Zedd‘s career trajectory defies logic and reason, with the producer going from fairly unknown remixer to headlining act in the span of only a few years. Right now, Zedd embarks on the massive True Colors Tour, hitting arenas across the United States with mind-bending production and a new special guest each stop. Miami-based magazine Ocean Drive chatted with Zedd before his Miami stop, and the interview uncovered some new information about Zedd’s creative process and various collaborations.
Zedd discussed collaborating with artists such as Lady Gaga, who the producer cited as the artist who most inspired him. Zedd worked with Gaga on her album ARTPOP, and was surprised by how much the two ended up going back and forth on their music. The producer admitted that he’s usually the one steering the direction in a collaboration, but worked with Gaga very closely on songwriting and production.
Zedd also opened up about his relationship with Skrillex, who the producer credits with giving him his big break. Zedd sent Skrillex a message on Myspace back when the social media website served as a hub for music producers, and Skrillex just so happened to listen to his track and formed a relationship with him. The producer admits that now they “share management, agents, attorneys” and “every single part of our team is pretty much the same.”
Zedd also used to go through his Soundcloud messages to listen to new artists, but doesn’t anymore because millions of people jumped on the bandwagon of messaging artists. A shame, but we can’t blame Zedd for avoiding the spamming plague of music social media.