Zedd met in “The Middle” to talk about his new album ‘Telos’
On Sept. 18, °1824, Universal Music Group’s culture marketing & creative strategy division, hosted a press conference call with Interscope Records’ GRAMMY award-winning producer and artist, Zedd. Being an accomplished industry member, he had many words of advice and insights into his creative process.
Telos features ten songs unbounded by genre. Zedd’s music is normally classified as Electronic Dance Music (EDM), but for this latest album, Telos, he hones in on his classical background and created an album for himself. He explained how he didn’t want to create an album for streams, likes, or algorithms because it makes creating less special. “It’s gonna be for people who love art, people who like sitting down and listening to music as a form of entertainment and not having it play in the background while they do something else,” Zedd said.
Zedd ‘Telos’ Album Cover. PHOTO: Interscope Records
He admitted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was hard to find musical inspiration and get into the correct headspace, even though he had all the time in the world to do it. He wanted this album to be special and not just created for the sake of doing so. Unlike his last two albums, “Clarity” and “True Colors,” his new album developed as a concept.
Coming from a background of various musical genres like jazz, rock, classical, alternative, and funk, Zedd wanted this album to reflect those roots. He wanted this album to become a playground where his songs could live freely without being tied down. He has also grown so much as an artist and producer since 2015. “My sound is just a lot more mature and less show-offy. It’s just knowing when less is more and knowing the right places to explore,” Zedd said.
The definition of Telos is to aim at a goal or accomplishment, which is precisely what Zedd has done with this album. The album features many collaborators and vocalists, which Zedd credits as having shaped him into the artist and person he is. Artists like John Mayer, Jeff Buckley, Bea Miller, Remi Wolf, and Muse are huge inspirations and enable the sound of Telos to come alive through the vocalists. Zedd was fully involved in the vocal process and wanted everything to match the “stained glass world” he envisioned.
Zedd. PHOTO: Nick Walker
One piece of advice that Zedd gave during the conference was about reflecting on his growth as a person, especially when it related to his mental health. Throughout the process of creating the album, he poured his heart and soul into it, leaving him with less creative juices.
“A career is kind of like a flight. The takeoff takes so much fuel and once you’re up there you get a little bit of flight time and making an album like this takes more energy…” he said.
Zedd contributed his burn out to working so hard on this album and feeling like he had given all he could give. But he voiced the importance of taking breaks and getting into a different headspace when creating. He said, “Burning yourself out isn’t worth it. It’s a really tricky balance because everyone has a different breaking point.” This is true for so many artists in the industry so it’s great to see someone with Zedd’s platform preaching mental health and how burnout is normal.
Zedd will continue to reinvent the EDM sound and evolve the genre into encororpating all different music styles. His songs are all made to be playable in the EDM world and will continue to do so. But his artistry is about breaking down genre expectations and stepping outside of the traditional box. This is why his new album Telos is a must listen album and should be viewed as a musical experience.
“This is all I wanted and I can’t believe I finally did it. So Telos in that regard is an accomplishment — a goal that I have reached that I wasn’t sure I could reach,” Zedd concluded.