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Audacy Pop
  • 8/29/2024
During a recent chat with Audacy, Zedd opened up about the lifestyle changes he made while making his latest album, that he views as useful tools to help him maintain his mental health.
Transcript
00:00So, when you get in those ruts where you're burnt out, depressed, just spread too thin,
00:09whatever it may be, have you found hobbies and things you can do to make sure you're
00:14in a good mental space?
00:15Yes, and I honestly think I would have never finished this album if it wasn't for me finding
00:21a lifestyle and routine that keeps me sane.
00:25Because making this album was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.
00:29I have not felt this burnt out in a long time.
00:34And my routine was, first of all, taking care of my physical health.
00:40So I stopped drinking.
00:41I drink occasionally, but I used to drink every show and I stopped drinking for the
00:45very most part.
00:47I got at least nine hours of sleep every night.
00:50I wrote down every calorie I drank or ate into a spreadsheet and made sure to stay in
00:56a caloric deficit when I needed to and in a surplus when I needed to.
01:00Watched my protein intake.
01:02And then one of the most important things, and that goes especially for when you're in
01:07a time crunch to finish something, is to not work too much.
01:11And this sounds a little bit counterintuitive and some people think you just gotta grind
01:14through it.
01:15But when you do anything that is creative, your mental state is so crucial.
01:21It will feed everything else.
01:23So I made my studio chunks short enough every day to where I could actually be excited to
01:30continue working on the thing I didn't get to finish yesterday because I only have five
01:34hours, six hours.
01:36So the chunks are so quick and when I'm in the studio and I'm really in the zone, five
01:39hours go by like this and I didn't even realize and then I get food and it's like, oh, it's
01:43food time.
01:44And after dinner, no more music.
01:47Of course it happens sometimes.
01:49But after dinner, I would stop making music and I would play video games with the boys.
01:55We do our own jobs.
01:56Everybody does their own thing.
01:57We get into Discord and we start gaming or just talking for a few hours before bed.
02:02And that's sort of my wind down.
02:04And then the next day, you're still excited to get and get to be creative on the thing
02:09that you didn't get to finish the day before.
02:11And I think having this lots of sleep, lots of workout, that's another crucial thing.
02:16I did ice baths every morning and I hate them.
02:19Those are terrible.
02:20Don't trust people who are like, it's amazing.
02:22It's amazing.
02:23No, it sucks.
02:24Nothing about it is amazing.
02:25Yeah.
02:26And you're crazy if you think it's amazing.
02:27Yeah.
02:28It's painful.
02:29But it is amazing.
02:30Yeah.
02:31Because you get out of there and you're like, I accomplished something.
02:33I already started the day with a victory.
02:35Sure.
02:36And while it sucks while you're in there and it really does, getting out of it does feel
02:39like you're wearing an armor and you're like invincible.
02:41Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:42So starting my days with that and just getting healthy improved my mental state a lot.
02:49Yeah.
02:50And being well-rested and inspired is what contributed to me making the most honest album
02:56that I've ever made.
02:57It's because I felt like myself.