Xayalith (born 1986 in Auckland) is the daughter of
Laotian refugees and was raised together with a younger brother. Her father introduced her to his
native folk music and, at the age of 13, she taught herself guitar. Powers had been playing in local bands from an early age after he had been taught to play guitar by his father.
2007–2008: Early years The band formed in 2007 when Powers and Xayalith were working on what became two
extended plays—
This Machine and
No Light—that they recorded with engineer Aaron Short, a fellow student at Auckland's
Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand. The Naked and Famous released their debut studio album,
Passive Me, Aggressive You, on 6 September 2010 on their own label, Somewhat Damaged. The album was produced by Thom Powers and Aaron Short, and mixed by Billy Bush. On 6 December 2010, the
BBC announced that The Naked and Famous had been nominated for BBC's
Sound of 2011 poll. In 2011, the band garnered six nominations at the
New Zealand Music Awards for Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Best
Alternative Album and the People's Choice Award. They were also nominated for the NZ On Air Best Music Video and won the MAINZ Best Engineer Award and its Best Producer Award.
2012–2013: In Rolling Waves The band settled in Los Angeles in mid-2012 after completing touring for
Passive Me, Aggressive You. They had performed over 200 shows in 24 countries between 2010 and 2012. Sharing a home over the back of
Laurel Canyon, they began work on writing and demoing their second album. They intended to record an album that could be played live, not relying on backing tracks—something the group had always eschewed. On 28 February 2013, the band announced
One Temporary Escape, a concert film recorded at
The Warfield in San Francisco in 2012. It was released for free download on 18 March 2013. Entering Los Angeles' Sunset Sound studio in March 2013 with engineer Billy Bush (who had mixed the previous album), they began the process of recording
In Rolling Waves. The album sessions were completed in a month and then in June 2013, The Naked and Famous headed for London where
Alan Moulder spent a month mixing the album at his Willesden studio, Assault and Battery. The album was mastered at Sterling Sound in New York by Joe LaPorta, who had also mastered
Passive Me, Aggressive You, and was produced by Thom Powers with Aaron Short.
Justin Meldal-Johnsen co-produced two tracks with Powers. On 23 July 2013, the band revealed their new single "
Hearts Like Ours" along with the release date for their second studio album
In Rolling Waves, on 16 September 2013 in the UK.
2014–present: Simple Forms, Recover and Xayalith solo career The Naked and Famous performed at
Coachella in 2014. On 20 November 2014, the band announced that they had begun working on a third album. The band began tracking for the album in September 2015. In March 2016, they performed at the
Wanderland Music and Arts Festival in
Manila. On 3 July 2016, the band announced their new single "
Higher" would be released on 7 July. Upon the single's release, the band revealed that their third studio album,
Simple Forms, was set to be released on 14 October 2016 via their label Somewhat Damaged in conjunction with Kobalt Label Services. Arron Short founded a new project called Space Above and released the album
Still with them on February 17 2017. The project was described as "Darker" and without the pop structures of Naked and Famous. The band released an
acoustic compilation album titled
A Still Heart on 9 March 2018, at which time they indicated that they were working on their fourth studio album. That same month, it was announced that Jesse Wood and founding member Aaron Short had departed the band. Following their departure, Luna Shadows joined the band on piano. The group released
A Still Heart (Live) on 8 June 2018. Sometime before March 2020, the group parted ways with Beadle and Shadows. In October 2025, the band performed together for the first time in over five years, at the
2025 Singapore Grand Prix. ==Name==