Songfacts®:

• Born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Joe Keery, aka Djo, studied at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. Later, he was a guitarist and drummer for the Chicago-based garage and psych-rock band Post Animal. This melancholic synth ballad finds him singing about returning to Chicago and reconnecting with himself. He's reminded of those formative years when he was a fresh actor in the Windy City.
  
  And when I'm back in Chicago I feel it
  Another version of me, I was in it
  
  "That [song] felt like an introduction to a new way of being creative and making music that I kind of want to continue to pursue," he told Flood magazine.
  
  Keery is better known as an actor - he played Steve on the series Stranger Things.
• Djo wrote the song himself and co-produced it with his regular producer, Adam Thein.
• Djo first performed "End of Beginning" on April 28, 2022, in Alabama. He recorded it for his second album, Decide, which he self-released on September 16, 2022.
• In early February 2024, streams of "End of Beginning" started to increase significantly. That's because it trended on TikTok, primarily in travel videos set to the lyrics:
  
  And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it
  Another version of me, I was in it
  I wave goodbye to the end of beginning
  
  Users paired the song with montages of their journeys, highlighting the sense of change and exploration. The track's viral moment pushed it onto the Billboard Hot 100, Djo's first entry on that chart, debuting at #51 on the chart dated March 2, 2024.
  
  Another TikTok trend associated with this song involves a photo montage paired with the following intriguing prompt:
  
  If I won the lottery, I wouldn't tell anyone, but there'd be signs
  
  In these videos, users showcase how their lives would change after winning the lottery. They incorporate visual cues or "signs" that hint at their newfound wealth and prosperity.
• Djo told NME how his own nostalgia for Chicago and its underground music scene inspired this song.
  
  "Basically it's a reflection on my time in my early twenties living in Chicago, where I went to college and graduated and played in a few bands," he said. "I was kind of in the music scene [but also] waiting tables and auditioning for commercials and stuff."
  
  "And I guess it's about how I was on the precipice of a big change in my life, but I was so anxious to live out my future that maybe I didn't realize what a special time I was in," he continued. "So in a lot of ways, it's a song about a kind of nostalgia – you know [for] another version of me. But it's also kind of a self-declaration to try to appreciate your present [and be aware that] your past will always stay with you and inform who you are."
• Following the emotional series finale of Stranger Things, "End of Beginning" surged back onto the charts worldwide, fueled by fans' bittersweet farewells to Joe Keery's iconic character, Steve Harrington. In the UK it topped the singles chart after originally peaking at #4 in March 2024.