Grammy Award Winning French music duo announces split after nearly three decades in the limelight

Daft Punk, the six-time Grammy award winning music group, announced late February that they will be hanging up their helmets and stepping away from making music as a duo. The pair announced their split in a cryptic eight-minute video posted on social media, which came as a great shock to much of the electronic-music community.

The group was formed in 1993 by bandmates Guy-Manuel de-Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Despite the massive success they received as artists, the pair kept their lives very private, and rarely spoke to the media. The men wore astronaut helmets to hide themselves from the public, which became a major staple for the group over time. 

In their 28 years in the spotlight since their start, “Daft Punk [became] credited for bringing the French underground house scene to the charts,” as told by CNN. They are best known for their Electronic Dance Music, as well as their unique computerized vocals. Their success in the industry paved the way for many EDM groups to follow suit, making them “one of the most influential electronic acts of all time.”

The group released over 90 songs across almost three decades, as well as an album for Disney’s Tron: Legacy movie that was released in 2010. Many of their singles, including “One Time”, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, and “Get Lucky” featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers became massive hits in the music industry. 

In 2014, Daft Punk won the Grammy award for ‘Album of the Year’, along with three other awards all in the same night. In 2016, the group made another tremendous feat, topping the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the first and only time with their collaboration with The Weeknd on “Starboy”.

In the eight-minute video announcing their split, two robots- representing de-Homem-Christo and Bangalter- are seen walking through a desert. One robot places a detonator on the other, who walks away in a wide shot before being blown up. The video, titled “Epilogue”, then shows a shot of robot hands forming a triangle and the years 1993-2021 underneath. 

While their music career came to an end, there appears to be no animosity between the artists as they part ways professionally. “Daft Punk left an indelible mark on the global pop landscape, but especially in America,” where they “helped lay the foundation for the EDM boom that would shake up pop in the U.S. at the start of the 2010s,” as told by Rollingstone.