She gave herself vocal training by singing along to a Diana Ross greatest-hits CD, since her family couldn't financially support her musical education.

In 2011, while still enrolled in high school, Heaton began uploading clips recorded in her bedroom on YouTube, including covers of contemporary hit songs along with occasional originals, for which she accompanied herself on acoustic guitar.

In December 2012, her cover of Chief Keef's "Love Sosa" was featured on the website WorldStarHipHop and Heaton began meeting with record labels.

[5][6] Heaton graduated high school six months early and self-financed the recording of a host of her own songs, opting to take a step back and build "a catalog that we were proud of" with her manager Lauren, eventually signing with All Def Digital in 2014, a YouTube-based label founded by Steve Rifkind and Def Jam-founder Russell Simmons, in partnership with Capitol Records.

I had a really tough childhood and at a point when I was very young, I sort just stopped speaking because I stuttered", mentioning her inability to have friends, causing her to always be alone due to her mother staying with her sister in the hospital, her father being drunk and the rest of her family living in South Africa, so she "would just write all the time.

"[7] She has mentioned being heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and Tom Waits and is also a fan of hip hop, pointing out rappers like Kanye West, 2 Chainz, Jay Z, Drake and Nicki Minaj as other inspirations.

[24][25] Heaton addressed claims regarding her raunchy social media presence in platforms such as Instagram overshadowing her music saying, "If I can use what I have aesthetically to draw people in, then why not use it?

"[26][27] Heaton notes her writing style and musical roots come from growing up with "older siblings who listened to a lot of soul and bluegrass and alternative", and her sister's love of poetry, having discovered rapper Lil Jon when she was ten, which sparked her interest in hip-hop music, describing her sound as "those two worlds colliding, like folk, rhythm, and Shakespeare sonnets mixed with Kanye trap beats.