“I treat life as a dressing-up box. if I see the mountain, I try to be the mountain.”
This is what musician Suzi Wu came out with when asked about thematic transformations in her work. This “trying on” of different themes — from witchy vibes in her debut project to a cyberpunk spin on her second — is what makes her style so difficult to pin down.
Source: DIY Mag
Inspiration for her lyrics and music can come from anywhere — the rambling streams of consciousness of Virginia Woolf, 1930s American beat poetry, time spent on British motorways, and all genres of music, from Hip-Hop to New Wave to the synth cords of Timberland.
Her 2017 EP, Teenage Witch, written as a teen in her bedroom, took her across America, meeting with labels as her London-born “bedroom pop-meets grunge” style began to attract the attention of leading figures in Hip-Hop, and Urban music across the pond.
She was signed by Paul Rosenburg and Steven Victor to Def Jam, and AMF Records in November 2018. Her second EP, Error 404, released in 2019, veers towards electro-pop, but is unpredictable in its chaotic instrumentals and pitch-shifted vocals.
Source: Underground Underdogs
What strikes you most of all about Suzi’s music, is the clever and impeccably thought-out lyrics, which seem to be born from an eclectic pool of interests, fascinations, and fixations. Her latest single, Eat Them Apples, which features on the Apple i-Phone 12 ad, is an ode to Eve.
In a recent interview, Suzi notes the persistent, historical tendency towards ignoring powerful women, and subverting their stories, often adapting them to the palettes of men. Eat Them Apples speaks to our “right to tell [these women’s] stories through our eyes. Because otherwise they just fade away.”
As for the future, the musician won’t release an album till it’s “a coherent piece of art” (she told Honey Punch Mag). Other than that, she wants to continue cultivating the “badass female vibes” that she’s become known for, through collaborations, and work with a predominantly female band.
