daine: From Hyperpop Maximalism to Raw Alt-Pop on the Debut Album

Some artists spend years building a world in the margins before the rest of us catch up. daine is one of them. The Melbourne-forged, Filipino-Australian singer, songwriter and producer has spent the last half decade drifting between digicore, emo, hyperpop and maximalist pop, earning co-signs from Charli XCX, a collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Sykes, and a spot on the NME 100 in 2021. Now, with their debut album two weeks away, daine is stripping all of that back to something rawer and more human.

In Endless Awe & Agony arrives November 6, 2026 via Pack. Records. The 11 track record is structured around a Jungian arc of individuation, the process of confronting and integrating different parts of the self, moving through identity, desire, fear and transformation. It was written through a period of real upheaval: the death of daine's grandmother, the end of their longest relationship, and time in a psychiatric ward. The record does not dwell in that darkness for its own sake. It documents the slow way back toward joy, creativity and self-acceptance.

The biggest shift is in the sound. Where earlier daine tracks hid emotion under layers of digital processing, the debut album is guitar driven and emotionally exposed. For the first time, daine sings without Auto-Tune, and the difference is immediate. The songs feel closer, more direct, and more willing to sit still with a feeling instead of outrunning it.

What they sound like depends on which door you walk in through. Fans of Charli XCX's most experimental pop instincts will recognise the melodic daring. Listeners who love underscores' emotionally overloaded digicore will hear a kindred restlessness. And the shoegaze weight that artists like Wisp bring to heavy feeling has an echo here too, especially in the album's louder, more fractured moments. daine has always refused a single lane, and this record sounds like all of those threads braided into one voice.

The singles trace the arc well. "PQC" earned praise from the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Stereogum and The FADER. "Love Love (Love Love)" is the album announcement single, a candid look at the tension between withdrawing from the world and longing for connection. "I Used To Kill," featuring fellow Pack. Records artist aldn, opens bare and direct before fracturing into distortion. And the latest single, "Wishing Well," shared in early October, is the quietest of the bunch: softly strummed guitar, raw and intimate vocals, and a meditation on value, fate and the illusion of control.

Live, daine is known for shows that feel closer to collective release than performance. The album run takes in Pitchfork London on November 4 and Pitchfork Paris on November 6, Australian headline dates in Brisbane on November 19 and Melbourne on November 21, and a North American headline tour through December. daine also speaks openly about accessibility in live music, and appears on the lineup for Ability Fest, Australia's fully inclusive and accessible festival.

Start here

• "Wishing Well" for the new sound at its most stripped back and tender.
• "Love Love (Love Love)" for the emotional core of the album.
• "PQC" for the maximalist pop energy that built the cult following.
• "I Used To Kill" (feat. aldn) for the old and new daine colliding.

Where to follow

Find daine on your streaming service of choice ahead of the November 6 album release, and check tour dates via Ground Control Touring: https://groundcontroltouring.com/artists/daine