Daft Punk split: Fans ‘heartbroken’ over break-up of French duo after 28 years

No reason has yet been given for the split, which was confirmed by the pair’s publicist

Daft Punk (Getty Images)

Daft Punk fans are devastated over the news that the Parisian electronic music duo have called it quits after almost three decades.

The pair behind some of the biggest dance and pop hits of all time shared an eight-minute video titled “Epilogue” on their YouTube channel. The clip is an excerpt from their 2006 science-fiction film Electroma. A title card on the video reads: “1993-2021.”

Daft Punk’s longtime publicist Kathryn Frazier then confirmed to Pitchfork that the pair have broken up. No reason has been given for the split.

Many fans have flocked to Twitter to express their sadness at the news, with one person writing: “Daft Punk have created some of the most iconic songs and albums of all time. Discovery & Random Access Memories are 2 of the greatest albums of all time. ‘The Game of Love’ is one of my 5 favourite songs ever. It’s heartbreaking to see them break up.”

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“Sad to see, but their legend will always remain untarnished,” added another. “There was a time when I listened to them every day for about a year straight.”

A third tweeted: “Gutted it’s over, so happy it happened.”

DJ and Bestival co-founder Rob Da Bank wrote: “Just when we thought the news was gonna get better Daft Punk split up.”

Formed by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Baltanger in 1993, Daft Punk helped pioneer the French house movement of the Nineties.

They released their debut album, 1997’s Homework, to critical raves and commercial success, including with their hit singles “Around the World” and “Da Funk”.

With the release of their 2001 follow-up, Discovery, the duo began wearing their now-iconic robot outfits in public and in press appearances.

Over the years the duo have sold millions of records and achieved multiple Grammy wins, including five in 2014 for their album Random Access Memories, which included collaborations with Nile Rodgers and Pharrell.

Daft Punk had kept a relatively low profile since the release of Random Access Memories, with the exception of their work with The Weeknd on two tracks from his 2016 album, Starboy: “I Feel it Coming” and the title track.