Eager to be back in India, for the fans and the food: Zedd

Zedd almost quit music after “pouring everything” he had into his latest album Telos. "I was pretty sure this would be my last," the Grammy-winning artiste admits. Now, he's bringing that album to his fans around the world. Ahead of his India tour, the German EDM sensation speaks to us candidly about the pressures of the creative industry, the negativity of social media, and how going quiet online has helped him feel "a lot saner."
‘I'm prepping for my trip to India by eating spicy food’
I'm looking forward to finally seeing my fans. I'm also looking forward to eating Indian food. I remember the last time I was in India, I remember tasting spices I've never tasted before. It was like this awakening moment. I didn't realize how incredible Indian cuisine was until then. I tasted so many new thing. I don't handle spicy food well, so I'm prepping for my trip to India by eating spicy food.
‘After some time off, I'm relatively positive that this album won't be the last thing people hear from me'
I released Clarity, and then it took me a few years, three years, to release True Colors. Then it took me nine years to do Telos. And so by that math, my next album should come in about 27 years. Maybe it's just going to take some time, but I just felt like I didn't have anything left to say. This was my grand work, and there was just nothing left for me to say. I was pretty sure this would be my last. And I think what led me to feeling this way is that I kind of poured everything I had into it. Emotionally, I was drained from working on the album. Physically, I lost tons of weight even though I didn’t mean to, just because I was so stressed and didn’t get enough sleep. And it took me nearly a decade to feel all these emotions to be able to make an album like that. But after a little bit of time off, I started getting inspiration again, and I’m relatively positive that it won’t be the last thing people will hear from me.

‘If you’re in a creative field; you're always working, your brain never shuts down’
As an artiste, you have to strike a very difficult balance. After all these years, I still struggle to find that balance, but I strive to do better every single day at finding that perfect balance. One thing I have introduced into my life, by advice of a friend of mine who's in the industry as well, is when I wake up, when I’m at home, the first part of my day is all about health and well-being. I wake up. I do my workout, do my cold plunge, and everything has to start afterward. Sometimes, I envy people with nine-to-five jobs; they finish work and can do whatever they want. It’s never like that in a creative field; you’re always working, your brain never shuts down.
‘I want to work with artistes in different genres to explore sounds I can’t create alone’
There are a lot of artistes I would love to collaborate with, and they range from somebody like Billie Eilish who has an angelic voice to somebody like Radiohead who is one of the greatest living artists, and a band that has deeply inspired me, or somebody like Silverchair. I enjoy collaborating with artists who don’t do the same thing I do.
‘The internet has slowly turned into just an engagement-baiting circle’
I think people are just really rude, mean, and negative on the internet. This is just the state of social media and the internet in 2025. I welcome you to open any tweet. The first top comment or top reply will always be somebody saying something negative. It’s never something just positive. People just tend to have a negative emotion to anything you say or do. And then, of course, some people come to your defense, but in general, it’s just this overarching negativity lingering over all of the internet. And I'm sure whoever's listening to this is going to say something negative about what I said, and that's just how the circle of the internet.
'It's crazy to realize that I'm living the dream that I've made for myself as a child'
I have always dreamed of making music for my life. I never really dreamed of anything else. And it’s crazy to realize
that I’m living the dream that I’ve made for myself as a child. I have just followed my gut, and have gone from classical music to jazz to funk to rock to metal to hardcore to dance to pop to a combination of it all - which is kind of where I am right now.
Zedd is bringing his Telos Tour to India for two Sunburn Arena shows in Bengaluru on March 6 and Delhi on March 7. He will also perform at Lollapalooza, on March 8 and 9 at Mahalaxmi Racecourse in Mumbai