Emma Shapplin started her music career in classical music but then moved to hard rock. She discovered that although rock gave her more artistic freedom than classical music, it was still not enough for her, so she decided to create her own style. This became a combination of archaic opera and modern trance and/or pop music. Although she was raised speaking French, Shapplin decided to perform in old Italian, because, according to her, "It's a language that sings naturally".

Shapplin was relatively unknown in the United States until composer Graeme Revell used her voice on his score for the movie Red Planet. They later collaborated on her second album Etterna, with Revell producing all of her songs.