What are “Tate endings,” pop music fans’ new favorite term?

It’s rudimentary math that Onika=burgers, but Tiramisu=Tate Endings?

Chronically online pop fans (or stans) have long had their own distinct language online, formed in the deep corners of online forums or in the replies to the central town square that is the X account, Pop Crave. Key vocab words include khia, flop, and mother, which are all used to either cast shade or celebrate members of the pop ecosystem. But lately, stan vernacular has been going much deeper than these 101 terms. Lately, online pop lingo has been getting much more surreal.

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For the past few weeks, my feed has been filled with galaxy brain, nearly Dadaist snipes from pop stans toward their least favorite pop stars (usually Tate McRae, Gracie Abrams or Sombr). Rather than merely calling them flops, these posters are creating a complex web of symbolism to “end” their foes.

Enter "Tate Endings." Look at this video of a girl crying while opening a present, or a box of “Tate Endings.”

Or this video of Ashley Tisdale smiling, holding a plate of “nicki and tate mcrae endings.”

Confused? So was I. But after ingesting two days worth of videos and memes about these “Tate Endings,” I’ve decoded what this all (more or less) means. Here's a working definition:

The “endings” in question can be equated with anything (literally anything, like that fridge filled with tiramisu). In context, “endings” is usually deployed as a sort of cosmic power. For example: “filling your fridge with tiramisu will give you the power to make Gracie Abrams end." The endings are thus unlocked, and then enacted upon one's pop music foe.

This is a post-modern way to express disdain or cast shade on a pop rival, but crucially, it’s more stupid than it is toxic. I still haven’t gotten over this magical video that shows a child telekinetically destroying “tate mcrae dishes." It's is positioned as a swipe against Tate McRae, but it’s also so strange and meaningless (and confusingly hilarious) that it doesn’t have the same bloody bite as past stan trends.

Those who are familiar with the extremes of stan nonsense might find this relieving. Online allegiances to pop stars can be a ridiculously serious affair. There have been too many instances of doxing, death threats, and organized racist campaigns to count. Donald Glover even made an entire show about a murderous stan. And for many pop stars, (and pop music writers), the specter of the both adoring and vicious mob is a sadly defining element of the job, and the reason why so many are absent from X’s digital jungle.

I'd like to think an exhaustion with stan culture’s brutality, or a recognition that vindictive stan culture is not a subculture anymore but the dominant one, is what's given rise to this new, kooky way of "ending" your anti-faves. Stan discourse’s recent surrealist turn still has its snipey edge — McRae and Abrams are the butt of most of these jokes, after all — but these nonsensical jabs feel less personal and vindictive than other stan battles. (Think about the Nicki vs. Megan Thee Stallion situation which became shockingly personal and cruel). These "Tate and Gracie Endings" jokes feel more like a reflection of the discrepancy between both pop stars’ immense popularity and their niche cool status.

And the surrealist stance in stan discourse is broadening. Taylor Swift, Sombr, and anyone you can imagine are beginning to get poeticized jabs on X.

If I was one of these pop stars, I wouldn’t love seeing calls for my ending up and down the timeline, but I would also sigh in relief that this is all that’s being invoked in my name. Brainrot can be beautiful and the concept of considering “vegetables which contain Chris Brown endings” gives me a certain, special joy. I hate the internet. I love the internet. I hate stan culture. I, sometimes, really, really love it, too.

Below, some more hits from the "Endings" genre: