Songfacts®:

• Raye teamed up with producer Mark Ronson for "Suzanne," a sultry, emotionally charged single released in June 2025. The track was created as part of the APxMusic initiative, a project launched to mark the 150th anniversary of Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet. The song's title references the brand's co-founder, Suzanne Audemars, but the lyrics explore longing, memory, and the bittersweet ache of romantic yearning.
• Raye uses "Suzanne" as both a character and a symbol of unresolved love. She paints a portrait of a figure who exists somewhere between muse and memory, embodying a sense of deep emotional attachment that remains just out of reach.
• The collaboration with Ronson spanned multiple cities - London, New York, and Los Angeles - but the spark happened quickly. When Ronson first played Raye a lush instrumental track co-written with his longtime collaborator Tommy Brenneck, he wasn't sure how she'd respond.
  
  Ronson took a bathroom break and by the time he returned Raye had already come up with a title and emotional concept for the track. "I think the song's called 'Suzanne,'" she told him. That moment of inspiration became the foundation for the entire song.
  
  Ronson described the experience to Apple Music's Zane Lowe as "just something that felt like summer." There was no album deadline, no strategy - just the joy of making music for its own sake.
• Session guitarist Tommy Brenneck, known for his work with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley, and Menahan Street Band, has become an essential Ronson collaborator. Ronson praised Brenneck's soulful guitar style to Lowe, saying he's worked with him since Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album and even co-wrote his Miley Cyrus collaboration "Nothing Breaks Like A Heart."
• Ronson usually sticks to production or guitar, but on "Suzanne" he played bass. Ever the perfectionist, he critiqued his own performance, saying: "I thought the bass could've been better, but that's just me."
  
  Still, he was proud enough to keep it in the final mix.
• "Suzanne" was recorded in part at Damon Albarn's Studio 13 in London; it was the first time Ronson has worked there.
  
  "Such a vibe," he said of the Gorillaz/Blur frontman's creative space. The studio's atmosphere helped round out the song's rich, organic feel - fitting for a track built on spontaneity, emotion, and a spark that struck in the time it takes to use the bathroom.