From his Grammy-nominated Alessia Cara feature to his comparatively more recent release, “The Middle,” Zedd makes music production look easy. The mastered singles that infiltrate radio air waves, though, bespeak layers of complexity that are not immediately perceptible to listeners. “The Middle’s” seamless amalgamation of Maren Morris’ vocals with chord progressions outside of Morris’ country aesthetic effects a smooth pop listening experience that has resonated with many listeners, even those who normally eschew electronic music. Yet the fluidity of “The Middle” masks an intricate developmental process leading up to the single’s official release, one that notably almost never reached conclusion.

In what might arrive as a surprise to fans of the Zedd/Morris collab, “The Middle’s” origins extend well beyond Zedd’s studio. “The Middle” that listeners both know and belt in perfect synchronicity today was originally conceived as a demo by the Monsters and the Strangerz, a Los Angeles studio group and 23-year-old songwriter, Sarah Aarons. Aarons’ name doesn’t appear alongside Zedd or Morris’ on the track, but it was Aarons who would type out the lyrics and melody to “The Middle” on her iPhone. She then headed into the booth to record the demo of the song, which would later fall into the laps of electronic, silver haired duo, Grey. Adding what they call a “medieval axe whipping noise” to the demo — in other words, the sound that you hear in between the lyrics “baby” and “why don’t you just meet me in the middle?” — Grey would then forward the still unfinished track to Zedd.

“They played it for me they were like what do you think, and I thought if done right, this could be a huge smash,” Zedd said of the demo. To be “done right,” the track necessitated the right vocalist, and tracking down the choice voice for the song was quite the feat.  “There were months where we almost gave up, because we couldn’t a vocalist,” Zedd revealed. 14 demo vocalists later, including the likes of Bebe Rexha and Demi Lovato, “The Middle” had found its vocal match in Maren Morris. “I had never heard her music until I heard her demo,” Zedd noted, “I was like who’s Maren Morris? She sounds really good.”

“The Middle” currently enjoys the success that an approximate year of production effort, and a team of “no fewer than eight collaborators” warrants, but as the making of “The Middle” video clearly conveys, crafting a hit single is anything but simple, and oftentimes requires some meeting ‘in the middle.’

Via: The New York Times

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