Thomas Bangalter has opened up on life after Daft Punk and their decision to call it quits.

The electronic duo disbanded in 2021 in order to explore other avenues within music, and according to Bangalter, they’re happy they laid it to rest when they did. Looking back on their success, he’s happy they had such a fruitful career without “screwing it up” across their 28 year run.

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Speaking of his creative partnership with lifelong friend and fellow former robot Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, he shares with The Times, “It was almost performance art where you create these characters and blur the line between fiction and reality.”

Asked if it felt like fame was happening to the robots more than them as people, he responds:  “I think so, yes. The history of music is made of fruitful partnerships and they usually last way shorter than the 28-year run that we had. It was great but staying in character and not spoiling it became very difficult.”

Bangalter goes on to compare the end of Daft Punk to the finale of The Wizard of Oz, when the wizard is unmasked as a fraud, and reiterates that there will be no reunion: “I was one of the robots, but now I’m just a human without any superpowers… I’m really happy that throughout our long run we were able to not screw it up. There are other things to explore.”

Bangalter played a pair of DJ sets without the robot helmet in 2025 and again in 2026, both alongside with Fred Again at shows in Paris and London. Homem-Christo is rumoured to be working on a solo album, and Bangalter has also been developing scores for ballets, with his most recent being Mirage — Ballet for 16 Dancers, a follow on from his 2022 project, Mythologies.

While the pair might not be actively participating in any Daft Punk work, a new video for Human After All, the title track from their third album, was released earlier this year. The video features clips from the duo’s sci-fi film Electroma, edited by their creative director Cédric Hervet.

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