Zedd Unveils The Artistic Vision Behind 'Telos' In Intimate 1824 Press Conference

In a recent press conference hosted by 1824, Grammy-winning artist Zedd opened up about his latest album, Telos, his first in nearly a decade.

The multi-platinum artist, who's been riding high with billion-stream hits like "The Middle," decided to shake things up this time. "I'm going to make a record for myself; it's not going to be for the streams; it's most certainly not going to be for the algorithms," he said.

Telos has been cooking for a while—we're talking ideas from as far back as 2015. Zedd threw in some surprising collabs, too, like John Mayer and Muse. It's clear this album means a lot to him personally. When asked about its name, meaning 'end, purpose, goal,' he admitted, "Telos really is, in that regard, like a personal accomplishment that I have a goal that I have reached that I wasn't sure I could."

The artist also touched on the unique structure of the album. He's crafted Telos to be a journey of songs that each flow into the next. Instead of creating what he says feels like a playlist, he's making an experience; "One way to create a journey is, or one way to get somebody to listen to the whole album front to back, is by making it better than a playlist."

Responding to a question about the differences between the EDM community and other fanbases, Zedd praised its spirit of acceptance and support. "I think you mentioned my favorite part of the community—it's based around love and acceptance, and I think that alone is something that is not a given in today's world unfortunately," he said.

Telos is Zedd pushing himself creatively. It's taken him nearly ten years to craft and release one of his most innovative and explorative projects yet. And it's definitely worth a listen. Find Telos, Zedd's third studio album, on all digital streaming platforms.