The vocalist talks new music, sobriety, her recent move to New York, and more
If you put Fugazi, Lil Ugly Mane, and Charli XCX into a blender, you might get something along the lines of Suzi Wu. Since her debut EP Teenage Witch in 2017, Suzi has been making her own distinctive style of bedroom pop-meets-grunge, with whimsically poetic lyrics like “Werewolf Jesus sellin’ Reese’s Pieces” dancing over hip-hop driven beats. As we talk over Skype, the late February sun shines through the windows of her new place in Bushwick.
“I don’t know anything about the areas of New York that I haven’t learned from hip-hop songs. It’s all a bit new,” she says. “It’s been pretty hectic, but I’ve just gone straight into the studio, which is all I really want.” Suzi has only been living in New York for two weeks, but her plan for today is to stay inside and work on music. Her new living space has a recording studio in the basement and hosts live events that she DJs. When I ask if she’s gotten to explore the city much, she mentions hoping to track down a vegan pizza place that she once visited.
Born Suzie McDermott, she adopted the moniker Suzi Wu based on a childhood nickname. Taking influence from many genres, it’s hard to fit her sound into a single box – at the moment, her discography consists of two EPs, spanning eight songs. Luckily, fans are in store for new music in the near future. “I just wanna get more stuff out,” she says. “I don’t care what order it comes out in. I’m just creatively focused.”
As our call winds to an end, the 22-year-old musician confesses, “It’s crazy that you’ve heard of me,” but there’s no need to be so modest. Her project Teenage Witch attracted the attention of Def Jam, which she signed with prior to releasing last year’s Error 404 EP. For the young Londoner, New York City has become her home for the next chapter.
“When my manager first suggested moving, he was like, ‘You know, your label is from New York. You should be in New York,’ which is kind of obvious, but I’m kind of dumb,” Suzi Wu laughs, admitting that at first she was a bit nervous to relocate. “I thought I didn’t want to move, ’cause London is my lifeblood and my home. It’s a very cool city. It’s easy to stay there for the rest of your life,” she explains. “At the pubs in London, you’ll see all these thirty year-olds in jumpers with their dogs, just doing the same shit every day, and I think like, ‘I need to go ’cause that’s probably going to happen to me at some point. But before that happens to me, I need to be young and crazy, you know? This is the most energy I’ll ever have, according to everyone.”
I saw you posted earlier about learning how to DJ.
Yeah! So I landed in New York with a whole new set of people that I never met before and they happened to have decks. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Beastie Boys, I’ve been thinking a lot about Rick Rubin, and how they always have that record scratch sound. I love that sound — I wish people would use that in production again. I really wanted to learn decks just so I could scratch on my own beats and see what it sounded like. And it turns out that DJing is the best thing, like, ever. It teaches you a lot about how hip-hop started, just like doing it, the process of it.
You’ve got an EP coming out soon, what can you share about that?
It’s going to be out by the end of Spring. It’s kind of a farewell letter to London. There’s a very specific London sound that’s on a lot of the tracks. I made all of it mainly with the guy from Glass Animals, Dave. So yeah, I’m excited for people to see it. I’m really interested to see what America thinks of it ’cause it’s very British.
You’ve been posting a number of snippets online lately. Is that stuff that’s going to end up on the EP, or is that just messing around?
That’s messing around, but I need to stop doing that. Because like, I had someone message me the other day–I’ve had a few people actually–and they’re like “I’ve remixed your song, I screen recorded your song” and that’s sick, and some of them are really cool. I might even hit up one of the guys to work with him, but like, I’ve got to remember that I’m a signed artist now and not just, like, a kid on the internet.
Are you looking to do more collaborations?
I’d like to do some with some female rappers. Like Doja Cat or Princess Nokia would be someone that I’d love to make stuff with. I’m friends with Ashnikko, that could be really really cool. I want more badass female vibes on my shit.
On Instagram a while ago you mentioned being sober. Is that something recent?
It was after Error 404, which was a very mentally unstable time in my life. I realized I’ve been drinking and smoking weed since I was like fourteen without much break. I was like, Who am I without this stuff? How happy can I get if I’m not waking up every morning hungover? It turns out: pretty happy. I feel more energetic and creative. Those reasons alone are good enough for me. I’m not gonna say it’s a hard rule, because I’m honest. It’s really hard to be sober all the time. I’m not straight edge anymore, but I definitely don’t do drugs, and I think I have more energy because of it — but I have no issue with anyone who does, either. It’s a choice we make, and it’s a journey we go on to try and understand things about ourselves in the world.
Has that affected your writing and recording process at all?
It gives me energy and allows me to tap into emotions unchecked. It’s a good place to be able to tap into. I can write songs about joy now. I honestly think it’s harder to write a good happy song than it is to write a good sad song. So being able to do that has been really interesting.
What sort of stuff are you listening to lately?
I’ve been listening to a lot of old Kanye at the moment and thinking about how much of an actual genius he is to have figured out how to have these crazy powerful dancey hip-hop beats with like a hundred things on top of them. Because production-wise, that’s really difficult to do, and it’s something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. So yeah, a bit of Kanye. Saint Bodhi. She’s another Def Jam signee, she’s new. She’s like Erykah Badhu mixed with like…I don’t even know, she’s her own damn thing. She’s fantastic. Deer Hunter as well. That’s kind of where I’m at. Also the leaked album, Yandhi. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not, but oh my god…I can’t imagine having this and being good enough to be like, ‘I’m going to throw this in the bin.’
A while ago you said “I won’t release an album until I think I have a coherent piece of art.” Do you feel like you’re getting closer to that?
That’s a super good question, yeah. The reason for that is ‘cause I think hearing Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange had a huge impact on me. Listening to that from start to end, I loved the concept of the shopping channel and I loved the concept of it being about his life, and how it’s kind of surreal. It really made me understand what it takes to make an album that is truly coherent and has a message. So I’m kind of following in his footsteps of what he did, which was make a ton of demos in really concentrated periods of time that I then take into the studio ’cause you always have a coherent piece of art that way.
You talked about making the song “Taken Care Of” in your bedroom when you were 15. How has your recording process changed since then?
I still use a lot of angst. That’s one thing I noticed recently. I’d say I’m happier now that I’m older, so it’s been harder to write lyrics to the extent that I could when I was unhappy, honestly. So I’ve been trying to tap into that energy without putting myself in a bad mood. So that’s been interesting. But I also think I’m definitely better overall in all the different ways that you can be good at songwriting because I’ve watched so many people since I was 16 and the way they work. That’s been a gift.
Besides the EP, what’s next for Suzi Wu?
I’m mainly thinking about album-focused stuff, and when this EP comes out of course I’ll be touring, which will be fun. I really hope I can bring my British band back on with me, cause they’re such a vibe. But we will see. If I can’t I’m going to have to find some cool New Yorkers. I want to find a female drummer or a female keyboard player. That would be really cool, and I think New York is the place to do it.