Suzi (who’s former name was ‘Z’) is one of the local artists from Northern New Jersey making waves in the music scene. The 25 year old artist first got started in music when she was four years old. While she was in kindergarten, her music teacher noticed she had potential and contacted her parents and told them that she could be something special. Later on she took operatic training pop, and classic music training, as she got older.
Suzi took some time out of her busy schedule to do an interview with “Visions Student Newspaper” to discuss her latest single “Amor Toxico,” and overall music career.
Growing up some of her musical influences included Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez. Suzi described them as being a “huge influence for me.” Later adding “they just have a beautiful presence and they come from a background that is similar to mine, all Latin-American girls working to make our dreams come true and they did that.”
Most artists usually have to wait a couple of years before they can land a feature from another artist especially a big name artist. However Suzi, was able to get rapper Fetty Wap on her debut single “Nobody’s Better” back in 2015. “I told him the concept for the record I had in mind. He whipped it up in not even ten minutes and it was melodically perfect. It was an amazing experience and it was so cool to also have my friends and family involved in it."
In 2017, Suzi was able to acquire a feature from Tory Lanez on her single “Special 4 U.” She spoke on what it was like to work with Tory. “Tory is so talented he was super fun to work with. We came together in New York City and he wrote his verse for the record and it was such a dope vibe. Making the [music] video was fun too, we went out to Miami and made a movie, it was spectacular.”
Suzi is an independent artist which at times is great but can also come with some challenges. “As awesome as it is, it definitely is a struggle at times because it is really expensive. Not only do you have to make the music but you have to pay for the music videos, styling, traveling, clothing etc. That has definitely been a bump in the road for me but I work hard to save up and get everything done the way I like it.”
Covid has affected everyone and being a musician is no different. Suzi had planned to start touring last year but could not because of the pandemic.
“Covid had me take a little bit of a turn with my artistry this past year because I did have the plan to start touring last year. It did give me a new perspective on how to work things and interact with people while you can’t actually be there with them… I’m hopeful to get back and start touring maybe this year or next year but we will see how things go. It gave me the chance to really reflect on where I was and where I would like to go in the next year or five years ahead.”
Last month Suzi released her latest single and first Latin record “Amor Tòxico.” She discussed her decision to make a Latin record and whether or not she will continue to make more Latin music. “I am Dominican, born in Jersey but my family is from the beautiful island. I’ve always been influenced by the culture, I have listened to Spanish music my entire life, and speak Spanish fluently. I decided it was time to hop on a Latin record because I love Spanish music and I definitely have more Latin records to come in the future.”
The music video for “Amor Tòxico” was released two weeks ago and has already surpassed 95K views. Suzi talked about her idea for the video.
“I did not want the music video to be a typical story where the guy and girl get in a fight and he keeps coming back to her or whatever the case. I wanted it to be more visually and aesthetically pleasing in a sense and metaphoric. For my girls we feel that the salon is a place where we go to get pretty and talk about our lives. It is in a way a place where women can de-stress and decompress. For the supermarket part, I’m not just a snack I’m a whole grocery store."
Finally she touched on who she would like to potentially work with in the future. “At the top of my list I would have to say the people I grew up listening to and have been inspired by the past few years such as Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, Kehlani, Ariana Grande, and Ryan Leslie that’s my top five.”
As for what fans can expect for the rest of the year Suzi stated “I have so much music. I’m literally living, breathing, and sleeping music. I have a whole bunch of projects in the works. A couple of singles coming up, a couple of Spanish projects coming up, never not working.”