Ssion is an visual artist, director, and musician born and raised in Lewisport, Kentucky. In high school, Critcheloe formed a punk rock band named SSION. After high school, he relocated to Kansas City, Missouri for college, where he studied fine art at the Kansas City Art Institute and graduated with a BFA. At college, he reformed SSION with three visual artists. While in school, he created album artwork for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs's Fever to Tell and music videos for the likes of Liars and Peaches along with stop-motion animated videos for SSION’s music. American musician Bloodpop studied under the guidance of Critcheloe and learned how to produce music while they studied at the Kansas City Art Institute.