For Tame Impala, “End of Summer” Is Already Here

While some would prefer for it to remain summer forever (Addison Rae even has a song called that on Addison), others are calling it early. Namely, Tame Impala with what amounts to his “Venice Bitch”: the nearly ten-minute long “End of Summer” (which also shares a “Venice Bitch” motif in terms of Lana Del Rey adopting the adage, “Nothing gold can stay”).

Signaling the first track of his “new era” (since every artist is measured in eras now), Kevin Parker a.k.a. Tame Impala is ultimately giving his devoted listeners more of the same. In other words, a usual (and expected) ear orgasm of the same bent he still dazzled audiences with through the music he produced on Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism (particularly via “Houdini”).

It was this record that helped the now five-year break between The Slow Rush (an all too appropriate title, considering his slow rush to make another album) and “End of Summer” feel like slightly less of a dry spell (hell, even Lorde doesn’t go longer than a four-year break). However, when taking into account the bittersweet nature of the song, it’s apparent that Parker had plenty of ruminating and brooding to do. After all, this is a song about unrequited love (or even the prospect of potentially unrequited love). Worse still, unrequited friend love—this being of a particular breed with a particular sting. As is evident in the opening verse of “End of Summer”: “Everybody knows how I feel about you/So you can act surprised if you need to.”

Ah, such a perfect sentiment this would have been in the likes of Pretty in Pink or Some Kind of Wonderful or Reality Bites or My Best Friend’s Wedding or, yes, even Dawson’s Creek. For there is a certain kind of universality to the plight of falling in love with your best friend. After all, it’s a common trope in film and TV for a reason. And the bifurcating emotional feeling that can lead to is present in the accompanying video for “End of Summer,” directed by Julian Klincewicz (mostly known for his work on Beyoncé projects like Homecoming and Black Is King). But it’s Imogene Strauss’ creative direction that makes the video truly shine with its sense of “schizophrenic feelings.” And yes, Strauss is clearly one of the best if Charli XCX is a frequent collaborator (see: “Good Ones,” “New Shapes,” “Baby,” “Every Rule” and “Party 4 U”). 

Around the four-minute-eleven-second mark of the video, the visuals start to get especially trippy as Parker runs through a landscape (shot in black and white) with a strobe light effect added to the scene. On the left-hand side of the screen is a contrasting tranquil image of Parker walking along the beach at nighttime, leaving the viewer with a sense of total visual whiplash. And this is exactly what it is to be in love and to attempt concealing those feelings from the object of your affection in order to spare any awkwardness. In order to avoid the risk of being told they don’t feel the same way and then ruining the friendship as a result. 

As for Parker’s decision to wield the concept of “summer” as a metaphor, well, it’s a common device. And one that indicates, in this case, that the season has shifted, slipped away from him. This in the sense that his opportunity to tell this person how he feels is gone. While Parker might be married to the woman/friend he’s known for years (starting in high school), Sophie Lawrence, there’s a chance the song could be inspired by the period when things between them weren’t quite so “in the bag” (now, though, the two are married and have a child together). 

Lyrically, “End of Summer” also seeks to highlight the dichotomy of how being in love can make a person feel both light and heavy, depending on the day (or second). Parker speaks to the lightness when he sings, “Love doesn’t cast a shadow/Fun doesn’t make you shallow/I just wanna make it brighter/I just wanna lay beside ya.” Alas, the torment of not being able to do so is what seems to send him on a fraught motorcycle ride toward the midpoint of the video, getting on that “saddle” as a couple that’s hyper-passionately kissing stands right next to it, as though to add to his torment. 

Riding and riding until he can’t seem to anymore, among the final “action sequences” of the video is Parker hopping on the top of a train and riding it. Because, essentially, that’s what it is to fall in love, regardless of whether the person started out as a friend or not. It’s a runaway train that’s out of one’s control. The only thing they can control, really, is daring to confess their feelings. Unless, of course, the sun sets on that chance and, tragically, it becomes the end of summer on a more figurative level.