Tag: Zedd

Zedd, Elley Duhé – Happy Now

“Plinky xylophone not-quite-tropical synths.”

Tom: This song’s been around for ages, but they’ve just released a new video, so that’s good enough for me to feature it here. Yesterday we talked about a song that didn’t reach its full potential, and I think this is the same — but I’m worried that, both here and yesterday, “full potential” just means “not enough bass”.

Tom: Because that vocal chorus is so incredibly good, even down the 80s-style synth vocoder. And then just as you’re preparing for a big chorus, you get… plinky xylophone not-quite-tropical synths. It’s like a kid’s toybox suddenly got a “half-arsed remix” button.

Tim: I know exactly what you mean, and you’re not wrong – that did seem like a sudden anti-climax. On the other hand, it’s there as a style, and people like it a lot.

Tom: I know, this is what Zedd does sometimes, and I know, this song is astonishingly popular. But you know what? I think it needs to be more like Hourglass, which is still my favourite track off Clarity.

Tim: ‘Needs’ is a strong word there, even though I agree with the sentiment. It’s fine as it is – though I too would like more.

Tom: Maybe it didn’t reach its full potential. Or maybe I just like different things.

Tim: Crazy, this subjectivity thing, isn’t it?

Zedd, Liam Payne – Get Low

“Gellow! Gellow! Hanson-yehwes-lestgo!”

Tim: Hey, remember six weeks or so ago when no-one in the world could believe quite how useless Liam’s solo debut was? Well here’s a speedy follow-up.

Tom: “Gellow! Gellow! Hanson-yehwes-lestgo!” I wouldn’t normally pick on someone for their diction in a song, but it’s like he’s deliberately slurring.

Tim: I mean it’s still not remotely brilliant, and I think what we have here is very much what we had with Niall: first single is entirely shit, so the second single can only really go up. There are definitively good things about it, though: the music is good, although most of that probably comes from Zedd so, erm, hmm.

Tom: Right! Liam could be replaced by any generic session vocalist here. Which isn’t bad in itself, there are plenty of vocalists who make their mark in other ways, but… well, he hasn’t.

Tim: It doesn’t have any lyrics like “I used to be in 1D, now I’m free”, though that might just be because by the end of the song it feels like ninety per cent of all the words ever spoken have been “get low”.

Tom: Or, indeed, “gellow”.

Tim: Peculiarly, there is one scenario that no-one seems to have at all considered (except possibly Louis – great interview, that): that not all members of the group should pursue solo careers. I don’t quite know where the expectation came from, unless it’s just that “people will listen to them, so just get on and make them, alright?” But now we’re here, and everyone’s going to compare them, and some will inevitably come off worse. And Liam: well, you’re not in first place right now.

Tom: Harsh, but not unfair.

Zedd feat. Selena Gomez – I Want You To Know

“Are you going somewhere with this?”

Tom: Remember that brilliant song that Zedd did with Ariana Grande?

Tim: Yes.

Tom: Or that brilliant song Zedd did with Hayley Williams?

Tim: Yup.

Tom: Or that brilliant song Zedd did with Foxes?

Tim: Are you going somewhere with this?

Tom: Well, it’s just like all those, only not as good.

Tim: Ah.

Tom: The structure’s roughly the same, the instrumentation’s roughly the same — the only thing that’s missing is the astonishing notes that Ariana Grande can hit, or the incredibly catchy, singalong melody that Hayley Williams was given, or the brilliant vocal quality of Foxes.

Tim: Yeah – there’s nothing particularly interesting about this – it’s kind of in one ear and out the other. Danceable, sure, but it finished just a few seconds ago and I suddenly realised I’d got distracted halfway through and stopped paying attention.

Tom: I mean, it’s not bad: the production is still fantastic, and even a fairly half-assed song is still going to sound good run through all that. Zedd’s got a good style, and it works well here — it just sounds like the formula’s suffering a bit of generation loss after being copied so many times.

