Suki Waterhouse: Five Essential Albums

Although London's Suki Waterhouse ascended in her teens and 20s as a model and actress (notably playing Christine McVie-ish keyboardist Karen Sirko in Amazon's Prime's "Daisy Jones & the Six" last year), she has always had her eye on music as a third career chapter. She released an early single, the haunting "Brutally," in 2016. Six years later, in 2022, another release, "Good Looking," from her debut EP, Milk Teeth, became a big hit in the UK and the States.

In 2022, Waterhouse released her debut album, I Can't Let Go, produced by Brad Cook (The War on Drugs, Bon Iver), with songs that touched on of the strain of living a personal life while splashed across tabloids. There's a far brighter hue to her forthcoming double album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, released September 13 on Sub Pop — even if there are somber-sounding track titles like "Supersad," its lyrics flooded with self-doubt but buoyed on a propulsive backbeat. The album, executive produced by Eli Hirsch with a half dozen producers (including Cook) contributing, seizes upon Waterhouse's chameleon-like instincts when it comes to the genre-fluid mix of music that she's drawn to making —  and the artists she admires.

Waterhouse has a chaotic (in a good way) year ahead, with her own headlining "Sparklemuffin Tour" across North America this autumn. Plus, sound the Swiftie trumpets, she's won an opening slot on Taylor Swift's "The ERAS Tour" at Wembley Stadium on August 17. And Suki still unofficially serves as a UK fashion icon too.

FUV has been spinning all three of Waterhouse's recent singles — so ahead of her sparkly second album, we asked her just what her "Five Essential Albums" might be:

Suki Waterhouse: Five Essential Albums

Lucinda Williams, World Without Tears
This record has been a blueprint for as long as I can remember, especially the song "Fruits of My Labor." I listen to it constantly. It’s one of those records that I always come back to when I want to reconnect with why I write music; the way Lucinda can sing about deep pain with a redemptive quality is inspiring.

Ani DiFranco, Ani DiFranco
This Ani album, I'll always remember listening to this for the first time. I'd never heard a woman speak about the things that she writes about before. I turn to this album to remind me to be brave and go deeper.

Frazey Ford, Indian Ocean
I remember exactly where I was when I heard the Frazey Ford song "Done." I was in Paris and I was supposed to go out that night, but I went back to my hotel room and ordered room service specifically so I could dance around in my underwear and listen to the whole record. Everything about the record feels is delicious … It's an extra treat that the Hi Rhythm Section, which played with Al Green through the 1970s as the house band at Hi Records, is Frazey's backing band.

Nilüfer Yanya, PAINLESS
This album is a recent discovery for me. I was really drawn to the melodies and the musicality. I felt like it was something I had never heard before and it turned me into a huge fan.

Porridge Radio, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
I first heard this album in 2022 when I was making my new album and it is exactly the kind of music I like: free and untampered with. I liked it so much that I ended up writing a song with them which I hope one day will get put out. Dana [Margolin] is such an incredible guitarist; she's so free and doesn't overthink it.

- Suki Waterhouse
August 2024