AAA<\/p>\n
Here I am, interviewing The Interviewer. As the buzzcut-and-bespectacled face of Apple Music, Zane Lowe has a reputation for getting the world\u2019s biggest musicians to speak candidly in interviews that pierce beyond the pop-star personas.<\/p>\n
In the 11 years he\u2019s been with Apple Music (following earlier stints with MTV Europe and BBC Radio 1) the 52-year-old Auckland-born musician-turned-broadcaster has stared down Kanye West, spiritualised with Rosalia, shared coffee with Bad Bunny and tears with Harry Styles. If it\u2019s daunting for me, how is it for Lowe being on the other side of the interviewer-interviewee equation?<\/p>\n
Lowe laughs. \u201cI used to find it awkward because I always felt more comfortable trying to help other people find answers rather than provide them myself. But now I\u2019m grateful for any opportunity to have a conversation with someone and explore whatever the curiosity is. The good news for you is I know what it\u2019s like to interview someone who\u2019s not willing, so you\u2019re never going to get that from me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Zane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/23c82518cee7d2456ccfe24f0bb0d740dbd915b7.jpeg\")
Zane Lowe, with fellow Apple Music host Ebro Darden, interviewing Bad Bunny.Apple Music<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not lying. Within minutes we\u2019re already in the weeds on the state of music journalism at a time when it\u2019s never been valued less. Not long before we speak, the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post laid off much of its arts staff, including Chris Richards<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s best pop critics.<\/p>\n \u201cMy whole life there\u2019s been a pretty consistent through line of the arts being undervalued whenever someone needs to save money in the budget, and it\u2019s such a short-sighted thing because, like, what a gift! How much do we get out of exploring the art that\u2019s created by other people? How much do we learn about ourselves, about our community, about what\u2019s going on? It\u2019s so important.\u201d<\/p>\n As one of the few spaces regularly doing in-depth, long-form, full-access interviews with the biggest names in music, Lowe\u2019s conversations can set the cultural narrative around an artist. Artists will seek him out when the next album\u2019s promo cycle needs its serious sit-down. At this point there\u2019s almost an expectation that Lowe\u2019s interviews will be earnest, vulnerable, revealing. The New York Times once described Lowe as \u201cpop\u2019s unofficial therapist\u201d. Is that how he feels?<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cI have a therapist and I know how much of a highly educated skill set that is. What I am is a music fan, and a musician, who\u2019s trying to create a safe space for artists to learn something about themselves and in the process share that with other people. I did my 10,000 hours of asking about drum sounds and I don\u2019t go to those places much any more. I\u2019m trying to get inside how someone feels about themselves and about the world and what\u2019s inspired this music.\u201d<\/p>\n In an era of the sticky headline or the TikTok gimmick gone viral, Lowe\u2019s interviews feel like a throwback \u2013 they\u2019re sprawling, languorous, unobtrusive, non-combative. In the time of, say, Hot Ones and Call Her Daddy (Lowe likes them both), has his understanding of his job changed?<\/p>\n \u201cLook, I\u2019m a musician first and foremost, and I probably haven\u2019t done a good enough job of really making that point as I continue to do this in the media,\u201d Lowe says of his past as a DJ and record producer, including early stints in New Zealand bands Urban Disturbance and Breaks Co-Op. \u201cI always felt like, well, if I\u2019m not making music, I should talk about it. I have a critical opinion like anybody else, but when it comes to what I do and how I support the arts, I choose to do it from the point of view of a fellow musician, not as a critic.\u201d<\/p>\n Like any online personality, he has, it seems, checked the comments. \u201cAnyone who says, \u2018Oh, you don\u2019t ask the tough questions\u2019, I would answer, \u2018Well, what is a tough question?\u2019 Because I don\u2019t ever walk away from a conversation with somebody that I think was really compelling and think I didn\u2019t ask a tough question because we went to deep places and got deep answers. I understand the desire to ask questions that create headlines but that\u2019s just one form of tough question. I prefer to open the door and see how far the artist wants to go through and then go with them as far as they want to go. And that\u2019s pretty far almost every time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Chill as ever in khaki pants and a beige cardigan, Lowe is sprawled on a sofa in his office in Apple Music\u2019s headquarters in Culver City in Los Angeles, where he\u2019s lived with his wife Kara Walters and their two sons for more than a decade. As well as an \u201cin conversation\u201d appearance at Vivid Sydney later this month (part of Vivid Minds\u2019 Creative Trailblazers<\/a> series), he\u2019s also gearing up to release his first album in years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just finishing it right now,\u201d Lowe says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really rewarding and beautiful experience for me and, you know, once I put one out I know I\u2019m just gonna go ahead and make another 20 of them.\u201d<\/p>\n After intimately picking the brains of top artists for decades now, he\u2019s surely learnt a trick or two? Lowe scoffs. \u201cCan you imagine how awful that would sound if I made an album that sounded like a conglomeration of everything I\u2019ve learned regarding music? It\u2019d be like that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets to design his brother\u2019s car.