Prior to the mysterious producer's nomination at the Grammy's last night, ZHU finally revealed more information on his true identity, both as an everyday, average human being, as well as a musician. In 2014 it first became known that his full name was Stephen Zhu, he was 25 years old, he was born in San Fransisco, and now lives in Los Angeles, but a lot of his career in the music industry still remained unknown, well until recently. In ZHU's pre-Grammy interview with the LA Times, ZHU's identity as a musician finally became the topic of discussion.
In the interview, Stephen talks about how he first moved to Los Angeles at the start of his music career, where he did ghostwriting, for whom he did not say, only that the tracks were “nothing big” and that he would rather discuss his own music. And as the interview continued to veer towards ZHU‘s music, for the first time, one finally gained an understanding of not who, but what “ZHU” truly is, Stephen's “ZHU” project is art. Yes music is an art, but what separates musicians from artists is not all musicians treat their music as an art.
Which brings me to my question; ZHU has finally revealed a solid amount of his identity and last night the young man's Grammy nomination for his hit track ‘Faded' lost, so what is next? I ask this question, not only about ZHU, but also about the rest of EDM. ZHU's music, similar to artists such as Porter Robinson, Madeon, and Feed Me (only to name a few), is not treated as entirely music, but also as art and a representation of a bigger picture behind the music, a representation of the artist, which in ZHU's case was ironically shrouded, but that was another aspect of ZHU's art. To some it may sound farfetched, but to ZHU and his genius of a manager, Jake Udell, they are sure to agree, music is (supposed to be) an art.
Which brings me to my “answer;” what is next for ZHU may or may not necessarily matter as his success will likely continue, but what is next for the rest of Electronic Dance Music is much more important. Don't forget, music is an art, something pop music seems to have forgotten, while EDM seems to have been taking note. Maybe I am biased, but trying to avoid going too deep into opinion and taking shots at pop music, they say “EDM has reached it's peak” and I disagree, I believe, as long as EDM continues with creative minds like the aforementioned artist, among others, the possibilities are exponential!
“Great music always transcends, but artists have to create the space for fans to go beyond the music.” – ZHU to the LA Times, take notes.
Source: LA Times
