Fresh off of the Winterfest Music Festival stage, Skrillex sat down with Billboard magazine to discuss his new project with Diplo. Skrillex and Diplo recently formed the duo called Jack U; according to Skrillex, the mini-album will be released “sooner than later,” and the duo will be finishing the rest of the songs this week. Skrillex also mentioned Jack U is working on ten songs, but the duo won’t put them all out just yet. A couple of days ago, the Jack U went on Snapchat to preview some of the music for their new album. Although they only let fans hear four short previews, it proved to be enough music to get Skrillex and Diplo fans excited.
This is not the first time Skrillex and Diplo have worked together. Skrillex sang vocals and played guitar on one of Major Lazer‘s projects; Major Lazer was a duo made up of Diplo and American DJ. In 2014, Diplo returned the favor and made a guest appearance for Skrillex on a song named “Amplifire.” Skrillex has released seven EPs, and one studio album since 2009. His first studio album, entitled Recess, was released last year. Consequently, Diplo made a guest appearance on Recess on a song entitled “Dirty Vibe.” The track also featured vocals from K-pop artists G-Dragon and CL, and it was the fourth song released from the album. It reached Number 19 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in December.
Skrillex displayed an innovative marketing scheme in order to promote his Recess project, which included a mobile app called Alien Ride. The mobile app featured an arcade-style game where a spaceship had to destroy asteroids, and once the game’s app reached zero on the countdown, the person playing the game received the first song from the album. This process continued for thirty minute intervals, until the entire album was made available for streaming. The unique marketing helped Recess reach Number 1 on both the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart and the UK Dance Albums chart. Recess also peaked at Number 4 on Billboard’s 200 albums chart. The album managed to chart in multiple countries, and became Skrillex’s highest charting release in the United States and the United Kingdom.