Confessing the neuroses of stardom, Daine cashes in on today’s most lucrative pop culture currency: bearing all. The 23-year-old Filipino-Australian artist’s debut album ‘In Endless Awe & Agony’ has a clear thesis statement: “I’m not really a person” , they wail on jangly screamo cut ‘P.O.P’, “I’m a product of profit” . Wielding irony like current contemporary heavyweights (pop stars breaking the fourth wall, namely Tinashe , Underscores and Charli XCX ), Australia’s “next proper breakout star” vocalises affected indifference, taking wry aim at a parasocial, voyeuristic audience over preppy indie-rock-pop amalgamates.

READ MORE: On The Cover: Daine is stepping into self-aware popstardom: “It’s embarrassing in a delicious way”

Following a six-year stint “flopping” across a string of EPs spanning digitally ethereal trap-pop (à la Ericdoa , a once-collaborator ) and celestial hyperpop, ‘In Endless Awe & Agony’ reintroduces a grounded Daine sans-autotune, fresh out the simulation, as a raw and unreserved…