Sabrina Carpenter & Jonas Blue on The Zach Sang Worldwide Countdown

One day, Sabrina Carpenter tweeted Jonas Blue saying how much she loved his track “By Your Side,” and—PLOT TWIST—he had no idea who she was.

That didn’t stop the two from becoming good friends though (thank god). “I went online and listened to her music first,” Jonas tells Zach Sang on this week’s installation of the Worldwide Countdown. “When I heard her voice, I was just like, wow… I really want to make a song with her.”

Unlike the way most artist collabs come to be—cough, with the help of many agents and managers and more—Jonas replied to Sabrina directly and the two made plans to meet.

As they were writing together, the idea that love feels alien came to mind. “The goal was to do something different and [create something] that people were uncomfortable with on the first listen,” Sabrina explained. “I think that’s how people develop and I think that’s how change happens—just by trying something a little weird.”

Sabrina goes on to say that they duo decided the word “alien” perfectly encapsulated a feeling they couldn’t otherwise describe. “We wanted to a create a song that… anyone could relate to, and everyone, at some point in their life, has felt alienated within their own emotions,” Sabrina said.

Et voilà—we were given the incredible track, “Alien!”

For more about this dynamic duo, a weird conversation about Sabrina’s bellybutton and more, listen to full interview above!