Read Crazy Rich Asians Director Jon M. Chu’s Letter to Coldplay Asking to Use “Yellow”

Coldplay’s tune “Yellow” is used within the new romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, and apparently it took a letter from director Jon M. Chu for the band to log off on it. The letter, revealed in the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, sees Chu clarify the tune and title’s significance to him. “From being called the word in a derogatory way throughout grade school, to watching movies where they called the cowardly people yellow, it’s always been a negative connotation in my life,“ he wrote. “That is, until I heard your song. For the first time in my life, it described the color in the most beautiful, magical ways I had ever heard: the color of the stars, her skin, the love.”

The Chinese-language model of “Yellow” used within the film was recorded by Katherine Ho, a USC faculty pupil and former contestant on “The Voice.” Read Chu’s full letter to Coldplay here. Crazy Rich Asians is in theaters now.