Her debut studio album, Skin, was released in October 2021 to wide critical acclaim and reached the top five in the UK.

[7] Joy Elizabeth Akther Crookes was born in the Lambeth district of South London on 9 October 1998 to a Bangladeshi mother from Dhaka and an Irish father from Dublin.

[13] Crookes gained interest in singing after attending a jazz and blues workshop and, by the age of 13, had started publishing covers of Laura Marling and reggae to YouTube.

[12] In April 2013, Crookes uploaded a cover of "Hit the Road Jack" by Ray Charles to YouTube at the age of 14.

[10] At the age of 17, Crookes released her debut single "New Manhattan" in February 2016,[16] as well as "Sinatra" in August 2016,[17] and "Bad Feeling" in June 2017.

[19] M Magazine wrote about Crookes at the start of her career, stating, "[She] may not be out of school yet, but what she lacks in experience she certainly makes up for in sonic dexterity.

[22][23] The five-track EP lasts less than 20 minutes and features "Sinatra", "Bad Feeling", "New Manhattan", "Mother May I Sleep With Danger?"

[11] Clare O'Shea from The Line of Best Fit described the EP as "a collection of five distinct tracks melding pop, R&B and soul.

"[32] Crookes performed on the Introducing Stage at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2019,[33] before releasing her third EP, Perception in June 2019.

[43] She was placed fourth in Sound of 2020, an annual BBC poll of 170 music critics who predict breakthrough acts for the coming year.

[42] Crookes has cited Black Uhuru, Marvin Gaye, The Pogues, Sinéad O'Connor, Kendrick Lamar, Gregory Isaacs, and Kate Nash as some of the names incorporated with her first experiences with music.

[20][58][11][31] She told BBC about the music she was exposed to whilst driving with her father to her Irish dancing lessons, "My dad wanted to give me a real education.