Odell was born in Chichester, West Sussex, England, to an airline pilot father and a primary school teacher mother.

He was educated at Bishop Luffa and Seaford College in West Sussex but also recalls attending school in New Zealand.

[5] At 18, Odell abandoned plans to attend the University of York[6] and attempted to gain a place at a music college in Liverpool.

[7] Using his grandmother's car, he travelled regularly to London to play shows and to put advertisements in music schools.

He was discovered by the label head Lily Allen, who remarked that "his energy onstage reminded me of David Bowie".

[23] His song "Heal" was also used in the film If I Stay and The Miracle Season, and the TV series NCIS, The Vampire Diaries and Elementary along with "Another Love".

Odell's next song, a cover of "Real Love" by The Beatles, was the audio track to the 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert and gained him great publicity.

Within hours of the advert being aired for the first time, the track reached to the top of the music recognition service Shazam’s trending list.

In November 2017, he toured Germany on the New Fall Festival in Düsseldorf and Stuttgart and announced that the album had been finished and a first single was to be released imminently.

In an interview with The Gentleman's Journal on 27 February 2021, it was revealed that Odell's fourth studio album is titled Monsters.

[31] He stated that the album would feature darker, electro-pop tones, and the lyrics were inspired by artists such as XXXTentacion, Drake and Travis Scott.

The record touches on heavy subjects and rough experiences he had during a "fever pitch" in his life, particularly struggling with anxiety and panic attacks.

The album was preceded by the singles "Best Day of My Life", "Sad Anymore", "Flying" and "Smiling All the Way Back Home".

[40][41][42][43][44] He is a fan of Arcade Fire, Adele, James Blake, Cat Power, Blur, Beach House, Radiohead, Coldplay and Ben Folds.

"[47] In July 2020, Odell signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister Liz Truss calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT+ conversion therapy.