Famous French, electronic group, Daft Punk announced on Feb. 22 that the duo was splitting for good. 

The duo released a YouTube video titled “Epilogue,” depicting the French group in a desert as they say their last goodbyes to each other. At the end of the video, a graphic of the groups logo with the title “Daft Punk: 1993-2021,” confirmed the group’s split. 

The video attracted the attention of more than 22 million people, with nearly all of them mourning the loss of a powerful band. 

The group, created by friends, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, helped define the definition of house music not only in France, but all over the world. Their debut album titled “Homework,” which is now considered a dance music staple, consists of famous hits like “Around the World” and “Da Funk.” 

I discovered Daft Punk back in 2013 when I was going through my teenage-middle school phase, trying to find my sound. I remember watching “TRON: Legacy,” which featured Daft Punk on the whole album. “TRON: Legacy” was a futuristic film involving motorbikes that had built-in futuristic weapons meant to kill an opponent, with the addition of another weapon, the circular discs used in order to survive. It wasn’t until their 2001 album “Discovery” when I decided to fully invest time into listening to them. The album also includes staples of electronic and dance music, including “One More Time,” “Harder Better Faster Stronger,” “Digital Love” and “Aerodynamics.” In fact, Daft Punk created an animated film “Interstella 5555,” which features songs from “Discovery.” 

In 2013, Daft Punk came back into the spotlight and partnered up with numerous artists to create the now Grammy award-winning album, “Random Access Memories.” The album included collaborations with some of the greatest artists in the music industry, such as Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams and Pharrell Williams. Hit songs included “Lose Yourself to Dance featuring Pharrell Williams,” “Get Lucky featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers” and “Instant Crush featuring Julian Casablancas.” The album won album of the year at the 2013 Grammy Awards and earned a plaque outside of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, California.

The two performances that struck my interest were from the group’s live album, “Alive: 2007.” One noteable song from that album is “Around the World/Harder Better faster Stronger.” The second perfromance was from the 2013 Grammy’s in which Daft Punk partnered up with Stevie Wonder to perfrom “Get Lucky.”  The Grammy performance was very unique. The setting was designed as a recording studio with Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers performing “Get Lucky.” They perform until the electronic break, when the wall from behind them drops to reveal Daft Punk appearing from the shadows. The second performance, which was during their “Alive 2007” tour, they premiered their stage to the world. The performance was completed in an elevated pyramid with the middle cut in half for the duo to perform the music. The song was an upbeat mashup between two of the classic songs they produced. 

 While the legendary group broke up, their music lives on and will continue to inspire millions of people into doing what they’ve always wanted to do.

Share