For actress, model and singer-songwriter Suki Waterhouse, 2022 can be best summed up in one word: busy. Between the release of her debut album I Can’t Let Go back in May, touring at iconic North American venues with Father John Misty, and releasing a music video for her single “Nostalgia,” Waterhouse has made the most of her year thus far.
Speaking by Zoom, Waterhouse tells Consequence that 2022 has been “an incredible whirlwind,” with these last few months featuring some of her “most surreal experiences” of her life. After going from shows with a capacity of 200 to doing sound check at Radio City Music Hall, this year has seen the multi-talented Waterhouse become a star in yet another medium beyond acting and modeling.
But the year isn’t finished yet, nor is Waterhouse, who is based in London. Her ascent as a musician didn’t start recently, and the building blocks of her sound can be found on her new EP, Milk Teeth, arriving Friday (November 4th). Comprised of both early-career cuts and a previously-unreleased song, the six-track project is a versatile arrangement that shines light on Waterhouse’s metamorphosis into the artist she is now. “The courage that I got to write an album was through the songs that are on Milk Teeth,” Waterhouse says.
While five of the tracks have already received an official release, the previously-unheard album opener “Neon Signs” was a song that was shrouded in an immense feeling of “self-doubt” for Waterhouse. After initially posting the video for it on YouTube and then taking it down, Waterhouse soon realized that for both herself and fans, the track needed a proper release, and Milk Teeth presented the perfect opportunity.
“I know I have to put this song out at some point and then it also kind of gets echoed back to you by [the fans]. I didn’t think it quite fit on my first record, so the fact that I got to put this EP out, I was like, ‘This is the perfect moment,’” Waterhouse explains.
She views her songs “Good Looking” and “Johanna” as sisters to “Neon Signs”; all three tracks were recorded around the same time. “Good Looking” particularly resonated with fans; while over 90 million streams on Spotify is a success in its own right, the bigger shock for her was seeing the song’s use on TikTok. Initially not being on the app, Waterhouse said that seeing the track interpreted in an array of ways provides her “a huge dopamine hit” with each video.
“It’s like being inside people’s bedrooms and watching a scene from a movie that you didn’t see before,” she says.