NEW YORK – Suki Waterhouse discovered the Sparklemuffin spider during a late-night scroll.
“He’s wildly colored. He’s cute,” she said. Best of all: He dances. “I felt somewhat akin to him.”
The spider became a foil and a mascot for Waterhouse’s sophomore album, “Memoir of a Sparklemuffin,” out Friday.
The release follows the British singer-songwriter’s 2022 debut “I Can’t Let Go” and her time playing keyboardist Karen Sirko in “Daisy Jones and the Six,” the Amazon Prime series based on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s bestselling novel about a 1970s rock band. The record’s 18 songs cover heartache and the search for a “Big Love,” but also the 32-year-old’s time in the industry, which she entered as a teen, modeling first. The project wrapped just days before the birth of her daughter, now six months old, with partner Robert Pattinson.
After celebrating the release with stops at the Michael Kors fashion show and the MTV Video Music Awards, Waterhouse talked with The Associated Press about making the album while pregnant and how playing Sirko motivated her to fully embrace her music career.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Much of “Memoir of a Sparklemuffin” was made while you were pregnant with your daughter. How did that shape the music you were making during that time?
WATERHOUSE: I think the physical limitations were something that shaped the album, in a really good way. It was sort of amazing to not be able to leave the house for a couple of months. I mean, I really got to focus in a way that I don’t know if sometimes you are able to when the world keeps moving.
I’m someone that loves working at home. All of my music that I’ve made pretty much has been made in home studios — big studios can freak me out a little bit. There’s something especially about being in Los Angeles, there’s just so many talented people around you, so you’re literally able to call up the best guitarist and he lives 15 minutes away. So it was very much that feeling of having awesome people just flow in and out of my house, with also a good deadline. It wasn’t just the deadline of — finish the record. It was, we must finish the record. There will be a baby here if we don’t.
AP: The song, “Model, Actress, Whatever,” feels like a reclamation of those labels.
WATERHOUSE: It’s funny, when I wrote that song, I kind of had that loop going around — (singing) “call me a model, an actress, whatever” — and it was something that I thought was kind of self-deprecating and funny. But I also felt like I would want to be in my car singing that. It’s dramatic, it’s glamorous.
I love consuming stories about people’s lives written by them, I love reading a memoir, I love reading from someone’s perspective what really went down, what really happened. That song, I guess, I was a little afraid after I wrote it — like, I’ve been trying to get away from being called this, from having these kind of labels — and then I think that was why I ended up writing it. There were a couple of months where I was like, “I’m not going to have this as a single. Let’s sweep that one under the carpet.” And then it’s always those ones actually, that eventually, you’re like, “No, yeah, this is reclaiming those words.”
Especially with the video, I wanted to have just like a ton of fun and play into the stereotypes. I actually feel very empowered by the song. The video is like, really funny and I hope everyone watches it because it’s just like a giggle. I really feel proud of that.
AP: You told AP last year that playing Karen Sirko in “Daisy Jones and the Six” helped you embrace your own music career. Why do you think that was?
WATERHOUSE: Looking at the book, she was cool and calm and collected and she knew exactly what she wanted to do and she knew exactly who she was. She wanted to be on tour for the rest of her life. And you know, there was a reason why I was drawn to the part. I think whenever you step into a role, you do just absorb — that’s the job. There’s just so much to be gained from that experience.
Something about playing her gave me that nudge, that voice in my head that was like: “Right, now is that time that you need to go and make that album that you’ve been wanting to make for years and years and years, that you’ve been working towards. You’ve got the songs, they’re all there, go and make the album.” Also, playing a role where we were all in a band, hanging out in Sound City Studios everyday, I was kind embracing that life of a musician. I had this hole in my heart like, that’s what I want to be doing too.
AP: Do you ever find yourself tapping into Karen, now?
WATERHOUSE: (Laughs) Yeah, I guess. She’s always there, she’s always there.
AP: You’ve played so many shows since your debut album came out and since filming “Daisy Jones,” including a stop at Coachella this spring. Has seeing people react to your live sets influenced the music you’re creating?
WATERHOUSE: I feel like it’s difficult not to. When I did Taylor (Swift)’s show the other day, I went straight into the studio afterward. You’re so inspired watching that show, so I was like, “I want to make a stadium song.” I ended up making a slow ballad, but obviously it’s still super inspiring.
The first record I made, I had so many voices in my head — like, “Don’t do anything too upbeat.” Those voices, a lot of those insecurities, are kind of gone now, in many ways.
When I wrote “My Fun,” that was the first kind of upbeat song that I’d done that still felt like it was true to my palette and my world and that I liked. And I was like, “OK, I can write an upbeat song and not be cringed out by it.” And that is so fun, to do an upbeat song on stage. So 1,000%, from this record, I can’t wait to be going on tour and have those different songs that are a little more upbeat.
AP: What are you looking forward to most on your upcoming tour?
WATERHOUSE: There’s nothing better than having a bunch of new songs that you love so much and you feel like you’re putting together a show that’s like a whole level up, that you couldn’t have even dreamed of a year ago, you know?
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