Suzi Celebrates Dominican Roots and the Power of Collaboration
- W4TC
- Sep 15
- 7 min read
Interview By: Summer Bowie
For Dominican-American artist Suzi, music has always been about more than just the sound — it’s about identity, pride, and legacy. Born and raised in New Jersey to Dominican parents, Suzi’s early journey began with classical and opera training during kindergarten, giving her a technical foundation that she later fused with the R&B, pop, freestyle, and Latin influences she grew up surrounded by. That blend of cultures and genres has become her signature: versatile, authentic, and distinctly her own.
Suzi’s career launched in a whirlwind when her debut single with Fetty Wap, “Nobody’s Better,” went viral and racked up more than 350 million streams, earning her an international fanbase before she even had time to process what it meant to be an artist. Since then, she’s collaborated with heavyweights like Jim Jones and Fetty Wap, proving that her talent can stand alongside the best in the industry.
Yet despite her success, Suzi remains grounded in her roots. She beams with pride when speaking about the rise of Dominican artists on the global stage and sees her own career as a chance to inspire more women—especially Latinas—to pursue music not only as singers, but also as producers, engineers, and creators.
As she continues to drop new music and build her catalog, Suzi carries a message that feels especially powerful this Hispanic Heritage Month: success is even sweeter when it’s built on collaboration, authenticity, and cultural pride. For Suzi, the spotlight isn’t about competition — it’s about showing that everyone deserves to shine.
W4TC: Hi Suzi, I'm glad to speak with you! Tell me a little bit about yourself.
SUZI: Thank you so much. My name is Suzi. I'm from New Jersey, born and raised. I am Dominican-American. I’m a pop, R&B, Latin artist, songwriter, audio engineer, vocal producer, director, multi-faceted talent. Yeah, that's a little bit about me in a nutshell.
W4TC: Well, you're more than a triple threat! You’ve been into music since you were a kid with formal vocal training and learning all different genres, such as opera. How has that shaped the music that you make today?
SUZI: As a little girl, my mom listened to my music teacher from school who told her that she noticed I had some talent and she later decided to enroll me in vocal training. So around five years old, I started training in classical music and opera, which taught me all about techniques and, you know, different ways to reach different notes that are not commonly seen in R&B or pop music today. So I'm very grateful for that background. Growing up as a 90s kid with siblings that were a little bit older than me and parents from a different country, I had an influence from all over the place. I've got a little bit of Latin music. I got a little bit of freestyle. I got a little bit of R&B, some pop, K-pop even. We're tuned into all different genres. I'm very happy to be able to explore those sounds.
W4TC: Everything in mainstream music is so trend-influenced these days. How do you balance maintaining your own artistic identity and staying authentic to who you are when making all these different genres of music?
SUZI: I definitely go with the flow at times in the sense of when I go into the studio. I'm focused on how I'm feeling and what I want to put in the song and what type of vibe I'm on for the day. It doesn't really matter to me too much the style of music that I work on during the day, as long as I'm feeling it. When I feel a song feels good, that's when I'm like, okay, yeah. I think we're ready to release it.
W4TC: What's your creative process like and how do you envision your song from beginning to end?
SUZI: So a lot of the time it starts with feeling out the beat and picking out a beat that I really love. Then from there I like to lead with melody. I know a lot of people start with words first, but I lead with melody first and then I kind of fill in my words and I feel like that really gives me a better groove for the song.
W4TC: Being that you are a Dominican artist, how do you feel it's represented in music today?
SUZI: Oh, man, I am so happy to see so many different Dominican stars coming up and sharing their success stories, because it makes me feel so proud! I know that our country may not be, I guess, American standards, but we have a lot of great and intelligent and innovative people. So it just makes me feel really, really proud.
W4TC: If you could create an all-women supergroup full of musical artists of your choice, who would it be and what kind of music would you create?
SUZI: Oh my gosh! I would have to be included in the music group too right?
W4TC: Yes! Your choice, your group.
SUZI: Okay so I think it would have to be myself, Kehlani, Ariana Grande, Normani and Ciara. I think that would be a really cool group.
W4TC: Would you ever consider teaching choreography?
