But with his standout track "Ordinary," written for wife Kouvr Annon, the former Hype House member showed he was anything but, you know.
Fellow TikToker Rae also feels she has something to prove.
Making the pivot from social media sensation to He's All That actress to bona fide pop star, "I think initially I was pretty let down by myself in a lot of ways because I had such high expectations," she confessed to Billboard. "And then over time I just kind of completely let that go and released it."
Because, ultimately, the 25-year-old shared, "I feel like I can do anything that I work hard at and put my mind to and I think that a lot of people didn't feel that way about music from me, initially. Yeah, it was definitely hard at first to not give up on it. But I love it so much, it's ingrained in my life."
And once people got a taste of songs like "Diet Pepsi," they drank it all up.
Before she and her fellow Best New Artist nominees hit the carpet outside L.A.'s Crypto.com Arena Feb. 1, check out the journeys that brought them there.
Curated by Antonio Rossi
