2013–2017: Career beginnings and formations Max released "Take Away the Pain" in 2013, which was remixed by the Canadian duo
Project 46 in July 2015. For several years, her
demos were rejected and not returned by record producers and songwriters. She faced several incidents of
sexual harassment. at a dinner party in the
Chateau Marmont. Max sang "
Happy Birthday", which led the two musicians to work together, writing hundreds of songs and releasing "Anyone but You" on
SoundCloud in July 2016. After signing the deal at the age of 22,
2018–2021: International breakthrough and Heaven & Hell Max released the song "My Way" on April 20, 2018, which peaked at number 38 on the Romanian
Airplay 100 chart. On May 11, 2018, "Slippin", a collaboration with American musician
Gashi, was released. On June 8, 2018, Max was featured on the song "Into Your Arms" by American rapper Witt Lowry. A month later, "
Salt" was sent to SoundCloud. On August 13, 2018, she released "Not Your Barbie Girl" as a
promotional single. "
Sweet but Psycho" was released on August 17, 2018. The song became Max's commercial breakthrough, reaching number one in more than 22 countries including
Germany,
Switzerland,
Austria,
Norway,
Sweden,
New Zealand, and the
United Kingdom, where it stayed at number one for four consecutive weeks. In January 2019, the song reached the top of the
Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and later peaked at number 10 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Since its release, “Sweet But Psycho” has gone platinum four times in the US and been streamed more than 2 billion times globally. and appeared on
David Guetta's 2018 studio album
7 on the track "Let It Be Me". On March 7, 2019, she released the follow-up single "
So Am I", which reached the top 10 in Poland, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands. A remix of the song was released on July 3, 2019, featuring South Korean
boy band NCT 127. The songs "
Blood, Sweat & Tears" and "
Freaking Me Out" were released as promotional singles in July 2019. Max was featured on the song "Slow Dance" by American singer-songwriter
AJ Mitchell August 7, 2019, and released "
Torn" as a single on August 19, 2019. On September 4, 2019, she entered a joint co-publishing deal with
Warner Chappell Music and Artist Publishing Group. On October 31, 2019, she released a music video for "Freaking Me Out" as a Halloween special. Max won
Best Push Act at the
2019 MTV Europe Music Awards. On November 6, 2019, Max and
Pablo Alborán released a duet called "
Tabú". Max performed at the
Jingle Bell Ball on December 7, 2019. The previously released song "Salt" was sent to digital streaming platforms on December 12, 2019. She collaborated with Norwegian DJ and record producer
Alan Walker on the song "
Alone, Pt. II", released on December 27, 2019. "
On Somebody" was released as a promotional single on December 30, 2019. On March 12, 2020, Max released "
Kings & Queens" as the fifth single from her then-unreleased debut studio album
Heaven & Hell (2020). The song topped the
Billboard Adult Top 40 chart on December 12, 2020, and has been certified platinum twice. Max released "
Who's Laughing Now" on July 30, 2020, and "
OMG What's Happening" on September 3, 2020, as singles from the album.