SUZI: Maybe one of these days, but I definitely want to focus more on the music. You just gave me some visions! A performance with all of us, it would just be insane. They're all women that I look up to and that I grew up listening to. I just think that they're so incredible. It'd be a fun show for sure.
W4TC: What does success look like to you when it's rooted in collaboration rather than competition?
SUZI: Collaboration allows many doors to open. It allows the energy to flow in a positive and fun light and it allows for everyone to shine. Why shouldn't everyone shine? Everyone deserves to shine wherever they're at, you know? Let's do it all together. Let's help each other get there. That's the mentality versus I gotta get next to somebody to use them to get to where I gotta be so I can be on top. Overall, people are going to be attracted to positive and pure energy over selfish energy. Always.
W4TC: I know you have music out and you collaborated with artists like Jim Jones and Fetty Wap. What was the feeling knowing that you were collaborating with those people?
SUZI: Honestly, super surreal. My Fetty Wap collaboration was actually my first song that I ever released. It did an insane amount of streams and I had no plan. I had just come out of high school and I didn't know anything about the music business or how to be an artist. Or what being an artist meant. Not only is it about making music, but it's about running a business and branding yourself. Doing collaborations with different people. Throughout the years, it's definitely been a learning experience. To be able to say that all of the hard work that I've been putting in all of these years have allowed me to collaborate with amazing artists like Tory Lanez and Jim Jones. It's just kind of rewarding. It feels surreal still because they are people that I've listened to. I've jammed to these guys in my car or on my way to work. So to say that I have songs with them and they happened naturally because of my work, super rewarding.
W4TC: Yes, I can imagine. That must be an amazing feeling. Especially with your debut song with Fetty Wap, “Nobody’s Better,” being a hit in Asia in 2015. How did you feel knowing that you reached an international audience?
SUZI: It's funny to feel… You know, the success of seeing the numbers on a screen, but visually thinking about 350 million people. I can't even, like, compute that. I can't understand it. So I just have to say… thanks to God and thanks to my family for supporting me and allowing me to pursue my dreams because there have been many times where I just didn't know what I was doing. Somehow in some way I figured it out and hard work does pay off.
W4TC: You're doing amazing! I think you've accomplished a lot. How would you hope that your accomplishments open doors for future women artists and Dominican artists?
SUZI: Thank you. Thank you so much. I hope to see a lot more women taking advantage of the moment and just chasing their dreams. I'd love to see more women in the audio space. Every time I meet a new engineer girl or producer girly, I get so excited because there's not a lot of us. So I'm happy to see and hopefully be somebody that they could look up to when that time comes around. In the artist space I hope I could help people see that it's possible to maintain a career in this independently and do successful things.
W4TC: Being where you are now, what would you tell your younger self?
SUZI: Hmm. What would I tell my younger self?
Probably to put a little bit more pressure on things. When I was younger, I was hoping that people would come and do the work for me. I didn't understand that nobody is going to work as hard for you as you. I always say this. It's a fact and I live by it every day. You've got to put the work in so that other people can see the work and can be inspired. Because if you're not putting the work in behind your brand and your business, why should anybody else? Why would I invest in something that you don't even care about? As a kid I definitely put importance on things but maybe not as much as I could have. I was giving 75 percent or 80 percent when I could have gone to the hundred percent. You know what I mean?
W4TC: I definitely know what you mean. Do you have any other projects coming out? What are you working on at the moment?
SUZI: Oh, yes. I am dropping so much music. I have so much music in the vault, along with a lot of collaborations with some really dope people. I'm not going to say who, but they're definitely coming.
W4TC: I'll be on the lookout for that. Side note, I'm kind of a fan. I really love your song “Every Love Song”. I pay attention to lyrics and noticed you had some gems in there like references to Marvin Gaye.
SUZI: That's my bop girl! I was like I hope somebody can get married to this song. There's a couple of references in there. I'm glad you caught that! Shout out to Koniko Knight. That's my co-writer.
W4TC: Suzi, I really enjoyed talking to you and getting to know you more and for the opportunity to feature you for Hispanic Heritage Month!
SUZI: Thank you so much! I appreciate it so much that you took some time to actually get to know me and for listening to my music because it seriously means the world to me. Without you guys' support I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing. So thank you!
You can find Suzi on Instagram @suzi and listen to her latest EP “Hit The Target” on streaming platforms!
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