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Rock

'When I'm Back in Toronto': The Beaches Put Their Spin on Djo's 'End of Beginning'

The Canadian quartet turn the viral alt-rock song into a Springsteen-esque '80s ballad for Australian broadcaster Triple J's Like a Version series.

The Beaches
The Beaches
Meg Moon

Canadian pop rockers The Beaches stopped by the Triple J studio in Sydney, Australia to record their take on a viral hit.

For the popular cover series Like a Version the band decided to try on "End of Beginning" by Djo, a nostalgic alt rock tune that hit No. 1 on the Billboard TikTok Top 50 in February. They bring their reverb-heavy '80s sound to the track, giving it a more anthemic edge. On the bridge, lead singer Jordan Miller taps into a Springsteen-ian energy as she sings the refrain: "you take the man out of the city / not the city out the man."


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Guitarist Kylie Miller explained that the band has been following Djo — aka Stranger Things' Joe Keery — for his acting work, but fell in love with "End of Beginning" and its reflections on missing home.

"I think it just made sense for us to cover this song while we are the farthest we’ve ever been from home," Miller said.

Though Keery sings about Chicago, The Beaches opt for a cheeky lyric change in the final chorus, shouting out their hometown instead: "And when I'm back in Toronto / I feel it," Miller sings.

Watch the performance below.

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From left: Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner photographed by Wesley Mann on September 1, 2023 at Long Pond Studio near Hudson, NY.
Wesley Mann

From left: Gracie Abrams and Aaron Dessner photographed by Wesley Mann on September 1, 2023 at Long Pond Studio near Hudson, NY.

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Aaron Dessner Sets the Record Straight on Gracie Abrams’ ‘Death Wish’: It’s ‘Definitely Not’ About Taylor Swift

The producer also shared how he ended up performing with Noah Kahan over the weekend.

Aaron Dessner and Gracie Abrams have now made three albums together, with the pop star’s third studio effort, Daughter From Hell, arriving July 17. But one song in particular has stirred up a few misconceptions, and in a recent conversation with Billboard, the producer cleared them up.

Hopping on a Zoom call on Tuesday (July 21) — just days after joining Noah Kahan on stage in New York to perform one of The Great Divide songs he produced, a cameo that severe weather almost ruined — Dessner addressed confusion over the production and subject of “Death Wish,” one of the most talked-about tracks on Daughter From Hell. Some listeners have expressed surprise that the spritely album version sounds so different from the somber live piano version Abrams initially recorded and released amid her Secret of Us Tour, questioning why the duo would “change” the “original.” (Spoiler alert: They didn’t.)

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