Emanuel Assefa, known simply as Emanuel, is an R&B singer/songwriter who made his major-label debut in 2020 with the potent ballad "Need You." Released that April through Universal Music in the artist's native Canada, "Need You" received a profile boost from actor Idris Elba, who urged his social media followers to send images and clips -- visual representations of how they were coping with the COVID-19 pandemic -- for a video collage set to the song. Thousands of contributions were sent from locations around the world, enabling Emanuel and director Matt Di Carlo to make the song's official video and upload it only ten days after the audio hit streaming services. "Need You" soon appeared on the four-song Alt Therapy Session 1: Disillusion EP. A second release of equal length, Alt Therapy Session 2: Transformation, was out by the end of 2020.