daine is creating Gen Z optimism

The Filipino-Australian pop star’s discography begins in 2020. When listening chronologically, a relentless push and pull emerges. Their earliest songs move between trap, emo rap, and hyperpop, the accompanying artwork turning more fantastical, hyperreal, and bare with each release. Their precociousness scored them a major-label signing, a cosign and mentorship from Charli xcx, and a collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes, when they were just shy of 20. Many artists hope to have such a surge of success, but in retrospect, the lofty expectations triggered a flurry of growing pains.“When I was younger, I had a lot of different people pulling me in a lot of directions,” daine affirms. “I was experimenting, and I was young, but I think that’s okay. I was quite all over the place, and my sonic identity was still developing, but that’s because I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to be.” Daine summarises their artistic and personal evolution very succinctly: “It was a confidence thing.” They’ve jumped ship from their major imprint to indie label Pack. Records; they’ve dialled down the futuristic hues for ones evocative of reality; and they’ve received incredibly raptur...