After performing indie music as Turtlenecked in the Pacific Northwest, Smith moved to New York City and began writing songs as the Dare.

[12] In 2014, while attending Lewis & Clark College, Smith formed a musical project called Turtlenecked, which developed a cult following in the Pacific Northwest.

Pitchfork's Ian Cohen rated their second album Vulture (2017) a 6.0/10, saying that Smith is "capable of penning voice-of-a-generation quotables" while also criticizing some of his lyricism as "insufferable".

[14] On April 27, 2018, the group released an EP, High Scores of the Heart, which NPR's Jerad Walker praised for being "so polished that you might be surprised to find out that he is still just an undergrad.

[3] He played it at Turtlenecked shows, and noticed that the crowd received it well even though it was more frenetic and thematically light than the indie music he typically made.

[19] In August the remix of Charli XCX's song "Guess", featuring Billie Eilish and produced by the Dare alongside Finneas, debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart.

[21][22][23] English singer Charli XCX praised "Girls" in a 2022 interview, saying it "goes off at parties";[24] the two later collaborated on "Guess" for the deluxe edition of her 2024 album Brat.

[d] In a critical review in Pitchfork, Sophie Kemp compared The Dare to LMFAO and claimed his schtick "looks better on a T-shirt than in a song, where its snarkiness is a little exhausting".