Super Bowl LVI is ready to watch the epic final between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, February 13 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. While Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar will headline the stage, acclaimed EDM DJ Zedd will keep the crowd cheering before the game begins.
Zedd, real name Anton Zaslavski, was named the pre-game DJ with the intention of keeping the excitement going before the two teams lock in the highly anticipated Super Bowl LVI. Interestingly, the 32-year-old musician from Russia didn’t even know about the Super Bowl before moving to the United States. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, he said: “Then I realized living here was pretty much the most important thing ever. I started watching it for the performances because I literally didn’t even know the rules of football, but I loved the amount of artists that would put in the performances, the halftime show.” Speaking about his set for Super Bowl LVI, Zedd shared, “There’s definitely a possibility that I’m mixing some of the songs that are sure to make some players take their headphones off,” adding, “I’m going to have to crank up the volume a bit more high. I think my plan is to play a lot of classics, obviously a lot of my new songs, maybe something that hasn’t been released yet.
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The origin
Zedd was born Anton Zaslavski in 1989 in Saratov, Russia, and he grew up in Kaiserslautern, Germany. His father is a guitarist and school teacher while his mother is a piano teacher. Zedd, whose name is derived from the first letter of his surname, is said to be a classically trained musician. He quickly switched to drums in the early 2000s and before he knew he was playing the same way for German deathcore band Dioramic. However, he soon left the band after releasing a few singles while focusing on electronic music around 2009. While experimenting with the genre, he first remixed Skrillex’s “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites”, “Born This Way ” from Lady Gaga, Armand Van ‘Witch Doktor’ from Helden among others.
The trip
Zedd quickly realized his potential and thus made a name for himself on Beatport and Soundcloud. In late 2012, Zedd began releasing his own singles and EPs and soon released his debut album titled “Clarity” under Interscope Records. One of the songs on the album called “Spectrum” made him famous after reaching number one on the US dance charts. ‘Stay the Night’ featuring Hayley Williams is another single he is best known for. The track cemented its position in the world of EDM.
The song reached No. 2 on the UK pop charts and cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. And, Zedd burst onto the scene when he won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording in 2014 for the title track of his album. Zedd’s collaborations with global artists accelerated as he later teamed up with Ariana Grande for the track “Break Free” which got him all the attention he needed. Although Zedd is known for electro house, he didn’t hesitate to dabble in progressive music, dubstep and even classical music.
Success
Taking his career to the next level, Zedd has released several tracks with some of the world’s top artists like Selena Gomez, Troye Sivan and rapper Logic. In 2017, he tells hypebeast to work with rappers despite being an EDM DJ. “I’ve worked with Logic and Iggy Azalea before. I like a lot of rappers. I’ve always liked Macklemore and wanted to work with him. Kendrick Lamar is one of my favorite rappers of all time. Because I’m a very melodic person, I really like to focus on the melody and the chords, it takes the right moment in the song for me to work with a rapper. So I would really like to work with rappers as long as I have a song that fits,” Zedd said.
He released an LP titled “True Colors” in 2015 where he dabbled in rock and hip-hop. In 2017, one of the best singles of Zedd’s career titled “Stay” was released, where Canadian singer Alessia Cara showed off her singing magic. Zedd earned three Grammy nominations after teaming up with country singer Maren Morris and electro duo Gray for the single “The Middle” the following year. The song proved to be a smash hit and quickly topped Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs charts. In 2019, Zedd released a track called “365” with Katy Perry and a song called “Good Thing” with Kehlani. In 2020, Zedd released “Funny” featuring Jasmine Thompson. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Zedd boasts a massive net worth of $50 million. In April 2021, it was revealed that Zedd pocketed a hefty $250,000 paycheck for each gig for the Las Vegas residency at superclub Zouk.
Super Bowl LVI kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT. Coverage begins at 12:00 p.m. ET. The action can be caught live on NBC and can also be streamed live on Peacock, NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com.
