The release of Suki Waterhouse's second album, 'Memoir of a Sparklemuffin,' is coming soon. The singer, model, and actress shares how she recorded the album while pregnant, how her role in 'Daisy Jones and the Six' inspired her to tackle her solo career, a glimpse into her upcoming tour, and more!
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00:00I was kind of scared for a long time about having even like putting that song on the thing so it's like
00:04Every title is just gonna be like model actress, whatever
00:07But then I was like, you know what we're gonna own this. We're gonna celebrate it. We're gonna like blow it up
00:12I'm gonna proudly wear that label now. Hi, it's Suki Waterhouse and this is Billboard News
00:19Hey, I'm Lindsay Havens for Billboard News and we are here with artists singer-songwriter actress model, whatever
00:26Oh my god. Suki Waterhouse. Hi. I feel like I need to say that's a song title, which we all get into
00:31You just do so much. This is Suki Waterhouse
00:34She's a model actress, whatever
00:37Let's do it
00:38We're celebrating your second album Memoir of a Sparkle Muffin
00:42I want to ask first how it was different this time compared to the making of your debut album
00:46The first record I made I'd never made a record before I'd been releasing things by myself for like
00:52Ten years eight ten years like I didn't have a label and really I didn't have any team
00:56There was no sort of like there was nothing behind me at that point
00:59and then I kind of went and
01:02Asked a couple of people if they would sign it and everyone said no and then sub pop said yes
01:08But I had to kind of really bang down the door and it took like six months of
01:12Writing emails and they said no we don't want to listen to any songs from models
01:17Yeah
01:20Yeah, so it was a completely different experience this time I've been able to
01:25collaborate with different people and
01:27You know have yeah have different artists that I could call up and a few more people wanted to get in the room with me
01:33Then they did before so it was like very very different
01:36You're also pregnant while making this album and you had a home studio
01:40Built for you
01:42How did that impact the music and also the experience for you being able to kind of like work
01:47But also be home and not maybe knowing when to separate you
01:50I think I started like straight after the last record came out. I guess I got pregnant and
01:57Like it was sort of halfway through the year
02:00So that there'd been a lot of stuff done before so I was in studios and I did do
02:05Kind of I did a couple of trips. I did a trip upstate which was like kind of at the beginning
02:10Of being pregnant so I was just like I was trying to hide it from everyone the whole time
02:14And then I think we went into town to go and get some food and I was like driving the car
02:19And I was like, I'm gonna be sick. I'm gonna be sick and everyone was like, okay, are you okay?
02:22Okay, and then I just like literally like with like vomit. I was like
02:30I'm pregnant
02:32Like oh my god, but it was really nice to have you know, I was really like glad to have
02:38A project that I was so
02:41Into whilst also being pregnant because it was like, you know
02:44You're just powering through and it was great to have a distraction
02:47And I kind of had this thing in my head where I'm like, I'm just gonna power through who cares
02:51I'm gonna vomit sometimes and that's just gonna be what it is. And then you know, you vomit and then you feel fine afterwards
02:57So it's okay. It's necessary
03:00Got a purge it's gone
03:03So let's talk about some of the singles on this album starting with blackout
03:07Oh
03:11Tell me a little bit about the story behind that the creation why it's special to you
03:15So I think I started this song it was in January. Actually, I just looked it up on my phone
03:20I was like, when did we write the song? It was January. It was freezing cold. We're in London
03:23I think the inspiration behind that song
03:27I think I've been like talking to a bunch of girls and I kind of like noticed this pattern where a lot of girls
03:33were like talking about
03:35just like
03:36Their boyfriends being like really messy
03:38Mm-hmm on nights out and and it kind of struck me and it's I've had that to happen to me and I'm like would girls be
03:44Allowed to behave quite like the way that guys do you know what I mean?
03:48Like we like put up with why do they just like why do they just have so many beers?
03:52I mean and just keep going keep going and there's no like moment where they're like
03:57Oh, this is like not a great idea or like oh my girlfriend might might have to deal with this
04:01It was like the original origin story. I love like blackout drunks
04:05It has just a very it's very much just like this one feeling expressed and it's just like a story all the way through
04:12It's it's like I'm waiting like you've you've been an idiot. I've had to deal with you
04:17I thought we've had to go out and see you do all this crazy stuff
04:20You've done something that you wouldn't really do if you weren't being so goddamn sloppy, right?
