DAPHNE Goes Big On GIRL

The Toronto pop artist’s debut EP turns maximalist instincts into something personal.

By Sydney Eliot

Published on March 18, 2026

Whether Katy Perry knew it or not, her 2011 California Dreams tour was laying the groundwork for future popstars like DAPHNE. The now 22-year-old singer remembers being awestruck when experiencing the candy coloured world that Perry had created.

“That’s one of my favourite concerts I’ve ever been to, which is saying a lot because I was so young,” she says. “But that tour was genuinely magical.”

When making music, DAPHNE’s process extends beyond just chords and lyrics; she’s constantly thinking about how to build little worlds that engage people. “I love making huge moments out of my music and world building,” she explains, speaking with RANGE from her home in Vaughan, Ont., just outside of Toronto.

This was the approach she took when making her debut EP, GIRL. As she was writing, she realized that the songs all had a similar throughline: girlhood.

“I feel like the music shaped itself in a way, without me really knowing exactly what I was doing at the time of writing each song,” she says. “I think the whole thing is a commentary on my life and the chaos of growing up – the great parts, the horrible parts and everything in between.”

DAPHNE emphasizes that one of her biggest goals is to help other people with big emotions process their feelings through her music. One big way she does this is by connecting with people through social media, specifically Tik Tok, where she has over 100,000 followers. She says that when she posted a small snippet of her song “Consequences” on the app, she was surprised by the amount of people who resonated with it.

“It was the first song I ever released and it was the first time I’d interacted with any sort of audience outside of my friends and family,” she explains. “It was just so special, that feeling of community and being there for other people with music.”

Often coining herself as ‘Chappell Roan’s little sister,” in online videos, her dedicated followers continuously comment how they’ve followed her journey since the beginning. She regularly posts clips of herself sitting on the floor of her room or an empty bathtub, singing and playing guitar. For DAPHNE, a crucial part of building her world is making sure that other people want to live in it with her.

“I want to make people feel like they’re a part of something, because they are,” she says. “Creating special moments makes my music more meaningful, and just life more meaningful for everyone involved.”

For “Movies,” the second single off of her EP, she asked fans to send in childhood videos of themselves to be included as a montage in the music video. She also created her own digital diary, a platform where fans can sign up to see behind the scenes content and other personal anecdotes, completely free of charge.

Although early in her career, DAPHNE has a strong and established point of view towards her indie pop stylings. As a completely independent artist, she says her holistic approach to her artistry comes from a well-rounded creative education:

“I was a full time competitive dancer and I went to performing arts school, where I was doing painting, photography, theater; every creative thing you can imagine.”

Surprisingly, becoming a pop star wasn’t a dream that DAPHNE always wanted to pursue. For a long time, songwriting was just a fulfilling hobby that she never imagined could become her long-term career.

“I knew I wanted to do something as creative as possible, and I think I realized that pretty much the only way to do that is to be an artist because I can do everything I love,” she says. “I choreograph my on-stage dances, I make all my own covers, I shoot my own music videos… Recently I’ve been teaching myself 3D animation.”

DAPHNE’s attention to detail and hard work is reflected in the polished, eye-catching Y2K-esque aesthetics of her brand and image. Gearing up for the release of GIRL, she shares her excitement for the upcoming music videos, describing them as having an “Alice in Wonderland influence.”

Her meticulousness extends to planning her live shows, even helping to program the DMX lighting at the Drake Underground in Toronto, specifically for her EP release show on March 24. She describes connecting with people in person and being on stage as one of the greatest feelings ever.

“I really just want people to feel completely and utterly in the moment and alive,” she explains. “It’s like a big therapy session where we’re all feeling our emotions together.”

For DAPHNE, her work on GIRL is the start of her expanding her vivid pop galaxies – and soon, we’ll all be living in her universe.