ZHU: success story and interesting facts
To date, you will hardly find a more mysterious breakthrough story in all of dance music than the meteoric rise of ZHU! This is one of the rare cases when the name of a musician is well known to the whole world, but his identity remains a mystery...
So who is ZHU? A little about the mysterious idol...
The anonymity of this man did not in the least prevent his tremendous success. Moreover, the mystery, as you know, arouses curiosity, and therefore creates demand!
ZHU is known as an electronic music producer. He began his career back in 2014 in Los Angeles. His track "Faded" became the hottest hit of the year. It also earned the musician a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording! However, the identity of the young DJ has not really been established to this day.
In many ways, ZHU itself opposes this. The idol of millions refuses to disclose his real name, avoids journalists in every possible way ... And in general, he does not give any information about his life, not to mention personal interests and musical preferences.
At the same time, ZHU claims that there is no secret, in fact. He just wants all the attention to be on his music and not on his personality:
“Everything that you want to know about me, you can hear in my musical works” - such a statement added even more mystery and uncertainty.
Critics argue that all this anonymity is a standard marketing ploy, very popular in the music industry. The mystery of the musician contributes to the rapid growth of his popularity. And as soon as an idol tells about himself... His popularity and fame will reach crazy limits...
All that is known about ZHU's early years is that he was born in 1989 in San Francisco, studied at the University of Southern California and was an outsider of sorts... While his peers were active in the infamous college film club, now a popular producer preferred to relax in his room, working on dance music ...
Track Faded and worldwide success!
The track "Moves Like Ms Jackson" was a good start! The composition was released in February 2014 and collected a lot of positive reviews! And already in April, ZHU released his first mini-album The Nightday. Dynamic "Faded" became the dance hit of the year! Memorable, bright, and at the same time thoughtful - in his work, the musician captured the atmosphere of a generation striving to go beyond the designated limits ...
ZHU's first live performance in the US was at HARD's Day of Dead in November 2014. Everything happened secretly, in a shroud of fog and spotlights ... However, this particular number became the highlight of the entire festival! ZHU himself refused to talk to fans and reporters, leaving quickly after the show ended...
The same month, Columbia Records signed ZHU to a contract.
While ZHU's personality remains a hotly debated issue among fans and critics, his credibility and influence on culture is rapidly gaining momentum! The musician has Asian roots. It's not for nothing that he joins a modest list of well-known Asian-American DJs/producers, including Steve Aoki, TOKiMONSTA and Henry Fong.
In 2019, ZHU released the track "Came For The Low", featuring Andrew Yang himself, the 2020 US presidential candidate, in the video!
And finally...
A world-famous hit track, a major label deal, a Grammy nomination… ZHU has come a long way to fame and he has achieved his goal. Today, every fan of modern dance music knows his name! And, it would seem, the artist no longer needs to carefully hide his identity ... On the other hand, as long as there is a mystery, his name will be heard for a very long time! All that remains of his past life is a DJTechTools profile and a small number of post-frame blog posts. Like a guy named Steve never existed. Yes Yes! It's Steven Zu! The one who works for Genius Records and is known by his nickname - Esteban.
