rilan graduated from high school in 2013 and moved to los angeles in 2014. within a year, he was cast as a warbler on "glee." at the same time, he focused on developing a career in music. he released his first single, "chemical," in july 2014. the video for the song premiered on "popcrush" and as of march 2016 had been viewed on youtube more than 2.2 million times. in describing the video, rilan said: "being from new orleans, i am inspired by mysticism, old science, alchemy and magic, and although we wanted to give the video modernity to fit the song structure, it has a classic editorial feel mixed with some dark twisted fantasies. the video is what the world looks like when i close my eyes." on halloween, he released the song and video "rip." it was followed by "hotel" in april 2015.