Daft Punk's "Epilogue": a split announced by video, February 22, 2021

About the artist

Daft Punk were Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who met at school in Paris in the mid-1980s^[1][2]. In 1992 they had a rock band, Darlin', with their friend Laurent Brancowitz. Melody Maker dismissed one of its songs as "a daft punky thrash," and the phrase gave the pair their new name^[3][2]. Daft Punk formed in Paris in 1993, and their 1997 debut album, Homework, produced the hits "Around the World" and "Da Funk"^[4]. By the time of Discovery in 2001 they were appearing in public in robot outfits^[3], and they became known for performing as robots in metallic helmets^[1]. Random Access Memories (2013), on which both are credited as producers^[5], was named album of the year at the Grammys, and its single "Get Lucky," featuring Pharrell Williams, won record of the year^[1].

Why this counts as the last

Daft Punk never played a farewell show. Their last tour, Alive 2006/2007, followed their third album, Human After All (2005)^[6][7]. It opened with a headline set at California's Coachella festival on April 29, 2006, and ended on December 22, 2007, at the Showground Main Arena in Sydney^[8][9]. Counts of the shows differ: JamBase gives 58^[10], while Mixmag lists 16 in 2006 and 30 in 2007^[8]. JamBase notes that the pair rarely toured but made it count when they did, using cutting-edge production to create a visual spectacle^[10]; Mixmag credits their Pyramid production with setting the template for the dance-music live show^[7]. Their June 14, 2007, concert at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy, their first in Paris in almost a decade, supplied the live album Alive 2007^[9], which won two Grammys in 2009^[11].

After the tour, they never played another full concert^[10]. On January 26, 2014, at the Grammy Awards in the Staples Center in Los Angeles^[12], they joined Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder for the first-ever live performance of "Get Lucky," in a medley that also took in Chic's "Le Freak" and Wonder's "Another Star." About three minutes in, a screen at the back of the mock analog studio set lifted to reveal the duo at the DJ decks, dressed in white and wearing their helmets^[13][14]. The Recording Academy had announced it as their first television performance since the 50th Grammys in 2008^[12].

In 2016 they worked with The Weeknd on "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming"^[15], and on February 12, 2017, they joined him at the 59th Grammys^[16] to perform "I Feel It Coming," along with a brief snippet of "Starboy." According to DJ Mag, it was their first time on stage since the 2014 ceremony^[17]. When the split was announced, MusicTech identified that appearance as their last show^[18].

Four years later, the end came with a video called "Epilogue"^[4][15]. Their longtime publicist, Kathryn Frazier, confirmed the split but gave no reason^[4][15].

What is known about the day

On Monday, February 22, 2021, an eight-minute video called "Epilogue" appeared on the official Daft Punk YouTube channel^[4][19] and on the duo's Facebook page^[7]. It was an excerpt from Daft Punk's Electroma, the feature film the pair directed^[4], which was shown in the Directors' Fortnight at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival^[20][21].

In the clip, two helmeted robots walk together through the desert until one begins to drift away^[6][2]. When they come face to face again, one presses a button that starts the other's self-destruct countdown, and the robot explodes^[10][2]. At about 5:24, the screen shows "1993-2021" beneath the Daft Punk logo^[22][10]. Then a choral version of "Touch," from Random Access Memories, plays as the remaining robot walks off into the sunset^[10][2].

The video set off rumors that the duo had split^[4]. Frazier soon confirmed it to Pitchfork, without giving a reason^[4][15], and to Variety, declining for the moment to say more^[2]. She also confirmed the news to AFP by email^[11][23]. Reuters, citing Variety, reported the end of a 28-year partnership^[1], and ABC's Good Morning America covered the video the same day^[19]. AFP's report, carried in Japan by Jiji Press, noted that the duo had hardly played live since their 2006–07 tour^[23]. The headlines spoke of a split "after 28 years"^[15] and of retirement^[10]; Paris Match Belgique wrote of a "magnifique" video^[6], and Le Courrier de l'Atlas called the split a surprise that had stirred fans^[11]. On Twitter, the band's name rose to the top of the trending topics^[11].

What they left behind

Since the split, new releases have often arrived on its anniversary. On the first, February 22, 2022, the duo streamed on Twitch an unmasked concert filmed at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles on December 17, 1997, and put out a 25th-anniversary digital edition of Homework^[24]. On the second, they announced a 10th-anniversary edition of Random Access Memories, with nine tracks' worth of demos and outtakes, for release on May 12, 2023^[25]. On the fifth, February 22, 2026, a new video for "Human After All" appeared on YouTube, built from Electroma footage edited by their longtime creative director, Cédric Hervet^[26]. In between, on December 12, 2024, Interstella 5555, the 2003 anime film set to the music of Discovery and made with Leiji Matsumoto and Toei Animation, was screened in a 4K restoration in 800 cinemas in 40 countries^[27].

In April 2023, with the release of Mythologies, his orchestral score for a ballet, Thomas Bangalter spoke publicly about the split for the first time, in an interview with the BBC. Daft Punk, he said, had been an exploration that started with machines and moved away from them, and the last thing he would want to be in 2023 was a robot^[28][29]. That July, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo produced "MODERN JAM" on Travis Scott's album Utopia^[30]. In June 2026, asked by The Times whether he was tempted to reunite for a show, Bangalter said no: he was glad that over their long run they had not spoiled it, and there were other things to explore^[31][32].

Reuters summed up the 28 years as a partnership that produced dance hits including "Around the World" and "One More Time"^[1]. DJ Mag wrote that Discovery is seen by many as one of the most important dance releases of any era, and that Random Access Memories had been the best-selling dance album on vinyl of the decade^[4]. Mixmag wrote that between 1996 and 2007 they helped invent the French touch sound, and later French electro; in hindsight, it added, Random Access Memories was a fitting final album^[7].

Their last full concert was in Sydney in 2007; 13 years later, Daft Punk's story ended not with a farewell show but with a single video.