Grammy-award-winning DJ and producer Zedd is about to reshape how theme parks think about music. On January 30, 2026, the world’s premiere electronic music impresario will officially debut CLUB ZEDD at Universal Studios Japan, a reimagined version of the park’s beloved Space Fantasy roller coaster transformed into what Zedd calls “a brand-new space-club experience.” This isn’t just another celebrity-branded attraction—it’s a meticulous collaboration between one of EDM’s brightest minds and theme park engineering that makes music the literal driving force of the ride itself.
- Music Integration: The roller coaster's movements are synchronized with Zedd's original music, creating a unique and immersive experience where the music drives the ride.
- Immersive Environment: Beyond the ride itself, the queue area will be transformed into a "curated space-club environment" with exclusive playlists, lighting, and projection work to enhance the overall experience.
- Innovative Collaboration: Zedd reimagined his music specifically for the ride rather than simply licensing existing tracks, creating a completely unique experience that exists nowhere else.
The concept is audacious: instead of music complementing a roller coaster, the coaster becomes an extension of Zedd’s original remix. The ride’s 585-meter track, complete with magnetic-controlled spins and uncontrolled rotations powered by riders’ weight distribution, moves in perfect synchronization with an exclusive DJ mix Zedd produced specifically for the attraction. When the coaster climbs its lift hills, the music builds. When it drops, the beat drops with it. This approach reimagines the entire sensory experience, turning the ride into something closer to a 275-second DJ set than a traditional amusement park attraction.
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“My goal was to make the music drive the ride itself, guiding you through every rise and drop,” Zedd explained in an official statement. He’s reimagined massive hits including “Break Free” (featuring Ariana Grande), “Clarity” (featuring Foxes), and “Beautiful Now” (featuring Jon Bellion) into ride-specific remixes that synchronize with the coaster’s movements. This technical feat isn’t trivial—theme park operators have been solving real-time audio synchronization problems since the 1960s, and Zedd’s approach demands pixel-perfect timing across every twist and spin of the ride. 1
The experience begins in the queue. Guests won’t simply wait in line—they’ll enter what Zedd calls a “curated space-club environment” anchored by an exclusive playlist Zedd hand-selected, accompanied by special lighting and projection work that mirrors a nightclub’s visual language. Zedd even created a special welcome message for the ride that plays throughout the queue, building anticipation before riders strap in.
This collaboration marks Zedd’s first direct partnership with a major theme park operator, but it arrives at a cultural moment when both the EDM producer and Universal Studios Japan are actively pushing boundaries. Zedd released “Telos,” his first studio album in nearly a decade, in August 2024, a genre-defying record that blends orchestral elements with electronic production and features collaborations with John Mayer, Muse, and Remi Wolf. The album earned him a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Meanwhile, Universal Studios Japan has been increasingly willing to experiment with immersive, artist-driven attractions as part of its larger strategic shift toward interactive entertainment.
The broader theme park industry is clearly moving in this direction. Immersive, experience-driven attractions are reshaping how parks approach design, with industry experts emphasizing that younger audiences—weaned on gaming and digital interactivity—demand more than passive thrills. Sync licensing experts note that modern attractions need to create entire emotional arcs rather than simply playing background music, a philosophy that aligns perfectly with Zedd’s vision for CLUB ZEDD. 2
The ride’s timing is particularly significant. Japanese fans have been clamoring for more Zedd presence since his TELOS Tour brought him to multiple cities across Japan. Universal Studios Japan, which welcomed nearly 9 million annual guests before the pandemic, represents a massive platform for reaching both dedicated EDM enthusiasts and casual theme park visitors curious about a music-driven attraction. 3
What makes this collaboration legitimately innovative is that Zedd didn’t simply license existing tracks—he fundamentally reimagined how his music functions within physical space. By treating the ride as a composition rather than a backdrop, he’s created something that exists nowhere else on Earth. You can’t listen to the CLUB ZEDD remixes at home or stream them on Spotify without losing the core experience. The music only makes complete sense when your body is physically experiencing the rise-and-fall of a spinning coaster, guided through an alien landscape of “fibre optics, lasers, and interactive projection screens” while riding through a space-themed environment. 4
CLUB ZEDD runs through August 17, 2026, making it a limited-time experience that will likely drive significant visitation to Universal Studios Japan during that window. For music fans, theme park enthusiasts, and anyone curious about how artists are reimagining what’s possible at the intersection of music and physical entertainment, this represents a watershed moment—proof that EDM isn’t confined to festival grounds and nightclub dancefloors anymore. It’s coming for your theme parks, and honestly, the ride sounds incredible.
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland/comments/67y88a/technical_challenge_of_audio_in_its_a_small_world/ ↩︎
- https://www.roller.software/blog/seven-new-theme-park-industry-trends-and-statistics ↩︎
- https://www.universal-music.co.jp/zedd/news/2025-11-13/ ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Fantasy_%E2%80%93_The_Ride ↩︎
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