Zedd thought his latest album would be his last.
The 35-year-old DJ – whose real name is Anton Zaslavski – released his third studio album ‘Telos’ at the end of August and admitted that he thought about quitting the industry immediately afterward because of the “burnout” he had suffered.
He told People: “Another meaning of Telos is ‘the end,’ and I, for a minute, thought maybe this would be my last piece of music that I would ever release. I was really overworked, I was burned out, and musically I felt like I had poured my entire soul into this album and have nothing left to say..”
The ‘Clarity’ hitmaker was determined for his latest record to be “perfect” despite the extra work it required and likes to think of the whole project as being part of his “legacy” to the world.
He added: “I really wanted this album to be perfect, and it required just a ton more work. ‘Out of Time’ sets the mood. It’s the beginning of the album, and it really sort of has a little bit of everything. It has that theatrical bit, a drop, a really emotional and super strong vocal. I think ‘Lucky’ represents more so the fun, pop side of the album, and everything else on the album lives somewhere between those two worlds..
“If you know that something is going to be the last thing you ever do, you better make it perfect.”
“Part of the perfection that I see in this album comes from the feeling of, ‘This may be like my legacy. I better do exactly what I want to do with this album.”