Thursday 30 April 2015

Z is for Zedd



Zedd is a Russian DJ and music producer who rose to fame for his remixes of songs such as Lady Gaga's Marry the Night and Skrillex's Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. Born as Anton Zaslavski, he grew up in Germany where he was classically trained. He developed an interest in electronic music after listening to by French electronic duo Justice. His debut album, Clarity, was released in 2012.

While the album itself was met with mixed reviews, its title track would help bring his music into the limelight, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earning him a Grammy for Best Dance Recording. A deluxe edition was later released, and it contained the song, Stay the Night, a collaboration with Hayley Williams that served as the reissue's lead single. His other production credits include Justin Bieber's Beauty and the Beat, Ariana Grande's Break Free, as well as the Lady Gaga songs, G.U.Y., Aura and Donatella.

His second album, True Colors, is slated for release on the 19th of May. Its lead single is a collaboration with Selena Gomez, his rumored girlfriend. The song, titled I Want You to Know, was co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. Its video was inspired by 70s disco and music videos from that era, like ABBA's Dancing Queen which I'd highlighted at the start of the 2015 Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and as such it serves as a perfect close to my month-long, music-themed posts.


24 comments:

  1. Why are you my clarity? #Awesome!
    Not really heard much of Zedd, just this one.. I used to think she was a girl! :-P
    Now I know better!

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    1. An understandable mistake, considering the vocals were done by a female singer called Foxes. Glad you like that track though; you should totally check out the whole album because it is just as awesome. :)

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  2. Last day! Thanks for all the new music artistes I learnt from you, and the old ones I'd nearly gotten about. It was a great experience. Cheers

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    1. That's right, Keren. Looks like we made it to the end of the Challenge. Glad I could introduce you to some new music along the way. :D

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  3. Selena Gomez. Ends with a "z."

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    1. LOL. You're right! I never would have noticed that if you hadn't pointed it out. :D

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  4. From DJ and producer to a musician in his own right - nice!

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    1. That's right. Doesn't have the singing chops like Calvin Harris, Porter Robinson, Madeon and some of his other peers though. :)

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  5. Well done on finding a Z. I've never heard of this guy, it's not really my thing.

    Yay, it's Z day. Congrats on making it through.

    Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

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    1. Thanks, Annalisa. It's been a wild ride, made even better by having people like you along for the ride. :D

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  6. Congrats on making it to Z Michael! You were an awesome Minion this year and I want to give you a HUGE thank you for all your hard work! And to tell you how much fun I had reading all your music posts. It reminded me of some great music and I've been adding songs to my playlists all month.

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    1. Thanks, Lauren. It was a pleasure working with you this year. And like I've suspected all along, you've also got awesome tastes in music. :D

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  7. My daughter danced wonderfully to the slow version of Clarity at her dance show. So I like that one! Congrats on a great Challenge, you highlighted some great artists and have excellent taste!

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