@atira.hope: My LIFE CHANGING love for @skrillex all began in 6th grade when I first got an iPod nano. I had my mom pay .99 cents for Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Cinema, and a variety of other tracks that made me feel unique, cool, misunderstood, and different. But surprisingly, I found someone else at school that liked Skrillex too!!! Weston and I bonded over Skrillex during class and it became a life long friendship. Our young love for Skrillex and the golden age of EDM, attracted other headbangers like us, years later. Which was the invention of our high school friend group: “the SQUAD”. The people that were in “the SQUAD” are now DJs, professional producers in the UK, musicians, flow artists, tattoo artists, and ME: AN ARTIST designing clothes and collectibles tailored towards ravers and EDM festival peeps. Once we were old enough to drive, we started going to raves in 2016/17. I vividly remember Ganja White Night Halloween show at the Palladium in Worcester. I got a glove show, traded Kandi, wore space buns, felt the bass in my chest, and had a spiritual experience wearing diffraction glasses. I felt the magic in the crowd, (not just at the small raves we would throw at our friends houses). My life was changed. It was ALWAYS MY DREAM to see Skrillex because that’s what started it all for me. If I had not loved him, bonded with over him and started “the SQUAD” I probably would have stayed in college to be a psychologist or something. I’ve been raving since 2016 but my first festival was Envision, 2023. Since then, I’ve been to 25 festivals total, in less than 4 years!! I was at Elements in 2023 and was SO hyped because Skrillex was on the lineup!! My dream was coming true… or so I thought… 😭😭😭 Once the venue re-opened after some rain, my friend João and I ditched the group and RAN towards the stage so we could get a good spot for Skrill-Daddy. I had THE TIME OF MY LIFEEE. I took videos for Weston, being sad he wasn’t there with me. But I was still SO happy that I basically blacked out on happiness. This was such a peak moment for me that I had “concert amnesia”. But I luckily got videos!! I went home from Elements (after a few traumatic events that were unrelated), riding the high of my first time seeing Skrillex. Then a few weeks later, his set came out on YouTube, and my heart SANK when I saw the thumbnail… I said “why is this video of his set at fire stage? I saw him play at earth stage”… and that’s when I realized… I NEVER EVEN SAW SKRILLEX!!!!!!!!! I SOBBED. I called Weston. I came to terms with the fact that I was genuinely too happy and joyful that I truly didn’t even look at who was playing on stage and trusted that it was Skrillex… but turns out I was actually watching SUBTRONICS!!!! (Who played a few Skrillex bangers so I was convinced it was him, I was just confused why he didn’t play Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites…) I was truly too happy and delulu to question what I was hearing or double check what stage he was supposed to play at. I continued crying, thinking I wouldn’t see Skrillex for YEARS, because he rarely tours. But 2 days later, the lineup for @hijinx 2023 dropped. And Weston and I bought our tix as soon as we could, so we could actually see Skrillex for our first time… together!!! And that was the birth of this video in the reel. The real moment I actually got to see Skrillex. I still love him and thank him in my heart all the time, for making his music back in the day because it truly shaped my early friendships, and now, my career as an artist in the EDM scene… thank you Sonny Moore, I love you. Love, Atira

Atira Hope

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Thursday 10 September 2026 15:46:23 GMT