Jessica Hilda Mauboy was born on 4 August 1989 and raised in Darwin, Northern Territory. Her father, Ferdy, is an Indonesian born electrician who came from West Timor, and her mother, Therese, is an Indigenous Australian. Mauboy's mother is from the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people in the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland. Mauboy has three older sisters Sandra, Jenny and Catherine, and a younger sister Sophia.

In January 2010, Mauboy signed to Universal Music for an exclusive worldwide long-term publishing agreement. In May 2010, Mauboy collaborated with four other international artists representing their continents--Sean Kingston representing America, Jody Williams representing Africa, Tabitha Nauser (Asia), Steve Appleton (Europe), with Mauboy representing Oceania--on the theme song for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics titled "Everyone". Mauboy, Williams, Nauser and Appleton performed "Everyone" at the opening of the Youth Olympics held in Singapore on 14 August 2010. Kingston was unable to attend the performance, due to a passport mix-up. Mauboy released her second studio album Get 'Em Girls on 5 November 2010; it debuted at number six and was certified gold. She had travelled to the United States in February of that year to work on the album in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta with American songwriters and producers, most of whom she had not worked with previously. Mauboy co-wrote eight of the album's songs. Get 'Em Girls received mixed reviews from critics. Majhid Heath of ABC Online Indigenous gave the album two-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that it's a "non-cohesive mess of similar sounding, auto-tuned ravaged pop/R&B that diminishes the talent of this brilliant young songstress".  The album's title track, featuring American rapper Snoop Dogg, peaked at number 19. Mauboy performed "Get 'Em Girls" at the 2010 Nickelodeon Australian Kids' Choice Awards, where she co-hosted the award ceremony with Liam Hemsworth and Jerry Trainor, and won the award for Fave Aussie Muso. The following singles, "Saturday Night" featuring American rapper Ludacris and "What Happened to Us" featuring English singer Jay Sean, peaked at numbers seven and 14, respectively. The former single was certified double platinum while the latter was only certified platinum. At the 2010 Australian of the Year Awards, Mauboy received her first nomination for Young Australian of the Year. On 10 December 2010, she performed in front of an audience of 92,000 at the Federation Square in Melbourne, ahead of Oprah Winfrey's visit to the place. Mauboy's performance was shown in the first of the four Australian specials of The Oprah Winfrey Show on 18 January 2011. In April 2011, she served as a support act for Chris Brown's Australian leg of his F.A.M.E. Tour.  Get 'Em Girls was re-released as a deluxe edition on 12 August 2011, which included the singles "Inescapable" and "Galaxy" featuring Stan Walker. The former single peaked at number four and was certified double platinum, while the latter peaked at number 13 and was certified platinum. "Galaxy" also reached number 36 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and became Mauboy's first single to chart in that country. On 17 November 2011, Mauboy performed for the Australian troops at RAAF Base Darwin, ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to the place. In January 2012, Mauboy and Walker embarked on their Galaxy Tour across Australia, which served as her first headlining tour. Mauboy recorded 15 songs for The Sapphires' soundtrack album, which was released on 27 July 2012. The album debuted at number one and was certified platinum. Mauboy released "Gotcha" as the album's lead single, which peaked at number 43 and was certified gold. At the 2012 ARIA Music Awards, she was nominated for Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release for "Gotcha", and Song of the Year for "Galaxy".

How did Get 'Em Girls do on the charts?
it debuted at number six and was certified gold.