A subculture in music has been bubbling away online over the last decade. A group of artists who live on the internet have coined the term hyperpop for its glitchy pop production and electronic sensibilities. Australian-Filipino songwriter Daine (they/them) has been a core part of this movement. On their upcoming debut album In Endless Awe & Agony, they break out of this genre, soaring to new heights on an impressive, cohesive and diaristic exploration into identity, romance and suffering. Ahead of the album release and sold-out headline tour, we spoke to Daine about becoming one of the most interesting voices in music right now.

Late last year, Daine signed an album deal with Pack Records and got got to work straight away. “I’m thankful I did that because I was not ready,” they say from the set of their 10 Magazine Australia cover shoot in their hometown of Melbourne. “I had to get started because I realised I was never going to be ready. I didn’t know what [the record] was going to sound like or have an idea of what I wanted to make. That’s why it came out sounding so good.” That unwavering self-belief as an artist is what is propelling Daine into the mainstream. “I’ve learnt that you don’t need to do everything. My strength is my creative direction. There’s huge pressure on women, especially in pop music, to be able to do everything. Who said you need to be the best?”

Daine began releasing music when they were 15 through SoundCloud. Growing up in a household where Madonna and “primarily ’80s music” was on play, Daine also remembers listening to their mum’s iPod touch, filled with Avril Lavigne tracks. “I remember dancing to Black Eyed Peas at my parents’ wedding,” they say. Daine’s mum, who arrives with her to the set and shows unwavering support, now primarily listens to Daine’s music – and rapper Lil Peep, who her daughter introduced her to. “Can you believe that’s what I listen to now!” she says. At the age they began releasing music, Daine was listening to “a lot of emo and indie pop punk… I was obsessed with the label Run For Cover Records. I wanted to make music like that. No one wanted to be in a band with me so I had to do it myself.”

Previously described as “the future of emo pop”, Daine has risen up in the hyperpop scene alongside fellow artists, like close friend, collaborator and previous 10 Australia cover star Ninajirachi, and other artists including Underscores, Frost Children, Jane Remover and 100 Gecs’ Dylan Brady, who Daine has worked with in the past. With two EPs under their belt, a multimillion-streamed collaboration on Ninajirachi’s breakthrough debut album I Love My Computer and an upcoming sold out headline tour, Daine has reached a turning point. The hyperpop label is a term they understand, but it doesn’t encompass the depths of their music anymore. “I love that I’m part of a scene, but I don’t think my upcoming record sounds like that. It’s classic and weird. Vulnerability makes a great song… everybody wants to feel connected. Pop songs are great when they reflect something that you’re not acknowledging back to you.”

On In Endless Awe & Agony, Daine has a lot to discuss. It’s is a culmination of years of hard work, honing creative lens, direction and taste, exploring intuition, purity and creativity through a Jungian lens. The album fuses their knack for melodic hooks with manipulated vocals that dance over metallic synths and electronic, cyberpunk production. There’s also an evolution at play, where some songs feature stripped-back production, and an innocent-sounding Daine wondering out loud about their identity. Lead single PQC has reached over a million streams on Spotify and was lauded by Pitchfork as a contender for song of the summer. “Everyone’s been like, ‘How does it feel? You must be shocked!’ And I’m like, no… I plotted so hard.”

An important part in Daine’s journey is their relationship with Charli xcx. The two met backstage at Laneway Festival in 2019, then Charli began to mentor Daine. It was a point in Charli’s career where she wanted to “curate artists”, guiding them through their releases and music-making. “I learned so much,” Daine says. “We have similar tendencies when it comes to how we view our careers. She was pushing back against what her label wanted and I was too.” Both artists possess a remarkable unwavering self-belief, something Daine learnt from Charli. “I’m much more authentic now. I was being steered by pressures that I wasn’t conscious of at the time. I was on a major label and did have more influential management. I was going with the flow more and that’s not good. Now I’m creating the flow.”

Where Daine’s previous visuals have strayed darker, grungier and ghostly, this time, they’re dressed in white, holding a lamb in front of a pastel-coloured playhouse. “I wanted everything to feel a little bit nostalgic. For PQC, it’s not even a modest outfit but it still feels pure. There’s a childlike wonder in it. It’s playful.” There are still darker songs on the album, like the recent single I Used to Kill, with its hook that references drug use. “It’s a fiend of a song,” Daine grins. God Figure, the acoustic guitar-led track, and album highlight, explores the “hunger for romantic suffering”. The second single, Love Love (Love Love), explores the tension between self-isolation and the longing for connection. It’s a journey through the mind of an artist who is relentlessly curious to uncover the darkest parts of themselves.

Ahead of their headline tour around Australia, Daine is thinking of how this era will be different. “I will have an awesome band, I’m going to crank it up a bit. The crowd will be the game changer.” Daine recently opened for Ninajirachi, performing their collaboration, It’s You. “Hearing 2,500 people sing it was crazy.” The two have known each other for a decade – Daine played their first live show alongside Nina. So, why is the music these artists are making resonating now? “Everyone is getting freaked the fuck up and quirked up. The kids are weirder than they used to be. The world is getting weirder. Our music is for those people.”

Taken from 10 Magazine Australia Issue 28 - FUTURE, LEGACY, HERITAGE - on newsstands September 18.

Photographer SHAE LOWE
Fashion Editor ABBY BENNETT
Text ROXY LOLA
Talent DAINE
Hair XENEB ALLEN using KEVIN MURPHY
Make-up IVY REYNOLDS using MAKE UP FOR EVER
‍Photographer’s assistant EDGAR CHUDOBA
Digital operator BEC MARTIN
Fashion assistants RUBY THOMPSON and LEVI REES
Production FOND WORLD
Clothes, shoes and bags throughout COACH

coach.com