Launched in 2007 in Oakland, California, Francis and the Lights is the pop passion project of producer, songwriter, and frontman Francis Farewell Starlite. Born as "Abe Morre Katz-Milder" on June 14, 1981, Starlite grew up in California and later attended Wesleyan University with MGMT's two co-founders. He made the decision to pursue his own music career in 2007, launching the one-man band Francis and the Lights and mining a mix of retro R&B, synth-pop, and modern appeal with the project's debut EP, Striking. A second EP, A Modern Promise, arrived the following year, with It'll Be Better appearing in 2010. That same year, Francis and the Lights co-wrote and produced "Karaoke," a track from Drake's platinum-selling debut, Thank Me Later. Francis and the Lights continued balancing solo work with various collaborative projects during the following years, appearing on songs by Kathleen Edwards, Das Racist, and Lyrics Born. After composing the score for the 2012 sci-fi comedy film Robot & Frank, Starlite released a fourth Francis and the Lights EP, Like a Dream, in 2013, followed by the full-length album Farewell, Starlite! in 2016. Kanye West and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon both appeared on the record's lead single, "Friends," while Chance the Rapper contributed to a popular remix of "May I Have This Dance," which climbed to Number 36 on the US Alternative Songs chart. A second studio album, Just for Us, was released in 2017, followed by featured appearances on Kanye West's ye, Benny Blanco's "Just for Us, Pt. 2," and Chance the Rapper's The Big Day. Teaming up with Kanye West and Justin Vernon ronce again, Francis and the Lights released the collaborative single "Take Me to the Light" in 2019, which the song serving as a precursor to Starlite's third full-length record.