Daft Punk, the Parisian duo responsible for some of the most popular dance and pop songs of all time, have split. They broke the news with an 8-minute video titled “Epilogue,” excerpted from their 2006 film Electroma. Asked if Daft Punk were no more, their longtime publicist Kathryn Frazier confirmed the news to Pitchfork but gave no reason for the breakup.
Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk in Paris in 1993, emerging from and helping to define the French touch style of house music. Their debut album, 1997’s Homework, was a dance music landmark, featuring classic singles “Around the World” and “Da Funk.” By the release of its follow-up, Discovery, in 2001, the duo had taken to making public appearances in the robot outfits that came to define their visual identity. The singles “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” cemented them as global superstars—a status they continued to expand in subsequent years with records including third album Human After All, live LP Alive 2007, and the Tron: Legacy soundtrack album.
“Get Lucky,” the lead single of their 2013 album Random Access Memory, sold millions of copies around the world and won two Grammys for the duo and guests Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams. The album, which is their last to date, led to a spectacular Coachella headline set that encapsulated their magic and mythology. “When you know how a magic trick is done, it’s so depressing,” Bangalter told Pitchfork in a 2013 cover story. “We focus on the illusion because giving away how it’s done instantly shuts down the sense of excitement and innocence.”
The album earned Daft Punk three further Grammys, including Album of the Year. The year of its release, they were also credited with co-production on several tracks from Kanye West’s Yeezus. They would go on to collaborate with the Weeknd on the 2016 single “Starboy”—Daft Punk‘s first Billboard singles chart topper—as well as “I Feel It Coming.”