It’s been an exciting year for Zedd, who recently received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with his song “Stay” featuring Alessia Cara. As the producer reflects on a huge 2017 (and gears up for 2018), it’s clear the “Stay” collaboration was one of his biggest successes in recent history.
In a new feature with Variety, the producer talks exactly how the monster pop hit came to be: “I was thinking of who could be a good fit for a vocal, and I was in the car and I heard an Alessia Cara song on the radio,” Zedd explained. “I thought her voice was really close in terms of vocal color and expression to the demo vocal.”
Zedd Talks “Stay” Collaboration
As fate had it, they met a day later. “Thirty minutes into meeting her I asked if she wanted to be on the track. I didn’t know her, so it was the perfect moment to be like hey… (laughs) I have this song I want you to sing.” 
But Zedd is still adjusting to the Grammy nod, being that it doesn’t fall under an electronic category.
“I was like, ‘Wait, why am I not nominated in dance?’ But whatever genre is becoming popular is pop, so it was kind of a really nice validation that I was nominated in that category because it shows that I’ve progressed as an artist, and that I didn’t stick with what I was doing the entire time.”
Zedd Talks New Albums
Looking ahead, there are even bigger things on the horizon for Zedd. He’s planning on not just one new album, but two. The single-worthy songs he’s been producing are very much in the “Stay” lane, while the other album goes a completely different direction.
“They’re these long chord progressions that I’ve been writing that I don’t even know how to put into electronic music yet. Maybe I’m just going to go the opposite route and write a score — or make it orchestral, and use them for something else or somebody else.”
But will he return to his dance music roots?
“I’m sure at some point, I’ll go back. The most important part as an artist is to always follow exactly what you want to do, and never follow what people want you to do.”
