unsure macro feelings of society to the micro feelings of interpersonal relationships. All the while, she stays completely relatable to the overwhelming majority of audiences who knew what it was like to feel this way at one point. Then, at the end of the video, she lets it all out as she is joined by a full band (via a projection screen), unleashing a blood-curdling scream fermented by years of pent-up rage and frustration from a world out of one’s control.
Watch Phoebe Bridgers perform “I Know The End” on Seth Meyers back in September.
Phoebe Bridgers – “I Know The End”
[Video: Phoebe Bridgers]