ET spoke with the DJ ahead of his Super Bowl gig!
Zedd is ready for the Super Bowl!
The 32-year-old artist is the official pre-game DJ during player warmups at Super Bowl LVI. It's a big feat for the Russian-born producer, who admits to having had "no idea" what the Super Bowl was before moving to the U.S.
"Then I realized living here that it's pretty much the biggest thing there is," Zedd tells ET's Kevin Frazier days ahead of the big game between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. "I started watching it for the performances because I literally didn't even know the rules of football, but I loved how much artists would put into the performances, the halftime show."
After attending a couple Super Bowls, Zedd says "it was incredible to see it live," but never envisioned himself being a part of such an iconic American event.
"And to be able to perform it myself… at the Super Bowl, [it] was definitely not something I thought I would ever get to do," he states, before sharing how he got the gig. "I got a missed call from my team and a lot of text messages, so usually when that happens I know something's going on -- hopefully something good! And then I was like, 'Oh sh*t, I gotta call back!' I found out it's happening and I didn’t want to be too happy until I knew it was happening, because sometimes something happens and then it doesn’t. But yeah, this one is actually happening, so I’m super excited!"
As for how he's preparing for the gig, he says he actually hadn't made the set list just yet, but has "a rough idea of what I wanna do." "There's definitely a possibility that I'll mix in some of the songs that will for sure make some of the players take their headphones off," he teases. "I'm gonna have to crank the volume a little bit higher. I think my plan is to play a lot of classics, obviously a lot of my new songs, maybe something that isn't released yet."
He's also going to throw his new song with Disclosure, "You’ve Got To Let Go If You Want To Be Free," into the mix. "And other than that, just a bunch of classics and a lot of songs that get people hyped, just to keep the energy up," he adds.
Super Bowl LVI airs live on NBC on Sunday, Feb. 13. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. ET. Additionally, the game will be streaming on Peacock, SlingTV, fuboTV and Hulu Plus. In the meantime, stay tuned right here to ETonline.com for more exclusive Super Bowl coverage coming your way before game day!
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