In this week’s “You Should Know,” Billboard is getting to know singer-songwriter-producer Jeremy Zucker, as he chats about his first job, his biggest accomplishment to date and his most significant musical inspirations.
Zucker, who grew up in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, tells Billboard that his first ever job was working as a snowboard instructor at a ski mountain. He also reveals that if he had to eat one food for the rest of his life, he would choose baby carrots. “I love just munching on baby carrots,” he says. “But I don’t think you can live like that.”
When asked what his biggest accomplishment ever has been, the “All the Kids Are Depressed” singer shares that it has been graduating college. He notes that it was “really rough” trying to have a music career while also studying biology and pre-med.
Zucker names Blink-182 as his biggest musical influence, revealing that he would never have even picked up a guitar and started writing songs in fifth grade if he hadn’t been “obsessed” with that band.
In the video, Zucker also discusses his appreciation of Mac Miller’s music, calling Macadelic his favorite album right now.
“That album, to me, really changed the way that I listened to music and thought about music,” he says. “Macadelic, to me, illuminated a lot of Mac’s inner demons and stuff like that, and also the production was just really, really crazy. That album definitely changed my life.”
As for why he thinks people should listen to his music, Zucker states, “I think people should listen to my music if you wanna be honest with yourself about the way you’re feeling.”
“I make music because of the way that I feel and the way that I experience my everyday life,” he continues, “And it very much is a release for me to basically express the emotions that I feel everyday into music, whether it’s happy, sad, or more complicated than that. If I’m doing my job well, when you listen to it, you’ll feel those same things.”
You can watch the full video interview with Jeremy Zucker above.