The rise and rise of Zane Lowe
Kiwi DJ Zane Lowe reached the pinnacle of British pop radio with a 12-year-stint at Radio 1. Then Apple Music came calling. Kate Robertson caught up with him.
‘‘Have you had a coffee this morning?’’ Zane Lowe asks, before apologising. The influential Kiwi DJ, who now calls LA home, is weaning himself off coffee and is running at only ‘‘60 per cent’’.
Luckily for us, Zane Lowe at 60 per cent has 100 per cent more enthusiasm than most of us can manage in an entire week.
The pace he speaks at reflects the love he has for what he does. He’s completely and utterly obsessed with music.
‘‘It turns me on and it helps me switch off,’’ the 45-year-old Aucklander tells Stuff.
It’s this obsession that got Lowe to where he is today: the creative director and LA anchor for Apple Music’s Beats 1, the station that reimagined radio in the streaming era.
If the name Zane Lowe has you scratching your head, you can be forgiven.
Lowe made a name for himself in New Zealand during the 90s as a musician, producer and DJ. He was also a member of the early 90s rap group Urban Disturbance, who found local success with their hit No Flint No Flame.
In 1997 Lowe packed up and headed for the UK, where he presented shows on Radio X (FKA XFM) and MTV Europe. Five years later those roles led him to BBC Radio 1, where he hosted the 7pm to 9pm weeknight show.
During Lowe’s 12-year tenure at Radio 1 – the pinnacle of British pop radio – he earned a reputation as the new music guy, and artists scrambled to have their song named his Hottest Record In The World, a feature he ran each night, bang on 7.30pm.
It was in this slot that he championed everyone from then up-and-comer James Blake to Sir Paul McCartney, and landed interviews with music royalty Kanye West and Jay-Z.
Then in 2015, Lowe announced he and his family were moving to the United States, where he was set to take up a role with Apple. That role tasked him with building and launching Apple Music’s new radio station, Beats 1.
Four years on from the station’s launch, Lowe remains one of the A List’s most trusted confidantes. He’s a fan first, a presenter second and never a critic.
The countless artists who host radio shows on the Apple platform are proof of that mutual respect. Nicki Minaj has Queen Radio, Frank Ocean has Blonded Radio and Josh Homme has his Alligator Hour.
One of the station’s earliest celebrity hosts was new music fanatic Sir Elton John, who’s racked up more than 200 episodes of his weekly Rocket Hour. If this is the first you’re hearing of Elton John’s radio career, you’re welcome. It’s one of the internet’s hidden gems.
When it comes to the Kiwi voices occupying space in Lowe’s mind, homegrown hip-hop tops the list.
He likes Kings, he likes Hans and he really likes JessB.
‘‘I feel like [JessB] is starting to connect to a
degree,’’ he says, a change in tone suggesting the topic’s got him on his feet, probably pacing.
‘‘People have different ideas about what that means, but for me the best connection is when you find real growth above ground,’’ he says.
‘‘You know that there’s strong roots underground, you know that there is all this kind of energy and power that’s growing underneath, and eventually it starts to show itself.’’
That’s when, he says, the rest of the world ‘‘has an opportunity to absorb and appreciate it’’.
The clear passion for fresh talent led Lowe to create The New New Zealand playlist; a new offering on Apple Music that zeroes in on ‘‘all of the roots underground’’ that are pushing Kiwi hip-hop into the mainstream.
The playlist tells a story he hopes will lead fans on the kind of musical journey he lives for.
‘‘If you take a look at the first artists on that playlist being Kings, and then you keep scrolling down, what you’re doing is following the route underground,’’ he says.
‘‘What we have to do now is allow these things to grow and find their audience outside of New Zealand. And that’s why these playlists are so important.’’
The advent of streaming disrupted artists’ traditional means of self promotion.