Lights produced her first song "Saturn's Rings" with an eight-track recorder she purchased with inheritance money from her grandmother in 2001.

I’ve always loved writing L's and my real name does not start with an L." In high school, Lights played the guitar and sang in the metal band Shovel Face[8] and accumulated a following through her Myspace page.

[12] She and Luke McMaster are credited with composing "Perfect", sung by Alexz Johnson in the role of Jude Harrison.

[6] In early 2008, Lights toured cities in the Great Lakes region, in Canada and the United States.

[18] The commercial success of the EP and its singles enabled Lights to release the full-length album The Listening in September 2009.

[28] She is also featured on the soundtrack (songs "Ben" and "Climbing") for the 2008 Canadian film One Week, starring Joshua Jackson.

[29] She was a guest vocalist on the album A Shipwreck in the Sand, released in 2009 by post-hardcore band Silverstein from Burlington, Ontario.

[30] From January to May 2010, she toured with contemporary synthpop artist Owl City in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

Lights appeared as a guest vocalist on the songs "Crucify Me" and "Don't Go" of Bring Me the Horizon's 2010 album There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It.

[35] In October 2010, Lights released the digital single "My Boots" and began a concert tour with Jeremy Fisher.

[36] At a November show in Toronto, she was presented a trophy by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for The Listening's gold certification, having then achieved 40,000 units in sales.

[2] At the June 2011 Utopia Music Festival, Lights performed three new songs, "Toes", "Where the Fence is Low", and "Everybody Breaks a Glass".

She had signed with Last Gang Records, and concerns by label executives about her shift in style to a more gritty sound delayed the album's release to October 4 in Canada and the US, and later that month in Australia.

[40] She was also featured in "The Yacht Club" on Owl City's 2011 album All Things Bright and Beautiful, and appeared in his music video for "Deer in the Headlights".

[41] In March 2013, Lights released an acoustic version of "Cactus in the Valley", featuring Owl City, as a single in the UK.

[44] In July 2014, Lights' third studio album, Little Machines, became available for pre-order on iTunes with its lead single, "Up We Go", available to download.

[52] Lights and her band were featured in the 2016 video game LOUD on Planet X, as character avatars and with their songs "Same Sea" and "Up We Go".

[55] The album was released with a comic book series drawn and written by Lights, one song per issue, starting in July.

[64] In January 2018, Lights launched the "We Were Here Tour" with Chase Atlantic and DCF, playing 46 shows across North America in support of the album.

[70] On May 12, 2019, it was announced that she had signed to Fueled by Ramen, which would release Skin&Earth Acoustic supported by a North American concert tour.

[80] On November 16, 2021, in support of the album, Lights announced she would begin her "Baby I'm Back Tour" starting with shows in the US throughout the month of April and May 2022.

[91] Allmusic's review of Little Machines described it as a "mature, electro-punk affair that proved Lights had grown beyond the twee, synth-and-folk artist she started out as.

[9] In 2010, Lights was introduced to Beau Bokan, the lead vocalist of metalcore band Blessthefall, at a Taking Back Sunday concert in Los Angeles, and quickly started dating.