Daine Blends Emo Darkness and Sugary Pop on ‘In Endless Awe & Agony’

Confessing the neuroses of stardom, Daine cashes in on today’s most lucrative pop culture currency: bearing all. The 23-year-old Filipino-Australian artist’s debut album ‘In Endless Awe & Agony’ has a clear thesis statement: “I’m not really a person”, they wail on jangly screamo cut ‘P.O.P’, “I’m a product of profit”. Wielding irony like current contemporary heavyweights (pop stars breaking the fourth wall, namely Tinashe, Underscores and Charli XCX), Australia’s “next proper breakout star” vocalises affected indifference, taking wry aim at a parasocial, voyeuristic audience over preppy indie-rock-pop amalgamates.

Following a six-year stint “flopping” across a string of EPs spanning digitally ethereal trap-pop (à la Ericdoa, a once-collaborator) and celestial hyperpop, ‘In Endless Awe & Agony’ reintroduces a grounded Daine sans-autotune, fresh out the simulation, as a raw and unreserved prodigy of emo pop. Narratively, Daine portrays the debut as a Jungian individuation arc, a merging with the shadow self in search of healing. Bubblegummy career highlight ‘PQC’ sees Daine sardonically berate themself in sprightly anticipation of failure and scrutiny, but importantly self-acceptance: “You’re plastic! / You’re tragic! / Overly romantic! […] I’m wrapped in the passion / Hopelessly attaching to this weapon I’m casting!”

In an era where audiences seek overly earnest authenticity even if it demands intrusive insight, Daine obliges accordingly. “They all want me dead / But I still care about them”, they confide elsewhere on ‘PQC’; later, they sing “I see their blue eyes at the front of the battle scene” on thumping slow-dance cut ‘Supervillain’; and on ‘P.O.P’, “The crowd just wants to see you drop”. Driven by grief, financial struggles, a major label axe and a severe mental health crisis, this confessional debut marks Daine’s ecstatic martyrdom under pressure: “To yearn, to suffer, be a freak, lose your mind and do it publicly… what a thrill,” they told NME.