Foxes (singer) devised a stage name to differentiate herself from British pop singer Lily Allen. She considered the alias Foxes after a suggestion from a friend, the first song she had written being titled "Like Foxes Do"; her mother then told her that she had a dream the previous night "about these foxes running up our street and they were howling and making these beautiful noises", which she said reminded her of her daughter's music. Allen chose Foxes based on this connection. She began performing gigs as Foxes in London in 2011. Foxes released her debut single, "Youth", in January 2012 on
Lily Frost putting melodies to her writing at 19. Lily went to Concordia University in Montreal in 1989 to study Jazz vocals, where she also taught herself guitar while playing and singing at the university, leading to her affection for echoing, reverb sound. She met South American composer Jorge Diaz de Bedoya who introduced her to the sounds of Bossa Nova, Serge Gainsbourg and ‘Tropicalia’, all of which influenced her writing. She left Concordia after two years to work full-time as a singer-songwriter, performer and recording artist. Lily and Jorge Diaz de Bedoya wrote and performed in Montreal in various groups including