04:24So yeah, I want it to just be very like simple. It's that story my rage song, but make it cute
04:30It's super cute. Yeah, but now you did us all a favor because we can just play that song now
04:33Yeah conversation has to be had
04:36Exactly. So I wanted to also ask on super sad not about the song
04:40But you were saying that you wanted to write it either like to play at the mall and clueless or for the opening credits
04:45Of Legally Blonde. I'm so curious if you could revive one role to play yourself. Do you know what that would be?
04:50imagine if you could just do like a
04:53Lost in translation. I feel like that's every girl's dream
04:56Play a role like that where it's just like oh one night like one night in a different country
05:00I love like that's that movie still just makes me go like it just breaks me apart
05:04I watched it the other night you talked about how you were making music for a long time
05:08What made you want to double down on music and really devote a lot of time and attention to it?
05:13That's been like the kind of cool thing about the last
05:16Couple of years is that it felt like oh I've kind of been doing this for a long time
05:20Then I got to make that album and then I guess like good-looking a song that I put out eight years ago
05:31You know
05:32I've got so many nose with right with those songs from like managers and labels and when I was kind of trying to
05:38You know get get something started
05:40So it's so funny how things work out and then like the internet sort of found good-looking and and blew that song up almost a decade
05:47Later, right? So it was kind of like this this like wave from the from the past
05:52I like to think of it that's kind of like helped you just never know what you never know with music like what's gonna come
05:58Back around and what people are gonna connect to a certain time. That's like very strange and wild
06:05That's what's so fun is like the timeless music
06:07It really doesn't matter especially with the internet people will gravitate toward whatever they like and I imagine as you're making so many new fans
06:13Now, are you hearing that? They're like, wow, you have so much music for me to go back to and enjoy
06:19Yeah, I guess so. I guess there's all the stuff like pre putting out the album
06:23That's that's like really great
06:25I remember everyone wanted me to like delete all my old stuff and like label and everyone was like
06:30Oh just clear everything out and we'll put the new record on but like you always think you're like, oh my god
06:35Thank God that I didn't like let everyone do that. Yeah
06:38Cuz I'll erase it
06:39Yeah
06:39even when that song blew up like there were people that already knew that song and there was like a core group of people that
06:45Were like no like we've already been gatekeeping
06:47I we've already we've already known about good-looking or Joanna and stuff like for the way longer and then so it's cool
06:53You have people that have known about it for like almost a decade and then you get
06:56People coming to the shows that have just heard it on tick-tock. You get like a bunch of different
07:02Types of like different fans that have found me at different moments
07:05That's like always such an interesting thing when you when you go on tour because you get to meet everybody
07:09Exactly, and then like really see who's singing to what and what's connecting in person? Yeah
07:14I definitely have questions about the upcoming tour
07:16But I want to stick go back to acting for a second your role on Daisy Jones in the six combined your two loves
07:21And you got to be a musician on screen. Did that impact your
07:26Goals or your desires as a musician, you know outside of making the show
07:31Yeah, it definitely did
07:32I mean
07:32I guess that show was really special because it kind of put me in that world for a long time
07:37It gave me some kind of permission. I think to do it myself like when I started doing that show. I hadn't I
07:44still was
07:46Like where I was mentally was like you could never do that
07:49Like you could never you can never I wasn't even in the headspace that you could do a show
07:54Well, I could do a tour you could put an album out like it was I was very much in this like
07:59Oh, no, you're you're not good enough to do that
08:02Or like you just that just won't happen for you or like, you know
08:06keep yourself just like
08:08Do it on like put out a song a year and do it like in a very small way
08:12Cuz that's what you won't be allowed to like, you know billboard won't invite
08:17You know what? I mean? Like it was that was just where I was mentally
08:20So that show like really even just being in the studio
08:24We're in Sound City every day for three hours
08:26Like just making music and being a band and you know
08:29Even like the chords that I was playing for the Daisy Jones songs
08:32I would like to take them off and learn new things and it would help me make my own music
08:35it was very special to be able to do something that's
08:39That combines like that. Yeah that when you do a part that like really moves you in your own life. Yeah
08:46It's very unique. I don't think it happens that often when something like that. That's incredible
08:51Yeah, so it was very really really special and I just like loved
08:55Working with that cast and we just knew we had such a special story at the beginning anyway
09:00Because we already had this like unbelievable book to work with. It was very special. You want to make the fans really proud
09:06You want to make yeah, you know, you want to make everyone proud
09:09It was just and we have Blake Mills making music like ah, it was a dream. Yeah, it was a dream putting on the spot
09:16I know there is no second season. We have that triple confirmed limited
09:20Have you daydreamed just about what you would have wanted to happen if if this storyline were to continue my god
09:26Like everyone would talk about that all the time
09:28Yeah all the time that everyone would be pitching like oh, this is what's gonna happen
09:32Like I think Karen was I think like the idea was that she had she'd found love and she was happy with someone else
09:39But I obviously like well, there's such a dream book. Yeah, it's great
09:43I'm like, obviously I in my head would be like they would you know, like have maybe like an affair or something
09:49He was happy as well. Yeah, maybe I would come and like mess up his shit a little bit
09:54Yeah, exactly. Exactly, you know, maybe they'd like play some shows together or something
09:59So, of course the show really like is centered on sort of the messiness of boundaries between like relationships music love
10:06How do you as an artist you're very honest in your music, but I feel like you maintain some personal privacy, too
10:12Do you think I do maintain personal friends?
