Hold up, everyone!
It’s Zedd’s confession time.
Russian-German musician DJ/ music producer Anton Zaslavski, otherwise known as Zedd, primarily produces in the electro house genre. His critically acclaimed production to date includes “Clarity” which charted at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 of the US Hot Dance Club Songs. In addition to his achievements, his track “Break Free” peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, and he has also won a Grammy award for “Best Dance Recording” at the 56th Grammy Awards for “Clarity”.
With his outstanding results in the EDM industry, many would assume that he likes to be that DJ who plays behind the deck, however, that’s not the case.
Through an interview with Rolling Stone regarding his sophomore album “True Colors“, Zedd revealed that he wants to be known as musician instead of an EDM DJ. For Zedd, “True Colors” has been his most aspiring production inspired and built around the music he has listened to throughout his entire life and he made sure that each track conveyed a different emotion and sound.
He stated:
I had a song that was very similar to one of the other songs on the album, so even though I loved the song — it probably would have been a single — I cut it out.
When asked if there was any pressure that he encountered following the success of “Clarity” and how did he managed the thrust, Zedd’s reply was rather intense.
He revealed:
It’s boring to stay the same. I can’t make “Clarity” 10 times. I’m bored of it; I made it once and I want to move on. It’s important for me that my fans know I’m Zedd the musician, not Zedd the EDM DJ. And if I decide to make an acoustic album next time, which is very well possible, that’s still me. My heart is in there. It doesn’t mean that sonically the sound will be the same.
As far as influences go, it took us by surprise when Zedd made a disclosure that he is not inspired by EDM at all, but instead, song-structure-wise ones. He said that his flashes of inspirations come from artistes like The Beatles and Queen Lady Gaga, as well as bands like Silverchair, Radiohead, Queen of the Stone Age, Feeder, and Justice.
Zedd went on to say:
I wanted to sound like Justice. I wanted to know to know how to do that.
As for his friendship with Skrillex, well..
The bond that was built between the soft-spoken 25-year-old boy and the “electrostep” DJ/producer Skrillex is undeniably strong as he revealed that Skrillex has had a role in nurturing his career and artistic development. Zedd gave credit to Skrillex for courageously training him, the freshman – from playing his music out, to taking Zedd on tour, to train the introvert to connect and communicate with the crowd.
Zedd gushed:
It came to the point where we played a tour in Mexico. He had his new production, he had his new team, and I watched the show. And I know he’s doing it live, because I know him, but the production was so on point — it was unbelievable. It was the first time I realized you can be perfect live.
“True Colors” has now been released and you can purchase it here.
Till then, let’s reminisce via his classic pop songwriting hit “Clarity”:
So, what’s your opinion on this? Will you continue to support Zedd if he didn’t release a track or an album that’s of the EDM genre? Leave your thoughts at the comments box below 🙂
Source: Rollingstone
