Zedd Shares Why he Feared ‘Telos’ Could be His Final Album

After a nine-year hiatus from full-length projects, Zedd, born Anton Zaslavski, has released his third album, ‘Telos’. The 10-track album features collaborations with artists such as John Mayer, Muse, Remi Wolf, and Bea Miller. 

The title holds significant meaning for the Grammy-winning DJ, representing both the completion of a goal and the possibility of an end.  Zedd shared, “I, for a minute, thought maybe this would be my last piece of music… I was really overworked, I was burned out, and musically, I felt like I had poured my entire soul into this album.”

Image Courtesy: People

Despite taking nearly a decade between albums, Zedd remained active, producing hits like ‘Stay’ with Alessia Cara and ‘The Middle’ with Maren Morris and Grey. Reflecting on the tracks, he explained how Telos captures a range of emotions. 

“‘Out of Time’ sets the mood… it has that theatrical bit, a drop, a really emotional and super strong vocal.” On the lighter side, he described ‘Lucky’ as representing the fun, pop element of the album, with the rest of the tracks balancing between those two styles.

The process of making ‘Telos’ was a challenging one, pushing Zedd to his creative limits. However, the thought that this could have been his final album made the end result even more meaningful.

“If you know that something is going to be the last thing you ever do, you better make it perfect,” Zedd reflected. He explained that a sense of finality drove him to ensure the album reflected his legacy and was crafted exactly as he envisioned. With ‘Telos’, Zedd has delivered a project that holds deep personal significance and artistic precision.

-Sushmita Sarkar