"[1] The Blackstarkids members met at the age of fifteen or sixteen in Raytown, a suburb just outside Kansas City, where they grew up and attended high school.
They signed to Matty Healy of The 1975's label Dirty Hit in April 2020,[3] shortly after he highlighted their track "Sounds Like Fun" as one of his new discoveries on Instagram.
[5][4] Their first mix-tape for Dirty Hit titled Whatever, Man was released in late 2020 and featured a cameo from Matty Healy and label mates beabadoobee on the track "Friendship".
[8] The album was preceded by three singles, "Juno", "Fight Club," and "All Cops Are Bastards", which demonstrated anger at systemic racism and police brutality.
[1] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, live performances were limited to a handful of shows, including appearing at Chicago's Riot Fest alongside Devo, Ice-T and The Flaming Lips in September 2021, touring with label mates Glass Animals and beabadoobee in fall 2021.