[Xianghua]

Taken from the Billboard interview with Skrillex, about how the collab came to be and how he met Hikki:

How did the collaboration between you and Utada come to fruition?

Utada actually hit me up a couple of years ago, back in 2016, about remixing “Don’t Think Twice.” I was so excited, and I remember loading the stems into Ableton and sitting there like, “Fuck, I don’t know what to do.” The song was a little bit too hard for me to touch. I really liked it for what it was, but it didn’t feel like that jazzy melody lent toward a dance remix. I didn’t think I could do it justice.
The next year, I happened to be in London during the same time she was. I was writing on some other pop song with [producer] Poo Bear and found out she was there, so we texted. We decided to try to write a new song together, just for fun -- to see what could happen. All three of us ended up getting into the studio and writing “Face My Fears” in under an hour.

How did you and Utada first meet?

How we met is crazy, it’s nuts! I was playing this heavy-metal festival in Germany called Rock am Ring in 2012 and was backstage in the Jägermeister lounge after the show. They sponsored me, so I was literally wearing my Jägermeister hat. [Laughs] I was just chilling, having drinks with my friends, when I get a tap on the shoulder. I turn around and this girl goes, “Hey, Skrillex, that was a really great show. I’m a big fan of yours.” I was like, “Awesome, cool!” We talked for a couple minutes before I even asked her what her name was, and she goes, “Utada.” I was like, “Whoa, wait, are you Utada Hikaru?” I became starstruck.
It was super dark in the backstage area, with artists just hanging around, and it was the last place I would ever expect to see Utada Hikaru. I mean, a heavy metal festival in Germany? It was crazy, so random. I guess she had come to watch the festival and caught my set. We became friends and hung out a couple times across the years, kind of scattered. She had no idea I was a crazy fan of hers for years, so it was pretty cool.

Full interview: https://www.billboard.com/articles/c...karu-interview