2009–2012: Ambassadors and Litost X Ambassadors began playing under the name Ambassadors, touring with artists such as
LIGHTS. During this time, they self-released their debut EP,
Ambassadors, creating a music video for its lead single, "Tropisms." Shortly after, they self-released their second EP,
Litost, which included the eponymous song, later to be used in the soundtrack for
The Host. The band signed a record deal in 2012 with SONGS Music Publishing. They launched a
Kickstarter campaign to fund and shoot two music videos for the EP's singles, "Weight/Lightness" and "Unconsolable", with the latter being re-recorded later. The group was noticed by
Imagine Dragons while frontman
Dan Reynolds was sick in the hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. Reynolds heard an acoustic version of "Unconsolable" on
96X WROX-FM and asked
Interscope to sign the band as soon as possible.
2013–2014: Love Songs Drug Songs and The Reason X Ambassadors released their debut major-label EP,
Love Songs Drug Songs, in 2013. It included the track "Stranger", co-written by Dan Reynolds. In promotion of the album, they toured in support of Imagine Dragons,
Jimmy Eat World, and
the Mowgli's. In 2014, the band released their next EP,
The Reason. Two of its tracks, "
Unsteady" and "
Jungle", appeared on their full-length album
VHS, released after a year. In promotion of the new EP, X Ambassadors supported
Panic! at the Disco and Imagine Dragons on their respective tours.
2015–2017: VHS In March 2015, X Ambassadors released the single "
Renegades", which appeared on their debut album,
VHS, published on June 30, 2015, and featuring collaborations with
Jamie N Commons and Imagine Dragons. A special edition, titled
VHS 2.0 was released on June 10, 2016, with five additional tracks and without the interludes that were included on the original version. The band collaborated with
the Knocks on the song "Comfortable", from the duo's debut album,
55, released in March 2016. They were also featured on the song "
Sucker for Pain" from the
soundtrack to the 2016 film
Suicide Squad. On June 20, 2016, X Ambassadors announced that Feldshuh would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the band to deal with personal issues. X Ambassadors released four standalone singles in 2017: "Hoping" in March, "Torches" in April, "The Devil You Know" in June, and "
Ahead of Myself" in July. They also performed at the
2017 National Scout Jamboree. The band was featured in a song by
Eminem titled "Bad Husband", from his album
Revival. They also collaborated on "
Home", a song from the soundtrack for the Netflix film
Bright. The track includes pop singer
Bebe Rexha and rapper
Machine Gun Kelly.
2018–2020: Joyful, Orion, and Belong X Ambassadors released their next single, "Joyful", on January 26, 2018, originally intended to be the title track of their second record. Pre-orders of the album became available through their website later that day, and it was slated for an April 2018 release. On February 2, 2018, the band issued another single, titled "Don't Stay". On January 24, 2019, the group put out their next single, "
Boom". Three months later, on April 19, 2019, over a year after the announcement of
Joyful, the band stated they had cancelled it in favor of new material for a different record, to be titled
Orion, which would include the previously released track "Boom". Vocalist Sam Harris stated that
Joyful was the second iteration of their second album and that they felt like the songs on it did not represent where they were at. That same day, the band issued the song "
Hey Child" as the second single off
Orion. A third single, titled "
Hold You Down", was published on May 31, 2019. The album came out on June 14, 2019. The band also wrote the song "Baptize Me" with singer Jacob Banks for the
Game of Thrones compilation
For the Throne. On August 16, 2019, X Ambassadors were featured on a song titled "
In Your Arms", from
Illenium's third studio album,
Ascend. On August 23, 2019, the band released a politically charged standalone single called "Optimistic", which centers around gun violence in the United States. On February 7, 2020, they issued the song "Everything Sounds Like a Love Song", promoted as the lead single from their forthcoming EP,
Belong. On February 21, 2020, the band put out a single titled "Great Unknown" for the film
The Call of the Wild.
Belong came out on March 6, 2020, and included the title track as well as "Everything Sounds Like a Love Song" and "Happy Home". Sam Harris stated that it was a collection of tracks the band wrote that didn't quite fit on their upcoming third studio album, but they loved the songs and wanted to put them out. On May 15, 2020, X Ambassadors released another single, "
Zen", with
K.Flay and
Grandson, about the
COVID-19 pandemic.
2021–2022: (Eg), The Beautiful Liar On January 14, 2021, X Ambassadors released a single called "ultraviolet.tragedies", a heavily rap-focused song featuring
Terrell Hines. It was the first single from the collaborations project
(Eg). Sam Harris said that with this project, he wanted to "give a voice to (several) incredible artists that people may not have heard yet, and really let their imagination be at the forefront of everything". On February 7, 2021, the band released a cover of "
Blinding Lights" by
the Weeknd. On February 12, 2021, they released the next single from
(Eg), "skip.that.party", featuring
Jensen McRae. They issued one more single, "torture", on March 12, 2021, featuring
Earl St. Clair. On June 11, 2021, the band put out a song titled "My Own Monster", which was also announced to be the lead single from their third studio album,
The Beautiful Liar. "Okay" was released as the second single on July 30, 2021, while "Adrenaline" came out on August 13, 2021. The album was published on September 24, 2021, along with a music video for the song "Beautiful Liar". A tour for the record began in October.
The Beautiful Liar is a
concept album that plays out similarly to a radio drama, telling the story of a blind girl whose shadow comes to life. Sam and Casey said that the album was influenced by radio shows that they listened to as children. It tells the story of a blind girl whose shadow comes to life. It has a
trap-influenced sound, a contrast from the band's previous releases, and tells its story over the course of 16 tracks. Sam and Casey said that the album was influenced by radio shows that they listened to as children. About the record, Sam said, "I wanted to make an album that felt as unhinged as I did, and as the whole world felt around me. So Adam, Casey and I carved ourselves a space where we could all be as ugly, weird, funny, and f'd up as we wanted to be." On October 22, 2021, the band released "Water", a song for the
Blade Runner: Black Lotus soundtrack. The band was featured on "You'll Get Yours" from
Tom Morello's album
The Atlas Underground Flood, released December 3, 2021. On May 12, 2022, they issued a remix of their song "Palo Santo", featuring ROBI. On December 9, 2022, the band collaborated with Belgian DJ
Lost Frequencies and singer
Elley Duhé on "
Back to You". A music video for the song was released on January 19, 2023. A deluxe pack was released on March 10, 2023, containing remixes from various DJs.
2023–present: (Eg) season two, Townie, Townies, VHS(X) On May 24, 2023, X Ambassadors released "Happy People", featuring
Teddy Swims and Jac Ross, starting season two of
(Eg). The next single, released on June 23, was "Friend for Life", featuring
Medium Build, followed by "Devastation", featuring PAMÉ, released on September 22, and "Alcohol", featuring
Breland, released on October 27. On November 17, 2023, the band put out the song "Deep End", for the soundtrack to
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. In late 2023, X Ambassadors began teasing snippets of songs from their upcoming fourth studio album,
Townie. The record, published on April 5, 2024, was preceded by four singles: "No Strings", released on January 19, 2024; "Your Town", released on February 16, 2024; "Half-Life", released on March 15, 2024; and "Follow the Sound of My Voice", released on March 29, 2024. The band released the EP
Townies alongside the single "Fragile" on October 15. In January 2025, X Ambassadors opened for
the Script on the Australian leg of their Satellites World Tour. In July, the band announced that to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its release, they would be issuing a reimagined edition of their debut album,
VHS, titled
VHS(X). It came out on August 29, and the trio promoted it with a tour. ==Musical style and influences==