Zane Lowe worked as a music producer in Auckland and a radio host in London before settling in Los Angeles as the global creative director for Apple Music.
For the last few years, he's become known for conducting intricate, hours-long interviews with a "ridiculous amount of incredible legends" for Apple Music.
Apple Music creative director Zane Lowe Photo: Apple Music for Artists
Zane chats to Kara Pickard about the songs that signpost his deep life-long relationship with music.
The London years
As an up-and-coming UK radio host in early 2000s, Zane first established a "raucous environment" on the commercial radio station XFM, before spending 13 years on BBC's Radio 1.
"It was an honour to be on that station and be part of that, especially from New Zealand. It wasn't lost on me that I was inheriting that role as someone who was not born in the UK. I took it really seriously."
In his weekday evening slot, Zane hyped the songs as he played them, as DJs do, and also sang along.
"I just, frankly, got a bit drunk every now and then and just got loose and just screamed along to records and made it a different type of party. I found the right producer who wanted to have a drink with me… and we'd do a couple of shots of bourbon, smoke a couple of cigarettes outside and then just go for it. Like sweat like [it was] a workout … just scream and get into it."
This presenting style turned a lot of people off, he says - "Dude, play the record and shut up!" - but a small group of fans got bigger and Zane's show "became a thing".
"It was an awesome time. In 13 years at Radio 1, we achieved everything we could, it was awesome. And leaving wasn't an easy decision but no one stays anywhere forever, you know."
The move to Apple Music
In 2015, Zane relocated to Los Angeles with his family and took a job at the newly formed Apple Music 1.
His long-form interview format had been established three years earlier by American rapper Jay-Z who requested the BBC post a video of their conversation on YouTube.
"[Jay-Z] was like 'I'll do this but I want it to be on YouTube'… which was unique at the time. But he wanted it to be seen by everybody… and it did really well."
In the next four months, he spoke to mega-rappers Kanye West and Eminem.
As to why Zane is now able to score conversations with a "ridiculous amount of incredible legends" on Apple Music, he guesses it's a combination of his interview style maturing and established musicians wanting to be part of the streaming business.
That Frank Ocean thing
One of Zane's favourite artists, Frank Ocean, is someone he has yet to interview publicly, even though a conversation between them was recorded in Japan in 2016.
Ocean decided he did not want the interview released, but not before Zane had "jumped ahead of the actual reality" and mentioned it in an article.
He still holds Frank Ocean in the highest regard.
"Whatever he decides is okay with me. If he's going to give me something… that moves me to the degree that Drank Ocean moves me then he has the right, in my mind, to choose what he does with anything that we do.
"I was dumb, I opened my mouth and said something and didn't say 'off the record'. So it became this very very small thing within a community of fans and that's on me so I'll wear that.
"[Frank Ocean] chose to do something else and it didnt alter how much I love and respect him a particle."
Loving what you do
Zane is very proud of the beat he contributed to this 1997 hit 'Behold My Kool Style' by Kiwi hip-hop collective Dam Native - "That song is awesome."
But despite winning NZ music awards and a Grammy nomination, he wrestled with a sense of unresolved ambition about making his own music until his mid-30s.
Zane says a "game-changing conversation" with his friend Mike Skinner - from UK band The Streets - helped him let this go.
"[Mike] was the person who took me aside one night and said 'Maybe you need to hear this, maybe you don't, but there's this weird unresolved thing with you wanting to be one of us, I think. And I know that kind of bugs you. But the fact we trust you is 'cause you are one of us, you just didnt get it off the ground. But we need you in the room, thinking like us, so that's your special thing. So don't be dismissive of it, don't feel bad about it. It wasn't like it was one or the other and you chose the less important road. It's actually the combination of the two. The fact that you didn't fully become one of us is what makes you so needed for us to talk to.
"What I was lamenting is what I'd never achieved. But what you realise over time is … it's easier to spend more time looking through the eyes of others than through your own.
"I don't know how I got here but I love what I do. More than anything I'm just trying to do great work in the moment. I'm trying to focus on one thing as much as I can at a time.
"I love what I do… so [I say to myself] love it, then. Stop looking over the other side of the fence, man. Just dig it."
Zane Lowe played:
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - 'Here Comes My Girl'
If he decides to "bore people" with some kind of memoir in the future, this song would serve as a starting point for his "whole wonderful journey", Zane tells Kara.
"I put it on and it just grabbed me and I loved it…
"It was a rough time. Parents divorced, very strange. I'm trying to find my identity. There's no one there in at that point in the family unit to help me do that 'cause everyone is just surviving, right. So I just turned to music."
The song happens to be produced by the acclaimed Jimmy Iovine, who Zane worked with at Apple for four years and who remains a mentor and friend.
Although Jimmy doesn't love listening to Zane enthuse about how much the song affected him as a child.
"I know he knows that it matters to me. He knows what it means, he just likes to troll me."
'Seigfried' by Frank Ocean
"The song is very powerful because it asks a lot of questions. And if you listen to it you end up answering them in your own life."
Frank Ocean paints pictures with his music, Zane says.
"I look at Frank's music as much as I listen to it. And I see him putting together hooks, brave things, moments… you search for them, you wait for them… it's like the music moves, it's crazy."
'Bitter' by Shihad
New Zealand band Shihad are one of the greatest hard rock bands ever, Zane says, and he still listens to several of their albums.
"Just being on the balcony at The Powerstation and watching [Shihad's] road crew come out all dressed up in these suits. Everything was so clean, all the wires are tucked, the guitars are just clean and polished… seeing that band hit a stage that small and sound like they were playing a festival."
'Witness (1 Hope)' by Roots Manuva
This song reminds Zane of London, a city where he and his wife Kara spent nearly 18 years and where their two children were born.
"Roots is just a charisma-tron and looks at life through such a unique perspective and filter. He's sort of like an astronaut and this track is just amazing."
'I Can't Make You Love Me' by Bonnie Raitt
"Bonnie Raitt is one of the all-time greatest artists… and artists know it ... when Bonnie Raitt is in that room, everybody is focused on Bonnie Raitt.
Last year Zane interviewed her in a deserted bar.
"She was just so…. cool, like amazing. We had this really great connection and it was one of my favourite conversations of all time.
"Just listen to this song and the way Bonnie Raitt just lovingly brings it to life. It's a life-changer for ya. If you're going through something and you listen to this, this might put you straight."
'F Major' by Hania Rani
During quarantine, Zane got into solo piano music in quarantine for the first time, especially Nils Frahm and Hania Rani.
"I found a lot of peace in that kind of music and I really leaned in… this is a really wonderful example of that … I just love this song, it's amazing, and I could listen to it on repat for hours, just on loop. It's awesome."