\u201d<\/p>\n So we\u2019re not getting the ultimate Frankenstein of albums? \u201cI can guarantee you it is not that, and that I\u2019m not pulling any favours from anybody, either. It was something I did for myself, by myself, and I\u2019m really proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n On a recent podcast, industry titan Jimmy Iovine \u2013 Lowe\u2019s former colleague at Apple Music (\u201cboss\/mentor,\u201d Lowe corrects) \u2013 said that \u201cthe streaming services are minutes away from being obsolete\u201d. The major streamers are disliked from all sides, Iovine argued \u2013 by artists and record labels for siphoning their income, and listeners and fans for their ethical oversights. At the risk of upsetting his current employer, does Lowe have a vision of what might come after Apple Music and Spotify are gone?<\/p>\n \u201cI just follow the music and I always trust the artist to figure out what is most important to them,\u201d says Lowe. It\u2019s why he left BBC Radio 1 for Apple Music in 2016, when he realised the era of \u201cappointment listening\u201d, from a music radio point of view, was over. \u201cI went, OK, I want to keep being a part of the storytelling around music and I want to keep exploring that curiosity, so I\u2019m going where the music is going \u2013 and it was going to streaming services.\u201d<\/p>\n But where is it going next? \u201cI\u2019m excited by the idea of artists moving in a way that isn\u2019t necessarily beholden to math and isn\u2019t necessarily considered a success or failure based on how many zeroes are on the end of it or how many \u2018likes\u2019 something has,\u201d says Lowe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t just extend to the way music is distributed today, it extends to social media, to the internet age, just to the level of anxiety that the math can cause. And I know this as someone who\u2019s gearing up to put something out and reminding myself that, like, 10 people is enough! If they truly love it then it\u2019s OK and you got what you needed from it. Move on and make another one.<\/p>\n \u201cI think sometimes the results side of this business has become very high-frequency and very high-anxiety. I think if I was a young artist today I would be looking at the internet as an undeniable tool, but I\u2019d also have enough altitude, now it\u2019s been around long enough, to see what it promises and doesn\u2019t deliver on, and try and find ways to build a community for myself using other tools alongside the internet, and not just putting everything in that basket.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n I literally just picked up my copy of Michael Azerrad\u2019s Our Band Could Be Your Life and re-read the Fugazi chapter because it feels so prescient right now, I tell Lowe. When the music industry\u2019s strategy for success is simply to trust the algorithm<\/a>, you start questioning if there\u2019s another way.<\/p>\n \u201cI think musicians are figuring out that there are new ways of doing things,\u201d says Lowe. \u201cLook at what\u2019s going on in Chicago \u2013 there\u2019s a great DIY scene out there, with Lifeguard and Horsegirl and all these kids doing shows and handing out cassettes and doing rad stuff \u2026 The internet is an undeniable tool but I don\u2019t believe it is the answer to everyone\u2019s goals or objectives. There are old ways that still resonate. Hard work still matters. Tending to an audience and fostering that relationship still matters. And there\u2019s lots of ways you can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to resist getting Lowe\u2019s take on all the music industry\u2019s ills. The week I spoke to him, two of Australia\u2019s most anticipated music festivals pulled the pin: first Rolling Loud, which was due to return for the first time since 2019, and then Bluesfest.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry to hear that,\u201d Lowe says. \u201cI remember when they announced the Big Day Out wasn\u2019t coming back and I was crestfallen. I was like, \u2018What do you mean? There\u2019s no reason for it not to exist! It should go on forever. Every time I go to it, it\u2019s amazing. The line-up is diverse, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s tasteful, how is this going away?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Considering festival culture is still booming in the US and UK, does he have any ideas for us? \u201cYou know what I\u2019d like to see more of?\u201d says Lowe. \u201cEvents that are trying to appeal at a more grassroots level. Maybe a lower cap, more affordable, where artists get to play on not the biggest stage in the world but a bigger stage than they play on normally.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe people should be trying to put on some well-organised, safe events, with camping at 5000 to 15,000 people \u2013 I\u2019m just making this up \u2013 and maybe Way Dynamic<\/a> is third to top on the bill and maybe Way Dynamic will go, \u2018Wow, we\u2019re playing at 8pm! We haven\u2019t played a festival at 8pm before, so let\u2019s make a bigger show!\u2019 Next thing you know, their whole trajectory changes because the context around the event pushes Way Dynamic into something new.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Zane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6afc3aba57086f61673addacb7b58084ee5d9470.jpeg\")
Zane Lowe and Harry Styles.Apple Music<\/p>\n![\"Zane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a9f675959e4f8c17b2ab756463efd420cce848dd.jpeg\")
Zane Lowe: \u201cI think musicians are figuring out that there are new ways of doing things.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Cairns-born](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/36fe26c6c238aa42300b8d02fd199394273bb34a.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n