She is also well known for her numerous YouTube covers, for appearing in a 2014 Apple Christmas commercial entitled "The Song," and for her collaborations with rappers Freddie Gibbs, Boogie, and Rejjie Snow.
[3] For a middle school Black History Month project, Williams discovered and learned about legendary Jazz musician Ella Fitzgerald.
[3][5] When she was in fourth grade, Williams was selected to sing "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" with Jay-Z for a Television special.
She started to write and perform songs more often and eventually picked up a double major in music and poetry during her sophomore year.
[9] During college, Williams became an award-winning, published poet, an accomplishment she says influences the poetic and emotional nature of her song lyrics.
"[2] She began posting cover songs to YouTube in 2013, and is now most well known for her 2014 collaboration with Meester on Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams", which has garnered more than 6,800,000 views as of January 2018.
[12][13] In the summer of 2014, Williams came into national prominence when she participated in the singing competition series Rising Star, where she progressed into the finale and finished in fourth place.
[10] Later the same year, she was featured in a Christmas commercial for Apple, entitled "The Song," in which she was shown discovering an old recording of her grandmother singing Nat King Cole's "Our Love is Here to Stay" for her husband before he left for the Korean War.
[6] On April 14, 2015, Williams released a collaboration with Toronto producer Swim Good, providing vocals for the song "Callaway.
[18] Williams is currently represented by her publishing company, Smiggs Songs, and signed an administration deal with the Royalty Network, Inc. on December 11, 2015.
"[20] In late 2016, Williams played several live shows at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles, completing a residency on October 27 and then opening for the band Lawrence on November 9.
[23] On March 3, 2017, "Lifeline" was released, a collaborative single between electronic artist Melvv and Williams, who provides featured vocals on the track.
[25] On October 27, 2017, "Give Me a Sign" was released, a song by French producer Fakear from his 2017 EP Karmaprana, on which Williams serves as featured vocalist.
[31][32] On January 16, 2018, "Egyptian Luvr" was released, the lead single from Rejjie Snow's album Dear Annie which features vocals by Williams and a verse by Aminé.
[33] On February 1, Snow's Dear Annie: Part 2 EP was released as a precursor to the full album and included the song "Room 27" which also features vocals by Williams.
[3][10] Williams describes her music as "ethereal soul folk," and is heavily inspired by Fitzgerald, Holiday, Carole King, Norah Jones, Nina Simone, and Sam Cooke.