John Duff is an American singer and songwriter. Duff came to prominence on social media and rose to greater prominence following the release of several viral hit singles, including "Girly", "Rich", and "Hokie Pokie" Finding musical theater to be creatively limiting as an actor, and following encouragement from Perez Hilton while working together in a different production in Toronto,[6] he moved to West Hollywood to pursue his music career, eventually moving to Los Angeles in 2017. Before releasing his first single, Duff cultivated a significant online presence, posting videos address LGBTQ political issues, messages of positivity to the LGBTQ community, showcasing his life, and his ability to sing. His online popularity and imminent music career led Instinct Magazine to describe him as "[maybe] the most important gay pop star today, and he is yet to release his first single!"

In August 2018, he released his debut single, "Girly", with an accompanying video on Youtube. The video is an homage to the music video for Mariah Carey's 1999 single "Heartbreaker", as well as other female pop singers' music videos from the late-90s and 2000s, like Christina Aguilera, Madonna, and Britney Spears. The video also featured drag queens Bianca Del Rio, Willam Belli, and Mariah Paris Balenciaga, all friends of Duff's. Duff spoke extensively about the desire to challenge criticisms of embracing femininity, especially as a gay artist, ones that he had received both before and throughout his career. The video was well received, with Out Magazine describing Duff as "poised to become the next big gay pop star." As of 2021, the video received 800,000 views on Youtube, along with hundreds of thousands of streams on streaming services, with write ups on outlets such as OUT Magazine, HuffPost, and Instinct, among others.

"Girly" was followed up by his next single, the hip-hop mid-tempo song "Rich", made with producer Alex Delicata, released in September 2018. The song and its accompanying video provide "commentary on pop culture’s love-hate obsession with the rich and famous." In 2019, he made his film debut in the gay coming-of-age movie Cubby, written and directed by Mark Blane and Ben Mankoff.

He released several more singles through the following year, including "Hokie Pokie" in September 2020. The single, described as "straddling the line between hip hop and house" and "scorchingly provocative", is about cunnilingus, and Duff's writing received positive reviews from various outlets, who also interpreted it as a song about anilingus.[5][16] The video was directed by Brad Hammer, and drew comparisons with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's 2020 single "WAP", a comparison that disappointed Duff, as he felt it misconstrued "Hokie Pokie" as a parody, despite the video being shot a week before "WAP" debuted.

His next single was "Give a Fuck", which was also produced in collaboration with Delicata. The track was described as blending Duff's Broadway sensibilities with R&B and "feel-good pop rhythms". Reviewers noted inspiration for the music video from artists like Liberace and TLC, and describing it as "perfect love song for the age of the pandemic." Following the release of "Give a Fuck", Duff indicated that he was set to release an EP in 2021. He continued to release singles in early 2021, including "Do It", "I Hate LA", and "100% Baby".