Zedd is an EDM artist most known for his record breaking work that has landed him in the billions club. One of his most played songs,  “Clarity” featuring Foxes, created a build for his career; which includes other big music names like Ariana Grande (“Break Free”), Selena Gomez (“I Want You To Know”), and Maren Morris (“The Middle”). These are just some of the many successors who have brought Zedd’s music to life. After not releasing an album for nearly a decade, Zedd came back with his concept album Telos on August 30, 2024. Within this album listeners will find a beautiful switch compared to Zedd’s previous album work, for it is an album of artistic thinking and ranging genres. The ten-track album painted by the creator Zedd himself said, “Knowing when less is more…an album where things are glued together”. 

°1824, a network of young creatives focused on content and the connection of artists directly to fans, hosted a Zoom call for publications, like Thirteen Magazine, that gives creatives the chance to document Zedd’s inspiring journey from a billion’s club title holder to finding a more vulnerable point in his career. Moments within the conversation included fun talks about video games, exciting backstories, and emotional truths from the artist’s life.

Zedd described Telos as, “Not for the people who put me in the billions club…for people who like art” and declared the tracklist of songs to act as a playground and not particularly for the streams. This album curates a new meaning of music for him and as recognized after the one hour discussion, was a much needed release of refreshing feelings musically. “I love albums that are journeys”, says Zedd as he was talking about his own album filled with journeys, Telos.

The most interesting section of conversation was when Zedd described how he had begun the era of Telos and where it came from. He first launched the time period of the awakening of creation for the piece which was in 2020, during the pandemic. After years of being uninspired, he stated that he was very inspired during that time. Zedd started off, “A career is kind of like a flight, an album like this takes more time”. From the start of the album, he knew that he wanted this LP to not be a commercial album such as his previous hit albums Clarity in 2012 and True Colors in 2015. Now, almost a decade later, Telos released his new confidence in his conception for music. Zedd expressed how Telos is fully a concept album, much more than Clarity and True Colors, landing somewhere in between. Zedd quoted, “There’s a lot of Zedds along the way”. As a listener, it was interesting to hear him categorize his work because of his titles as an EDM artist or as a DJ. He is living proof that behind any artist or any musician, the purpose is just as powerful as the next steps. For the album to make sense in its full concept, audiences would have to know the intricate thinking behind the genre. Zedd’s dissection of Telos is that it is a concept album that was made from exploring genres with the goal of having an orchestra connect everything together. Telos is filled with all kinds of genres, working together to create Zedd’s overall vision by using his many likings of musical genres, and not just sticking to EDM. In a great explanation Zedd shared, “I’m mostly known for EDM, but as a human being I love everything”. His style has become more of what he loves rather than what everybody else loves. The fearless act of being true to himself created a new profile for him, what he loves as a person and not just as a successful DJ in the music industry. Zedd later shared how the song “Automatic Yes”, featuring John Mayer, was one of the songs that challenged this idea of a new sound. Zedd explained a fun story about him and John Mayer in the studio and how they meant for the song to be taken uniquely, “It will give you just a little bit more anxiety in a sense”. He informed the call that while experimenting tempos with the song he and Mayer had mixed feelings about the melody throughout the song.

An additional artist who was mentioned as a part of Zedd’s collaborators was Bea Miller, who is heard on two tracks: “Out of Time” and “Tangerine Rays”. As Zedd was describing his creative decisions to make the album what he wanted he mentioned to Miller, “She can be a Billie Eilish, she can be an Adele”. Her range of voice was a plus for Zedd’s creative abilities to be able to use different songs to enhance the overall album. As said best by Zedd, "Most of the songs I couldn’t make in an EDM sense”, which is why he is calling it a concept album.

Zedd was able to open up about the journey he took to get to his creation of Telos, saying that it surprises people. “If I had to redo Telos I never would. It’s kind of an emotional outputting,” Zedd confessed. Zedd admitted to some vulnerable moments including mental health, the struggle of burnout with something you love, and how creativity led to his now most honest album. Zedd explained, “Mental health is unbelievably important…you lose by not taking care of your well being”. He then continued, “Everybody has a different breaking point for making music…take a breather, take a day off”. Zedd used his journey to inspire listeners and the world through the album alone. Behind every album is a different story and is about a time in someone’s life that craves to be expressed correctly through music. His advice and experience will hopefully impact other artists whether small or as large as him to take care of themselves and have trust in the creative processes that may bring struggles. 

Zedd took a funny take on collaborating, keeping listeners of the conversation on their toes. When asked about collaborating his first answer was an innocent, “I don’t like collaborating”. His explanation was extremely valid and sensible. His overall point to audiences was that collaborations can hold a lot of expectation within one small thing, like a single track. As an artist who has collaborated with many singers, it can seem confusing, but his focus on the statement was directed to working with other producers like himself. 

One of the last conversations Zedd endured brought cheerful attention to his upcoming tour, Telos. Zedd’s exciting tour will even include shows that are a part of his very own festival, “Zedd in the Park”. “When I get to play shows sometimes people are smiling or crying in a good way”, Zedd said of the love he has for performing live shows. He continued, “The world could use a lot of what the EDM world stands for. Everything is built around supporting each other”. As a collaborator, Zedd has been known to have hits with artists in the Pop genre. Zedd had an interesting take on the comparable aspects between the main EDM and Pop ways in the business, “In Pop there is so much spite and competition”. An admirable trait that I took from Zedd with those answers is the pure geniality and that he is purely down to Earth about his career which proves his point between Pop and EDM artists. 

This amazing opportunity held by 1824 was an inspiring event to be a part of. After the conversations with Zedd, I feel that I understand Zedd better as an artist, as well as a person. Through Zedd’s own quoted statements, as well as overall understandings of what Telos is meant for and how far he’s come, it shows off a beautiful rendition of his long and stamping career. It was an honor to attend such a special hour of wondering, learning, and admiring. As listeners or fellow creators, I hope everyone can relate Zedd’s confirmation of, “I’ve never been so proud of any piece of music I’ve ever made”.