Nick Quan (born December 5, 2004), known professionally as Quannnic (stylized in all lowercase), is an American musician. Initially presenting a digicore sound, they began releasing music as Quannnic in late 2020 and released their debut studio album, Kenopsia, in February 2022. A track from the album, "Life Imitates Life", unexpectedly went viral on TikTok and charted on Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs. Quannnic's second studio album, Stepdream, was released in November 2023, and they later co-headlined an American tour with Jane Remover. Their third album, Warbrained, was released in August 2025. On Quannnic's musical style, sources mostly described it as shoegaze, with Kenopsia mixing glitch elements and Stepdream emo.
Career Originally from Florida, Quannnic has played guitar since they were six. They initially presented a digicore sound and became popular by their pop rap songs. However, by 2021, they felt creatively constrained by that sound and began shifting towards more rock-oriented styles; that year, they started releasing music under the name Quannnic. Their debut studio album, Kenopsia, was independently released in February 2022. In early 2023, a track from the album, "Life Imitates Life", went viral on TikTok. By November, the song had been used in 16,000 clips on the platform, and it charted at number 23 on Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs with 525,000 official streams earned in the U.S; on Spotify, it had 30 million streams by December. On its popularity, Quannnic said: "It was just really weird to me that something I made when I was 16 could get this much attention now. It impacted the way I make music. It got a lot more stressful." The album was later reissued by DeadAir Records.
Quannnic released Stepdream, their second studio album, in November 2023. They co-headlined Jane Remover's 2024 U.S. tour, which began in February of that year. Quannnic played at the Sick New World Festival on April 27, 2024. In November, they opened for Slowdive at their American tour. Their third album, Warbrained, was released in August 2025.
Car Underwater Quannnic is part of the band Car Underwater. The band consists of Quannnic (guitar), Max Epstein (vocals; of Militarie Gun and Wisp), Sonny Foster (guitar, vocals; of Versera), Nolan Nunes (bass; of Ghostemane and If I Die First), Darcy Baylis (keyboard, vocals; of Resenter and Sugar High) and Zach Capitti-Fenton (drums; of Momma). They will open for Bring Me the Horizon's July 10 release show for the rerecording of Count Your Blessings. They are a part of the 2020s pop screamo revival alongside I Promised the World and Static Dress.
Musical style Quannnic's profile at AllMusic says they blend shoegaze, lo-fi, noise, and electronic bedroom pop. Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork described Quannnic's music as containing much Auto-Tune and "post-everything bedroom beats", which "restored some of shoegaze's crystalline detail in their sparkling, digitally rendered high end". Eli Enis of Stereogum said that Quannnic's music has an "artificial rumble" comparable to Parannoul's computerized sound in To See the Next Part of the Dream. Quannnic has named Superheaven and Basement as influences.
Although Quannnic employed various digital instruments on Kenopsia, they prefer using a real guitar to create their shoegaze elements. Eli Enis of Stereogum described Kenopsia as a mix between shoegaze, the glitchy elements of digicore, and Deftones-like nu-gaze, with a singing akin to emo-rap. Jordan Darville of The Fader wrote that it "embraced glitch-pop and the anime intro electronics of Porter Robinson", being similar to old songs by Jane Remover. Singaporean band Sobs chose Kenopsia as one of their favorite albums of 2022 to Brooklyn Vegan, with member Celine saying: "Indie rock melodies glimmering with autotune over a gloomy hyperpop-meets-shoegaze backdrop. Perfect record for the post-internet music consumer". Kristen S. Hé of Junkee said that "Life Imitates Life" could be "mistaken for a lo-fi Deftones cover"; Quannnic said that the track was inspired by that band and Paramore, and Enis highlighted its "grungy" elements.
Enis found Stepdream to be influenced by Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley and felt that Quannnic "swerved in a more collegiate singer-songwriter direction" with it. Similarly, Darville wrote that the album shows Quannnic's capabilities "as a songwriter of brooding guitar-based jams". He felt that, "[b]eneath the foggy textures and hazily cooed lyrics, there's a real sense of stakes on Stepdream, like its songs are Quannnic's last, best chance to define [themselves]". Leor Galil of Chicago Reader said that Stepdream is inspired by alternative rock subgenres such as emo and shoegaze. Abby Kenna of Ones to Watch said that, with the album, "Quannnic refines their unique perspective, blending their influences that reach from metal to folk while keeping their voice and emotional turmoil consistent."
Personal life Quannnic is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.
Discography
Studio albums Title Album details Kenopsia Released: February 28, 2022 Label: Self-released (initial release); DeadAir (re-release) Formats: LP, CD, cassette, digital download, streaming Stepdream Released: November 10, 2023 Label: DeadAir Formats: LP, digital download, streamingWarbrained Released: August 22, 2025 Label: DeadAir Formats: LP, CD, digital download, streaming
Singles Title Year Album "Replica" 2021 rowspan="4" "One Second of Sympathy" "Come Down From Above"(with D0llywood1) "Reach" "Nail" Kenopsia "Think With Your Lungs" "What Does This Room Look Like" "Life Imitates Life" "Cards" 2022 rowspan="3" "Sheets" (demo) "A Mind of Her Own" (Pedro the Lion cover) "Comatose" 2023 Stepdream "How to Hold a Knife" "South" "Wrenches" 2025 Warbrained "Observer" "Aviator" "Korg" 2026
Music videos SongYearDirector"Life Imitates Life" 2023Rich Smith & Fiona Kane"Comatose"BlindLight & Yams"Rummage" (featuring Orbiting Human Circus)BlindLight"Observer" 2025BlindLight & Midvessel"Aviator" BlindLight"Korg"2026
As featured artist SongYearRelease"Roman Candle" (Ch111oe featuring Quannnic)2025Non-album single
References