10:14I do like I think that you give us a lot, but I also feel like you don't put everything out there
10:19Right, right, right, but I feel like that's hard to do especially with like through your songwriting
10:23We feel like we know you but then the social media too. There's a lot to navigate
10:27I actually don't think that people want to know everything about you, right?
10:31Like maybe that's like a nice thing to assume like sometimes like I think you don't want to like overwhelm
10:38Someone with like every single detail of your life. It's not as it's really tempting though
10:43I'm like, oh, I'm just
10:45Everyone lay it out. Yeah, exactly. I want to like give you all of the tea
10:50Or like, you know, but that is inappropriate
10:53I do kind of feel like you're when when you put a lot of music out and when someone's like tapped into your world
10:58They kind of like the fans kind of like they know
11:01Yeah, you can like speak telepathically
11:05And I think they know yeah, they know a lot of your shit without you having to like really like spell out sometimes
11:11Yeah, it's kind of weird actually how much people if you're if you're really like kind of in it and you're paying attention
11:16They kind of I don't know. I feel like they get a really good sense of like your soul
11:21I think well, especially through the music like that's like such a through line to someone's heart in a lot of ways exactly
11:27I think it's important to you
11:29Don't you never want to like fill in every single like detail because that's kind of like boring in a way
11:34You really want there to be like something that there's you know
11:37There's like some essence or something to connect to that makes you get it
11:41But you also want to have like space for people to to breathe and to be able to put like their experience into it exactly
11:48Yeah, like I said at the beginning you're going on tour this fall, which is very exciting
11:52You've mentioned that you will bring your daughter
11:54I'm curious who's giving you the best tips on how to do that on the road. You know who Allison Wonderland is?
12:00Yes, she's given me lots of tips. She's yeah
12:02It's funny when you have a baby like you kind of and I knew I know Halsey went on
12:07Tour with the baby and
12:09She mentioned to my friend that I should call her so I should call Halsey and ask. I know people do it. So
12:15Yeah, I don't know
12:15I looked I got like a text with the configuration of the bus
12:19the other day and some pictures of it and I kind of just like stared at it for a while and it's just like
12:24It's sort of like set in the reality. I was like, where's
12:27everything gonna go right Allison like
12:31she's definitely been someone that's like a musician that I
12:34met her
12:36Husband on a zoom and then like we have like friends in common and then we just started texting and I've only met her once
12:42But she's been so helpful
12:44Yeah
12:45You just find those people that they're kind of like a similar to you or in a similar world and and I've just been able to
12:51Like text her asking about everything. So she's been really helpful
12:54You mentioned in your Vogue cover that your partner wants you to do an EDM song
12:58I would have you and Allison talked about a potential collaboration or is it just advice?
13:03No, we haven't yet. No, I'm not taking that advice
13:07Do you foresee it now that you have a daughter in your life who she wants to pursue music?
13:10Do you foresee like a family trio like a little traveling family act a traveling family of the musicians or is that not?
