All good things come to an end, but it does not mean it can not hurt when one of the most influential acts in dance music history, a favorite band for millions, announces its breakup. The legendary French electronic music duo is splitting up after nearly three decades of success, pushing the boundaries of music and shaping the EDM genre. This morning, Daft Punk announced their retirement via a video titled 'Epilogue':
The video features Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo wearing their familiar space helmets and leather jackets, walking in the middle of the desert with the wind howling in the background. They keep walking until Thomas starts to slow down. Guy walks towards him and they share a last look at each other. Thomas turns around, takes off his jacket, and shows some controls on his back. Guy activates a timer in the controls, and Thomas begins walking away as the timer keeps going up until he stops, and explodes epically. An image of two robot hands forming a shining triangle is shown with a time-stamp from 1993 to 2021, the video ends with Guy walking towards the sunset as 'Touch' plays as an outro.
The fact that 'Touch' was chosen as the outro song was no coincidence. This song is from their final album, which represented the culmination–and for many– the highest point of their successful career. After the massive success of "Random Access Memories", which won five Grammy Awards in 2014, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year, the duo kept a low profile, with their most prominent work being a collaboration with The Weeknd on "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming."
To honor the culmination of such an amazing career, here is a list of some of Daft Punk's accomplishments:
Earned over 40 nominations (from which they won 13) from many different organizations, including the Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, Brit Awards, International Dance Music Awards, and many more.
Earned 12 Grammy nominations over the years, with their first one in 1997 for Best Dance Recording for "Da Funk."
Earned 6 Grammy Awards over the years, with their first ones in 2008 for Best Dance Recording with "Harder Better Faster Stronger" and Best Electronic Dance Album with "Alive 2007".
Worldwide acknowledgement from countless artists, with multiple covers and samples over the years, with some including Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Pentatonix, and many more.
Multiple features in TV and Film, including Eden, The Simpsons, Coachella: 20 Years of Desert, Trolls World Tour.
Collaborated with music icons such as Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams, The Weeknd, Giorgio Moroder, and Julian Casablanca.
Daft Punk's representative, Kathryn Frazier, declined to say whether the duo could possibly keep working together under different aliases or whether other new projects are in the works. Nevertheless, there is a small possibility that they could continue releasing music. Considering the group’s famous contrarian-nature and convention-mocking history, there is a chance that this announcement could be the end of Daft Punk, but the beginning of a new project. After all, every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
Speculations aside, the ending of Daft Punk is true. The pair upended expectations, again and again, defining themselves as the ultimate electronic art, for them to record all of their last album with live instruments and no digital equipment whatsoever. They kept breaking and shaping the mold of electronic and pop music, bringing themselves to absurd levels of popularity. Daft Punk left a mark in the music and entertainment industries, and we can only hope for the future to bring them back at least One More Time.
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