It features Bridgers "as she navigates dark corridors, emerges from a tub of water, and discovers a locker room full of skeleton onesies."
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.
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.