Citing both doo wop harmonies and Kanye West-styled hip-hop beats as key influences, singer/songwriter Stela Cole emerged with a captivating take on pop in the late 2010s. Working out of Nashville, the singer's first appearances came with 2018's angsty breakup anthem "You F O," a song that warped jump-rope chants and nursery rhymes into a far angrier slice of cathartic yet catchy pop. She returned months after the release of the single with her debut EP, Throwing Up Butterflies.

Cole was born and raised in Peachtree City, Georgia, a small suburb of Atlanta. More interested in sports than music at a young age, she played soccer until she sustained an injury that shifted her focus to playing piano and writing songs. In her late teens she moved to Nashville, where she got deeply involved in the music scene and developed her vocal style and songwriting. She began uploading her songs online in 2017, and quickly signed to RCA Records. The label released her debut single, "You F O," in the summer of 2018 and followed it shortly afterwards with the five-song EP Throwing Up Butterflies, an expanded look at Cole's hybrid of girl group, barbershop, and widescreen pop influences.