Raised in a politically active Puerto Rican family, in the tough East Harlem district of New York City, Suzanne Vega exorcised her reflections on urban life over three, highly successful albums. Yet her cool detachment suggests Suzanne has as much difficulty with one area of existence as her fans. Some people see Buddhism as selfish, but in our particular form the highest thing you can chant for is someone else's happiness. I chanted for clear skin, and to be thin, and to have a record contract. It took me four years to get clear skin, five to become thinner than I was, and eight years to get the record contract.
Many adolescents are self-obsessed.
I felt that I had to look out for myself, because I didn't see that anyone else was going to. I was probably self-absorbed, but I won't apologise for that. I write about things that are very close to me , so I need to have the detachment, otherwise I'd just burst open - and that would be very unattractive. But I'm not actually a detached person. People, when they get romantically involved with me, don't seem to see me that way.