13:23With your daughter does come to you and is like I want to pursue music time
13:26Do you have advice that you would give her from the start Oh God, I can't even like she can't even speak
13:32I don't know what advice I could really give her apart from I guess more about like how you feel
13:36About yourself and the belief that you have in yourself and like that, you know making those steps
13:41I'd be like I just feel like you know, you've got this
13:43Yeah, you just just take the leap
13:45Just take the leap and just and and start putting stuff out like don't hold on to it
13:50But you know for years and years and years
13:52Yeah
13:53You know you can have an evolution like things don't have to be perfect right at the beginning like yeah
13:58Only you only get better and grow as an artist if you just start putting out
14:02What's been your favorite part of your evolution as an artist or even, you know a live performer thinking about this tour
14:09I feel like live performing. I think at the beginning I went pretty hard into it
14:14It was like a hard launch like suddenly
14:17Yeah, I was like on tour with father John Misty
14:20Yeah to being doing a support and those venues were really big. It was kind of terrifying
14:25I think I did like one or two warm-up shows and then I was
14:28Playing these like massive rooms. I'd be like really scared to just like talk and in between
14:35It's like that, you know all of that stuff that goes into making a show. I'm just being right there
14:41And I'm just like even yeah
14:43I was kind of like still I was pretty like locked in my head and my head was like quiet
14:48quite like a in in between I can I would enjoy the songs and then right between I'd be like
14:54And I think
14:57Yeah, I don't know just being like oh god
15:00That was scary and like that's just changed so much just awesome going and doing it like non-stop for like two years you go
15:08Yeah, I think I've done like yeah, like I think you count it up and you're like, oh
15:11I've done like a hundred and something like 75 shows or something like that and you're like, okay that really changes after a while
15:17there's this ease with being on stage and there's like this and that comes from just
15:22Going on tour and having things really like
15:24Like sometimes things just go so wrong
15:27So you have to have that moment when you're like it's summer and it's boiling and like everything breaks because of the heat
15:33Yeah, and you're literally standing in front of a large amount of people and you know those like horrifying moments
15:38It's like a horror show sometimes being being on stage
15:41It's like everyone's like kind of watching and that's what makes it exciting
15:44But it's like things could go so horribly wrong things will go and actually it's that's the beauty of it
15:50It's like making the things that go wrong
15:53Actually can be such an entertaining part of a show
15:55Yeah, because like people people don't even want to see a perfect thing just go
16:00It's actually hilarious when something goes wrong and then and you can like enjoy that with the crowd, you know
16:05I think that's been like my favorite part of like, you know having an having an evolution with performing
16:11It's just become and and it just gets better and better. It's like really gets yes
16:15Like cooler the longer you do
16:17Is there something you can tease about this upcoming tour either?
16:20Like a special rendition of a song or the visuals or something that you just kind of can't wait for I think like Coachella
16:26That was the first time that I'd really gone
16:28Full out and was like, okay, we're gonna do we have that's like amazing magical forest with like it was beautiful
16:34Yeah, it was sort of like designed for people to be on mushrooms
16:38But I think with going on this tour, I'm in like bigger rooms and yeah
16:42It's so exciting and like we're playing the Greek and stuff like that and like the visuals have got to be that's just become like
16:48Something that is so important to me now that I wanted to do Coachella on tour
16:52But I've been told that I like can't take so many trees hard to travel with a lot of it
16:57would literally be like going around America with like a hundred trees and you just know they're gonna break and it's gonna be like
17:04Like pretend bark everywhere and that's just like nuts and they can't do it
17:08It will be like some version of that I'd like something like some kind of like version of the magical forest and then just to
17:15End on what is your ideal?
17:17Celebration night as this album years. Yeah, I feel like I've been like very well behaved for quite a long time
17:24So maybe like it up. Yeah, like maybe I want to know I feel like I've been
17:28Since actually Charlie's album came out it sort of reminded me how long I haven't been to a club for
17:34Mm-hmm. I like that would be quite nice
17:37You know
17:39You do yeah, totally do and some of these songs fit in quite nicely
17:43I have to say do you think I do which one some of these make me want to party?
17:48Yeah, that's good. Maybe that's odd
17:50No, yeah, it's there's a little bit more of that. And yeah, my fun seems like that's my favorite
17:56It's like the picnic version of the club. Maybe a little early remix on it
18:02Yeah, when you don't want to yeah when you don't want to be in the club
18:05It's more like Hampstead Heath like yeah, chill club
18:09Well, I hope that happens for you I cannot wait to see this tour and
18:13Congratulations albums amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me. Of course. Thank you