Heaven & Hell was released on September 18, 2020, alongside a music video for the song "
Naked". The album peaked at number two on the
UK Albums Chart and at number 27 on the
Billboard 200. On November 13, 2020, Max was featured on "
Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the
BBC Radio 2 Allstars
Children in Need charity single, which peaked at number seven on the
UK Singles Chart. "
My Head & My Heart" was released on November 19, 2020, which served as a bonus track from the digital re-issue of
Heaven & Hell and was certified platinum on June 1, 2022. She appeared on the
R3hab and
Jonas Blue song "Sad Boy" as a featured artist with
Kylie Cantrall on September 10, 2021, in addition to
Tiësto's song "
The Motto" on November 4, 2021. The latter reached the top 10 in several countries, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
2022–2023: Diamonds & Dancefloors in
Los Angeles in June 2023|247x247px In February 2022, Max hinted at a new project by replacing her 'Max Cut' hairstyle with cherry-red shoulder-length hair and emphasizing a red and pink appearance on her social media accounts. While interviewed at the
Billboard Women in Music event in March 2022, she acknowledged that her second studio album was written the previous year during a personally difficult time. The album's lead single "
Maybe You're the Problem" was released on April 28, 2022. Max announced her second studio album
Diamonds & Dancefloors on June 1, 2022, which was originally scheduled for release on October 14, 2022. She released "
Million Dollar Baby" on September 1, 2022. The album's third single, "
Weapons", was released on November 10, 2022. On November 16, 2022, the
Ubisoft dance game
Just Dance 2023 Edition revealed that "Million Dollar Baby" would be featured in the game, with Max serving as the coach for the dance. She released the fourth single, "
Dancing's Done", on December 20, 2022. On January 12, 2023, Max released the fifth single, "
One of Us", a couple weeks before the release of
Diamonds & Dancefloors on January 27, 2023. The album debuted in the top 10 in various countries, including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and Switzerland, and at number 34 on the
Billboard 200 in the US. She performed at the
WorldPride festival in
Sydney, Australia, on March 5, 2023. Max embarked on her first headlining
concert tour, titled
On Tour (Finally), between April and September 2023, with shows across Europe and North America. During her Los Angeles concert on June 20, 2023, a man jumped on stage and slapped Max while she was performing "The Motto". She later revealed that the inside of her eye was scratched. The incident occurred two days after American singer
Bebe Rexha was hit by a smartphone thrown by a concert-goer during her New York concert. She collaborated with Brazilian DJ
Alok on "
Car Keys (Ayla)", released on June 30, 2023. Her song "
Choose Your Fighter" appeared on the
soundtrack of the 2023 film
Barbie, which was released on July 21, 2023. The song was serviced to Italian radio as the fifth single of the soundtrack on July 28, 2023.
2024–2025: ''Don't Click Play'' On January 19, 2024, Max and Norwegian DJ
Kygo released their collaboration "
Whatever", which peaked at number 1 in Norway and reached the top 10 in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Sweden. On April 4, 2024, Max released "
My Oh My" as a standalone single. On August 9, 2024, Max was featured on a remix of "
Brought the Heat Back" by South Korean band
Enhypen. On September 20, 2024, she released "
Spot a Fake". On October 18, 2024, she released "Forever Young" with
David Guetta and
Alphaville, a reworked version of Alphaville's hit "
Forever Young". On November 20, 2024, Max performed a medley of four of her songs at the
2024 ARIA Music Awards in
Sydney, Australia. The following month, Max released her Christmas single, "
1 Wish". In February 2025, Max released "
Lost Your Faith", which would later become the first official single from her upcoming album. Three months later, she announced her third album, ''
Don't Click Play'', would be released on August 22, 2025. The album's second single, "
Lovin Myself" was released on May 29, 2025. Max released the album's third single, "
Wet, Hot American Dream", on July 1, 2025, and performed it at the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. In June 2025, Max announced a North American tour to support ''Don't Click Play'' but postponed it two weeks later. ''Don't Click Play'' was Max's first album to fail to chart on the
Billboard 200 but reached number 12 on the
Billboard Dance Album charts, as well as charted internationally. In late 2025, Max's unreleased song "
One Night", recorded in 2023 and intended to appear on
Diamonds & Dancefloors, started being played on Hungarian radiostation Rádió 1. It later debuted at number 17 on the
Hungarian radio chart on the issue dated September 25, 2025 and reached number 5 on the issue dated October 16, scoring Max's 13th top five hit on the chart. According to the Hungarian Recording Industry Association, "One Night" was the 57th most-consumed song on Hungarian radios in 2025, spending 14 weeks on the chart, despite never getting an official release.
2026–present: Departure from Atlantic Records, upcoming fourth studio album In February 2026, Max cleared her social media pages, leaving a caption of "God save the Queen" and a portrait of
Elizabeth II. On February 19, she revealed that she had departed from Atlantic Records. She started to upload several teaser videos for her then-upcoming single; on February 24, she announced the single "
Kill It Queen" alongside its release date and cover artwork. Following her departure from Atlantic Records, Max signed a partnership agreement with Artist Partner Group (APG); it allows her to release music independently through her own company, Ava Brands LLC, while retaining ownership of her master recordings. On April 13, Max announced that "Outta Your Mind", the second single of her upcoming fourth studio album, will be released on April 15. However, the single was eventually titled "
Out of Your Mind", following its release. The release was accompanied by a lyric video distributed through her official channels on the same date. == Artistry and influences ==