Suki Waterhouse says man-eating spider inspired album
Suki Waterhouse announced her return to music after welcoming her first child with actor Robert Pattinson in March
- Published
Writing her new album, Suki Waterhouse says she was inspired by all the change in her life.
It's been two years since the London-born singer-songwriter released her debut and, in that time, she's welcomed her first child with actor Robert Pattinson.
Speaking to Radio 1's Jack Saunders, she said it's been a "whirlwind" and she wanted her new album to reflect that.
So she named it Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, referencing a cannibalistic spider recently discovered in Australia.
"I kind of felt like this record was a metamorphosis, something new, a new season of life," she told Radio 1's New Music Show.
"I was thinking about metamorphosis, I was like, 'Could it be a butterfly?' But no - I don’t feel like a butterfly.
"I feel more like this scraggly spider that hasn’t always got it together."
Suki and Twilight actor Robert Pattinson welcomed their first child in March
Suki says she started to research spiders when she came across the Maratus jactatus - a species of peacock spider that was discovered in Australia less than 10 years ago.
According to National Geographic, external, it was nicknamed sparklemuffin by a PhD student because of its colourful appearance and the name stuck.
"Basically it does this little dance and if the woman doesn’t like the man’s dance she cannibalises him," Suki says.
"It’s a little crazy, she’ll just eat him."
Aside from that, she says she also liked the idea of "something that felt a bit ridiculous" for her new material.
"I could just say the word sparklemuffin for the next year."
'Ode to extreme messiness'
Suki, 32, started her career in modelling when she was 19 and since then has also acted in films and TV shows including Daisy Jones and The Six.
She met The Batman actor Pattinson in 2018 and they welcomed their daughter together in March.
Suki says after her first album I Can't Let Go in 2022, she didn't necessarily expect to return to making music.
"The last two years have just been this insane whirlwind," she says.
"I thought I was just going to make one record. I didn’t have a label or a team and I did it and then so much has happened.
"I just feel I’ve been on this insane ride and I’m so grateful and just want to keep making music.
"I still feel like I’m at the beginning."
Her debut single from the album, which she'll be releasing on 13 September, is titled Supersad, which she describes as "kind of an ode to my extreme messiness".
"I wanted to do an upbeat song about lying in your bed and bed rot and kind of crazy times in hotel rooms," she says.
"Sound wise, I wanted to make a sound that sounded like what you’d put on at the mall in the movie Clueless or Legally Blonde," she adds.
"That kind of 90s movie was where my head was at the time."
Suki also says she's planning to tour her new music later this year.
- Published20 November 2023
