Oneohtrix Point Never embarked on a collaboration with Usher that the pair ultimately abandoned, the producer has told Dazed in a new interview. Daniel Lopatin said that working with the R&B singer helped guide him to the place where he created new solo album Age Of.

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Lopatin revealed that he met Usher after the singer came to see ANOHNI on tour. He worked on her 2016 album HOPELESSNESS and was introduced to the singer after a live show. "He asked to speak with me like, “Hey, why don’t you demo some stuff with me?” So I got into this whole thing of listening to peak Jermaine Dupri-era stuff and thinking about just how incredible Usher’s voice was. But at the same time, when I was demoing for him, I wanted to imagine him augmenting my topline, so I had to embarrassingly create that topline. And then once I did, I kind of loved how bad – well, not bad – but how ‘me’ it was. It wasn’t virtuosity, it was something more interesting than that in a way. It was an important thing for me to do because I wanted to get back into doing stuff for myself.

Although the recording sessions led nowehere, "it didn’t matter because it was kind of an awakening for me," Lopatin added.

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Age Of, which features James Blake, Kelsey Lu, and Prurient, is out on June 1 via Warp.

