Suzanne Vega didn't expect to be "discovered" until after her death.

The 65-year-old singer had "hoped and dreamed" of success in the music world but Suzanne figured she would be seen as an "underground" artist who wouldn't cross over into the mainstream, so she was "kinda thrilled" when she began having hit records.

Suzanne told Uncut magazine: "I'd always hoped and dreamed that I would be successful, but I did not expect chart success.

"I thought of myself as somebody more underground and maybe I'd be discovered after I was dead.

"So as a kid who listened to the top 40 every Sunday, I was kinda thrilled."

However, the 'Luka' hitmaker knew she'd never achieve Madonna levels of fame.

She added: "I had the feeling you get when you have a fever, and you know it's all going to cool off.

"Sometimes I'd look around and be like, 'Oh no, does this mean I'm like Madonna now?' And the answer was no, it's not going to continue in that way.

"Because to really sustain that kind of fame, you've got to be constantly running after it.

"I was still the kid who was always in the corner reading, and that's not going to interest the media."

An a-capella version of Suzanne's 'Tom's Diner' was used to refine the MP3's compression process and she admitted she has felt the need to apologize for her role in the "downfall" of the music industry.

Asked her views on streaming, she said: "I have mixed feelings about it. At one point, I was being asked about this so much I felt I had to apologize for my role in the downfall of the music industry.

"So it's bad, but it's also one of those things that you can't necessarily fix."

However, Suzanne thinks that ultimately, there's nothing like the connection of performing for a live audience and technology can't replicate that.

She said: "I still believe that there's something timeless about playing to a live audience.

"For me, it all comes down to that interaction of one human singing to another human.

"That makes all of technology fall away; AI, streaming, MP3s, none of it matters. What really matters is that moment when one human hears another human singing."