YouTube star Alaina Castillo and VTuber sensation Kizuna AI have released a new collaboration video for their track “down 4 u feat. Kizuna AI”. The video is out now – read on to learn how this special collaboration came to be!

21-year-old Houston-born artist Alaina Castillo has been a YouTube sensation since she launched her channel while still in high school. She later caught the eye of Grammy Award-nominated producer RØMANS, and the pair worked together on numerous singles and EPs from 2019. In 2020, she became the first North American artist to be championed by Spotify’s RADAR series that promotes up-and-coming artists, attracting widespread attention for Castillo even before her 2021 debut album. 

Castillo’s love for Japanese pop-culture has shone through in her image and her videos in the past. In November 2020, the video for her single ‘wishlist’ featured a cameo from Kizuna AI, a hugely popular Japanese VTuber who has over 4.5 million subscribers to her two YouTube accounts. Then in May this year, Castillo appeared as a guest during Kizuna AI’s Virtual US Tour online show, where the two performed together.

Also in May, Castillo and Kizuna AI recorded a version of “down 4 u” from Castillo’s debut album parallel universe pt. 1. Titled “down 4 u feat. Kizuna AI”, this alternate cut was sung in Japanese and English – to the delight of fans around the world, who left comments such as “They overcame the language barrier!” and “Their singing voices are too beautiful!”.

The official video for “down 4 u feat. Kizuna AI” has now been released on Castillo’s YouTube channel. The collaboration video features an appearance from Kizuna AI, who sings in Japanese. It follows Castillo’s video for “pocket locket”, another track from parallel universe pt. 1, which has already exceeded well over 600,000 plays on YouTube.

Check out “down 4 u feat. Kizuna AI” on YouTube for a cool slice of language-barrier-busting pop!