On Friday, Sept. 13, indie artist Suki Waterhouse released her second studio album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin. The album contains 18 tracks, which display various genres including indie, alt-pop, and soft rock. Waterhouse focuses on the themes behind the stages of love and deceit, touching on mental health and relationship struggles.
Waterhouse began her journey to fame at 16 years old as a model, and eight years later she began producing music, releasing her first single, “Brutally” in 2016. The following year, she released “Good Looking,” which went viral in 2022, amassing over four hundred million streams. Around the same time of her virality, Waterhouse produced her debut studio album, I Can’t Let Go, introducing a theme of heartbreak in her music, which continued into her EP, Milk Teeth.
Waterhouse’s music carries a vintage alternative pop/soft rock sound reminiscent of the late 80s and 90s. Fans have expressed a love for her ethereal vocals and powerful lyricism, supporting her as she recently opened for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour in Wembley, and headlined Coachella. She has been teasing singles for Memoir of a Sparklemuffin since 2022, when she introduced “To Love” on her U.S. tour for I Can’t Let Go and Milk Teeth.
The lead singles for Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, “OMG” and “To Love” released Jan. 11. On April 11, Waterhouse released two more tracks, “My Fun” and “Faded,” and in later weeks dropped three more singles in anticipation of the album release. The singles provide a window into the album, portraying the main themes through poetic lyrics.
Waterhouse establishes the tone of the album in the lead track, “Gateway Drug.” The song showcases Waterhouse’s soft yet impressive vocals, and leads up to a perfectly timed beat drop, which compliments the emotion behind the lyrics. The lines, “I’ll show you places that only exist in your dreams / Take off those nightmares and put your heart back on your sleeve,” connect listeners to the feeling of putting down your guard and being at ease around someone, a common experience in relationships.
The seventh track, “Model, Actress, Whatever,” also carries her signature soft and light musical introduction. The evolving tempo and heavy tone follow Waterhouse as she tells the tale of her struggles with fame and her experience in the Hollywood industry. Waterhouse uses the ocean as a metaphor for her growing career and the accompanying struggles, through the lyrics, “All of my dreams came true / The bigger the ocean, the deeper the blue.”
A music video accompanies “Model, Actress, Whatever,” which follows Waterhouse on set as a warrior princess. The video tells the story of the warrior princess Nelrita embarking on a journey filled with battles, ending up in a forest where she finds her lover. The story displays the different aspects of Waterhouse’s career, especially when the director tells her that “this isn’t fashion week” and she’s making “that face” again, insinuating that she cannot draw the line between her two careers.
Waterhouse teased her album with the first single and final track, “To Love,” which plays with the idea of the chaos behind falling in love. The evolution of the background beat, beginning with a calm and tender melody and peaking at one that radiates a rock style represents those feelings. By pairing lyrics such as, “While the world’s falling apart / You make it so easy to love,” and “Now that I found myself this kinda love… I’ll never leave it behind,” she expresses the feeling of being swept up in a relationship with someone who makes loving effortless.
In spite of the fact that Waterhouse has proved she can find a theme and stick to it throughout a single album, the production varies significantly, leading to the point of discordance. The sixteenth track, “Everybody Breaks Up Anyway,” sounds similar to an 80’s ballad, using classical instruments like piano and violin. On the other hand, the thirteenth track, “Think Twice,” parallels a British-style pop or indie rock song, made up of acoustic guitar and drums, paired with upbeat vocals and echoes.
Waterhouse has exhibited a talent for combining powerful vocals with vintage feels and different genres. Even though the tracks are engaging, the prominence of subgenres breaks up the flow of the album. Despite this, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin captivates listeners from the first note until the end. Exploring the challenges of balancing life, work, and love mixed with a unique music style makes for an unforgettable album, earning it a four and a half out of five feathers.