Tim: I suppose that’s the problem with having a winning formula – when it’s good, it’s very good; when it’s not, it’s very noticeable.

Saturday Flashback: MAGIC! – Rude (Zedd Remix)

“I couldn’t remember the original, but this is much more likely to stick in my head.”

Tim: Sort of a flashback, this: you may or may not remember the reggae-inspired original from last year, which as far as I’m concerned was a bit take-it-or-leave-it. This here is a little bit different.

Tom: Bloody hell, Zedd knows what he’s doing, doesn’t he?

Tim: He really does. It’s a lot bit different, in fact, because it’s been turned from something people would sing around a campfire once some bellend with a guitar has made his way through all the standard Oasis/Robbie Williams/Bryan Adams necesseties into a proper four to the floor banger, and it doesn’t sound completely and utterly wrong. It does, in fact, sound like it could have been written like this originally.

Tom: Agreed: I couldn’t remember the original, but this is much more likely to stick in my head.

Tim: Right, and if you’re going to judge a remix, I think that would be a decent criteria to start with, so this is basically top notch stuff, and a good example of why Zedd is gradually becoming one of the biggest DJs around. Top work.

Ariana Grande feat. Zedd – Break Free

“What a final chorus: that’s everything a pop song should be”

Tom: I reckon the credits on this should be the other way round.

Tim: I agree.

Tom: Not to talk down Ariana Grande, of course, although I still think she should have changed her name to Ariana Venti when she turned 20.

Tim: A missed trick if ever there was one.

Tom: She has a heck of a voice. Not many people can pull off casually dropping a whistle register into their singing. But this could be any vocalist: the power of this track comes overwhelmingly from Zedd’s backing.

Tim: It really does (and that’s a lot of power in there), but I guess it’s just a question of who composed the tune really, and who they felt took priority. I’m with you, though.

Tom: And what a final chorus: that’s everything a pop song should be, with some pleasingly 90s and 00s tones in there.

I find the bit after that final chorus very odd, though. There should never be anything after a final chorus. And yet, it just turns into Generic Beats — and given the video, that’s in at least two senses of the word — for a few seconds. Bizarre.

Tim: Hmm. I assumed that was just the bit that’s stuck on the end to mix out with, which yes, I suppose is weird in the video. Nice video, though, even it wasn’t quite enough to make me soil myself.

Tom: I skipped over that text intro, which means this really confused me until I worked it out. I thought you regularly soiled yourself at music videos.

Tim: No. No, no.

Zedd feat. Foxes – Clarity

“A big, brash dance CHOON, for it is indeed one of those”

Tim: Yes, I know, this track’s eighteen months old, but in that time Foxes has gone from being ‘Who?’ to ‘Oh, her.’

Tom: And Zedd’s done the same, thanks to that collaboration with Hayley Williams.

Tim: So, let’s cash in on that with a re-release.

Tim: Some say a re-release is cheating, of a sort, because you’re not doing any extra work but you’re hoping to get a whole lot more cash from it. Others would argue quite whether there’s actually such a thing as a re-release in the era of downloads, when songs from a full century ago are still just a few clicks away.

Tom: I was expecting that to be a comedy click, but you’re right: any of those could make it to the top 40.

Tim: Well, at least in theory. But whatever the thoughts are, I’m not bothered, because it’s given us another opportunity to have a chat about this song, which is bloody brilliant. An initially understated first verse, soon building and then giving way to a big, brash dance CHOON (for it is indeed one of those) of an instrumental chorus.

Tom: That’s what Zedd’s good at: EDM choons with strong, repetitive female vocals. It’s odd for a producer like this to break through into the full mainstream: for every Zedd, there are literally tens of thousands of home producers who just didn’t get there. But yes: big, brash.

Tim: Quiet bits return, as is their wont in a structured track, but throughout this is a very very good track, and deserves a release for it to get higher than the 29 it reached last time. Let’s just check…ah. 31. Oh well.