The Filipino-Australian artist emerged through the orbit of Charli XCX’s co-sign, crafting music that sounded simultaneously blown-out and diaristic, intimate confessions stretched into maximalist soundscapes. Charli underscored a lesson they’ve carried with them their entire career: that they should feel empowered to express themselves fully on their own terms. It was the push they needed to get going, and to make 2022’s Quantum Jumping and 2023’s shapeless, two auto tune and angst heavy emo-pop releases.

2024 was a difficult year for daine: they lost their grandmother, their longest relationship to that point ended, and they spent time in a psychiatric ward. The following year, they found themselves coming out of hiatus by going on tour, releasing another EP, i want the light to swallow me whole, and generally incorporating more fun into their life. They were also featured on “It’s You,” a track off Australian electronic musician Ninajirachi’s breakout album I Love My Computer. After a remix from underscores began circulating online, the track gained momentum until it felt like it existed everywhere at once. By the end of the year, daine was ready to write more honestly than ever before: “I felt like I didn't have that much to lose,” they say. “I'm less scared to be authentic because I’ve seen myself really clearly. I am able to really listen and hear what’s trying to come out.”

The result is a record that is raw, self aware, and multifaceted, while also pulling from the maximalist, gnashing pop idioms that daine is familiar with. This record is also the first time daine sings without autotune, which adds another layer of immediacy to the music. On tracks like “White Collar” and “Product of Profit,” they become consciously aware of their persona and shadow self as they contend with the role of art and the artist in the music industry. On the former track, they chant, “You’re not enjoying you’re over-indulging/Ridiculous, privileged, underperforming.” Elsewhere, like on “(I Want You In) Dakota,” their perspective softens, as they talk about love, yearning, and the stunted future available to people of their generation. Their voice is crystalline and earnest as they sing, “Our adulthood is leaving before its began/And we’ve got nothing to say cause every rivers been ran/ Can’t dance in the present so we live through the past.” The confetti of synth on the track is as glimmering as it is mournful.