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If you've dipped your toe into pop-dance/EDM music in the last decade, it's hard not to have heard the work of globally successful music producer and DJ, Zedd. From early 2010s hits like 'Clarity (feat. Foxes)', 'Break Free (with Ariana Grande)', and 'Stay The Night (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) to more recent breakthroughs like 'Starving (with Hailee Steinfeld & Grey),' 'Stay (feat. Alessia Cara),' and 'The Middle (feat. Maren Morris),' Zedd's work in the domain of singles and collaborations has achieved longevity and commercial success that's almost unheard of for DJ/producers.
Zedd has now spent the last four years pursuing something he hasn't in almost a decade - the production of a full-length album all his own. Telos, released August 30 via Interscope Records, brings to fruition an ambitious and intricately crafted music-listening experience that sees Zedd embracing his own artistic freedom.
"The true form of artistry is to do what you as a human being, as the artist yourself, whatever that is that you want to do."
In between dates of the Telos Tour, Zedd sat down for a lengthy chat with music journalists partnered with UMG Music's 1824 Collective. Radiating comfort with the group of fellow music-lovers on the call and an almost childlike excitement to share his journey in the creation of Telos and its tour, you'd never connect the down-to-earth persona of the artist on screen sharing stories about his work with the worldly-known brand of Zedd who has Grammy awards and Billboard Top 10 hits on his resume.
Telos sees Zedd in a position to explore the artist he wants to be in the next decade of his career, rather than relying on the formulas that have granted him commercial success. While the album still makes it incredibly apparent that his expertise lies in EDM, his reinvention of Jeff Buckley's 'Dream Brother' and the cinematic, alt-rock-inspired closer '1685 (feat. Muse)' reiterate that Zedd isn't chasing another Top 10 hit. "As a human being, I love everything and I love all sorts of music. And ultimately, the true form of artistry isn't to make what people expect you to make and what you're known for," Zedd says. "There's a lot of Zedd's along the way. The true form of artistry is to do what you as a human being, as the artist yourself, whatever that is that you want to do."
Those artistic choices were clearly still at the forefront of Zedd's mind even in the aftermath of Telos's release. When asked about what pushed him to defy the expectations of his previous work, his response was simple: "What does the song, the composition, scream it wants to be? And whatever that is, it will be." He illustrated that the process also wasn't just about the creation of individual songs, but rather about the album as as complete project. "The choices I then started making, where in the album does it sit, what function does it have, what song is before and after. In the case of 'Sona', that kind of song would be awesome to lead into 'Lucky', which was a cornerstone of the album, so I wrote it in the key to perfectly transition into 'Lucky.'" While 'Lucky (feat. Remi Wolf)' is arguably the most commercially successful track from Telos, 'Sona' is a far cry from a radio hit; it's a fully orchestral track, incorporating Irish whistles and live drums coupled with Zedd's synthy signature. "Those were the decisions that I then made as sort of the utility to get the song to be functional within the album. But artistically speaking, it's like whatever BPM the song is, it is. Whatever time signature it is, it is."
His peace with the interwoven quilt of genres is apparent all across Telos, from sunny, pop-orchestral 'Out of Time (feat. Bea Miller)' to groovy, electro-riff-studded 'Automatic Yes (feat. John Mayer).' He uses this blend of musical styles to create an album-lovers dream, where songs seamlessly blend from one to another. "I've loved albums that are journeys. One way to get somebody to listen to the whole album front to back is by making it better than a playlist," Zedd reflects. Zedd knows a thing or two about playlists too, having spent much of his career producing collaborations that get added to Top Hits playlists and being sent to radio. But Telos proves that he also knows how to shape the music to portray his own journey. "What a playlist can't do is intelligently morph into the next song. It can connect the songs, but one thing you can do when you write an album is connect one song to another while not forgetting that breaks are incredibly important."
The album title, Telos, is derived from Greek, meaning the ultimate aim or end of an artistic endeavor. To Zedd, the album's creation was a goal-directed process. He had a few different goals in mind. Musically, he was aiming for an artistic accomplishment, "it felt like an album where things are truly connected and not just glued together, but actually musically connected. Something really cinematic. Genre-blending." But Telos meant something even more to Zedd personally: "I decided this isn't going to be a commercial album for everybody, this is going to be a work of art [for] 20 years from now. I decided to make that kind of album and I took that time and I'm really, really proud of it. The goal was completion. To me, that was all I wanted and I can't believe I finally did it."
Thanks to 1824 - UMG's Creative Solutions team.
