Magic!'s debut single " Rude" was released on October 12, 2013. Julian Taylor and Jeremy Elliot had enjoyed success playing in Staggered Crossing with "Further Again" hitting #6 in 2001 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. Prior to joining Magic!, Ben Spivak had been playing with the Toronto-based Julian Taylor Band, releasing Never Gonna Give You Up in 2012. He and Mark Pellizzer knew each other, since they both had been members of the Justin Nozuka band for several years. Nasri described the chemistry between himself and Pellizzer as "different than writing chemistry, it was more artistic." A few weeks later, while Mark was playing a reggae tune on the guitar, Nasri suggested starting a band like "modern-day Police."
He met Mark Pellizzer in the studio and within a week they wrote the song " Don't Judge Me" for Chris Brown. The lead singer of Magic!, Nasri, had worked with and written songs for different pop acts prior to the start of the band, mainly alongside Adam Messinger, together known as the Messengers. All members of the band are from the Toronto area of Canada.