If you’re anything like me, you’ve eagerly awaited the drop of Suki Waterhouse’s album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin. Waterhouse is a woman of many talents, though most probably know her from playing Karen Sirko in Prime Video’s Daisy Jones and the Six.
She released her sophomore album this past month, which contained 18 tracks, each one different from the next. After listening to the album from top to bottom, I found myself with an array of questions. What was the inspiration for some of these songs? Why does the production vary so much from track to track? And most importantly, what’s a sparklemuffin?
What Is a Sparklemuffin?
Upon announcing her new album, Waterhouse was met with the repeated question, “What is a sparklemuffin?” Well, apparently, a sparklemuffin is a cannibalistic Australian spider known for its colorful appearance and performative dances. In a recent interview, Waterhouse was asked why she would pick such a strange creature to represent her album. She joked that she named her second album “after an obscure spider during a manic episode, so now I just have to be confident and chill about it.”
And she’s definitely confident! Throughout her album release cycle, Suki Waterhouse flaunted the sparklemuffin as the project’s mascot, using the quirky creature as a metaphor for herself and her rise to stardom. According to Waterhouse, she felt she was going through a “metamorphosis” period in her life. Between having been involved in a show that received critical acclaim, her music going viral on TikTok, and becoming a new mother, Waterhouse wanted to choose an album title that she felt represented the ongoing changes in her life.
As opposed to naming the album after a more conventional creature, she instead chose the sparklemuffin, a silly little spider that performs for the approval of its peers. And after listening on release day, I can confidently say that this was the right choice.
My Initial impression
As a self-proclaimed Suki Waterhouse enthusiast, I clicked play on this album and expected instant fireworks. However, after digesting all 18 tracks on release night, I felt stuck. On the first listen, you wouldn’t guess that each song was supposed to be on the same album. It almost felt like she put a bunch of very different songs onto one playlist.
I quickly wrote this album off as a victim of the sophomore slump, leaving it to collect dust in my Spotify library for a week. Thankfully, after hitting play on my Spotify daylist (appropriately named “Sad-Girl Autumn Wednesdays”), I found myself falling in love with every track.
To say the album grew on me would be an understatement. Waterhouse manages to capture every nitty-gritty detail about girlhood. It almost feels like she’s telling the listener’s own stories. Songs like “Could’ve Been a Star,” “Everybody Breaks Up Anyway,” and “Lawsuit” almost feel like a Sunday morning coffee debrief with friends as Waterhouse lays everything out on the table and spares no detail.
Tracks that immediately stood out to me were “Supersad” and “Faded,” mainly because I’m a sucker for the devastating lyrics and upbeat production combo. It was songs like these two specifically that made me realize what was initially so off-putting about the album: the lyrics. We’re so used to catchy choruses that instantly hook us, and Suki Waterhouse avoids this. The songs on this album were never made for radio and instead read off like a story detailing every heartbreak and misstep of Waterhouse’s life.
my final thoughts
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is an album that sneaks up on you. It sets itself apart from Suki Waterhouse’s other projects, and it’s her most personal. She does a great job at making her niche experiences relatable for her audience, reminiscent of Red-era Taylor Swift. It’s the kind of album that you really need to lock in for, and once you do, you’ll realize we need to be giving Suki Waterhouse her flowers immediately!
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