One decade ago, it was a much simpler time for dance music. German DJ, producer and composer Zedd was still riding high on the success of his 2012 album Clarity, and the world had yet to endure the constant onslaught of John Summit’s tweets. The former has now captured the buoyant electricity of this short-lived era in his remix of the latter’s recent single, “Where You Are” featuring Hayla.
To be fair, the source material brought its fair share of main stage flair to begin with. John Summit (real name John Schuster) fitted the original with sonorous lead synths that work their way up to a hair-raising crescendo as the high notes of Hayla’s anthemic vocal hold the listener captive.
Zedd (real name Anton Zaslavski) teases out elements that play well with his own production style in his larger-than-life remix. Trumpeting, layered synths a la “Beautiful Now” beckon crowds in the thousands to jump up and down in unison without deviating far from what made the original mix such a resounding success in the first place.
Zaslavski stood among the highest tier of globetrotting DJs after the EDM explosion of 2010-2013 propelled a new and carefree style of dance music into mainstream awareness. He followed up the runaway success of Clarity with the 2015 studio-length effort True Colors, which featured collaborators like Selena Gomez and Alessia Cara.
Although his own breakthrough came much later, Schuster has enjoyed a level of success comparable to that of Zedd. Since his 2020 single “Deep End” arrived by way of Defected Records, he has become one of house music’s hottest commodities.
On Friday, John Summit celebrated his 29th birthday at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World Las Vegas. Zedd made an appearance — notably to lead the 3,000 attendees in singing “Happy Birthday” to celebrate.
Stream or download Zedd’s remix of “Where You Are” by John Summit across platforms here.
