I’m fascinated with Zane Lowe’s ability to interview people within the music industry.
Like a lot of people, I’ve dipped my toe into the Apple Music waters but haven’t fully committed to a paid plan. My first love of subscription-based audio was XM radio in 2005, it slowly morphed into Pandora for a long time based on price. After a long hiatus, I’m back on SiriusXM. Although I’m not a frequent listener to Beats1, I always loved Lowe’s style, voice, and ability to host. He’s smooth, he has an understanding of the music industry and has a depth of knowledge of the artists that come across as authentic.
The first time I saw Zane in a long-form interview was with Rick Rubin in 2014. At the time, I was doing a lot of research about Rubin, and that interview was so much fun to watch. Both were so relaxed and engaged with each other that the minimal production value didn’t take away from the content was so much fun to listen to. In the same way, I was blown away with the Kayne West interview he did last fall in Wyoming. Even though the interview was almost two hours, I was engaged and listening to them the entire time.
Zane’s ability to pace the conversation and gently flow between nuances within a topic is what keeps the listener engaged and learning more about the artist.
Last night, while scrolling through twitter, I started to see posts pop up with Zane’s new interview with Justin Bieber. Although I’m not a Justin Bieber fan, I knew the interview would be good and as expected, Zane did a great job of pulling me into the world of Bieber’s current thoughts and emotions.
As I get older, I’m starting to appreciate the growth and change I see in public figures especially now, since I get the opportunity to see their whole career play out from begging, middle and sometimes end. I have watched sports stars get drafted and retire, musicians come and go, companies launch and fold, and kids become adults. I love watching the process, I love to see how someone can maneuver their way through careers, emotions, struggles, celebrations, and life.
While watching the interview, the first 10-20 minutes I just kept thinking, “How is Zane keeping this interview from falling apart?"
It was fascinating to watch Bieber physically throughout the interview. As someone who creates and edits video for a living, I’m well aware of how you can manipulate timing through editing, so I want to be cautious. However, even between camera cuts, there were long stretches of zero eye contact, looking down, fidgeting, and moments where I thought Justin would curl up in a ball and fall on the floor. At one point, I thought Zane would actually ask if he was ok, but I’m sure he is used to the unique ways some artists may behave.
Putting all the visuals aside, the content and thoughts articulated during the interview were amazing. I could hear the journey that Justin has been on, I could hear the pain of the past and the hope for the future. At certain points, an inexperienced interviewer would jump in to save Justin from lengthy pauses, however, Zane kept to himself and let Justin mentally work through some deep thoughts and the payoff came for everyone watching. In the middle of the interview, Justin gets heavy with the typical cliches you are used to hearing from a new Christian, but it’s all worth watching with the nuggets that are discovered throughout the 43-minute interview.
We take for granted what it takes to be a superstar artist, we assume that life is great, it’s easy to get on stage and that they land on a fluffy cloud when things get tough. If you watch this interview, if you watch the Lady Gaga and Katy Perry documentaries, you’ll quickly realize how much stress and power the industry has and puts on their performers. I loved listening to how Justin was going to take the reigns back on his life, how he was going to make changes for his upcoming tour and stand up for dancers, singers, roadies and supporting staff. I enjoyed hearing how dedicated he plans on being with his new wife, the marriage and plans for a family in the future. Although I don’t own any Justin Bieber records or have kept up to date on his life intently, this interview was excellent to watch, and I hope you get a chance to see it.
I’m looking forward to more interviews from Zane Lowe in this laid back, Apple Music / Beats1 style. Zane is the perfect fit for this type of interview, and we’ll be lucky to see many more conversations between him and the music industry’s biggest artists. Zane has a special talent to unlock some of the deepest buried treasure.