As a child, Zhang and her family moved frequently because of her father's work but continued to return to Houston.
[1] It would later reach a wider audience through the video sharing social media service TikTok, becoming a trend where users would lip sync to the song before transforming into creepy characters after the breakdown.
[3] The couple's next single was "Don't Touch" which received similar viral acclaim, released on April 20, 2020.
[8] Lil Mariko and Full Tac performed together during Dorian Electra's My Agenda Online Twitch stream on October 24, a fundraising event for Black Trans Femmes in the Arts.
[9][10] Lil Mariko's self-titled debut EP was released on March 18, 2021, and featured her previous singles "Don't Touch" and "Shiny".
Mariko's friend Sebastian Bidegain was featured in the music video dressed in a full gimp suit.
[15] On the same day, Lil Mariko also appeared on Recovery Girl's mixtape Recovery Girl & Friends on the track "Feels So Good" featuring the additional vocal talent of Diana Starshine, GFOTY, and Space Candy.
[16] In August, Lil Mariko announced her plan to relocate to Los Angeles to record her debut studio album.
[2] Zhang lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn and has been dating producer boyfriend Jared Soule, also known as Full Tac, since 2018.
[18] Zhang revealed that she suffers from social anxiety and the idea of live performances frightens her but she is not completely opposed to it, theorizing she would get over the initial shock once she was actually on stage.