New York (AP) 鈥� Suki Waterhouse started working on 鈥淟oveland,鈥� her third record, immediately after she finished her 2024 sophomore album,
鈥淚 was looking for, like, a personal revolution,鈥� Waterhouse said. Putting the words together for 鈥淟oveland,鈥� the album’s wistful penultimate track, helped her get there. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always amazing to me how, you kind of write the album and you become it. You become somebody new from it.鈥�
True to that spirit, Waterhouse worked with new collaborators on the project 鈥� including songwriter Amy Allen and producer Aaron Dessner, a member of the rock band The National and a frequent collaborator of pop-crossover artists including , and . Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac put down a drum track for 鈥淢orals鈥� 鈥� a fun twist after Waterhouse acted in the limited series based on a novel widely considered to be inspired by the band鈥檚 origins.
鈥淢aybe that鈥檚 what made me think to reach out,鈥� Waterhouse, said. 鈥淚 thought, you know, maybe he鈥檚 seen the show. It might help me get in the door.鈥�
Waterhouse spoke to The Associated Press about making 鈥淟oveland鈥� and exploring the evolution she has felt since welcoming her daughter with partner Robert Pattinson. She also teased future projects. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: When announcing the album, you wrote that this project was 鈥渂orn in the space between who I was and who I鈥檓 becoming.鈥� How did you attempt to capture the emotions of that experience in the album?
WATERHOUSE: A revelation I’ve had for myself recently is that there is inherently a friction there, that I think has been really deepened by becoming a parent. I think before I had much more of a kind of wild abandon, where my whole life was my work and my artistic life. And now that I have this beautiful gift that’s been given to me 鈥� my daughter and this responsibility, and also how present I feel in her life, and want to be 鈥� I had a lot of insecurity and fear and doubt about how I was going to still have these two things exist at once. So it’s funny, I don’t think the record is like a record, really, about me, you wouldn’t listen to it and be like, 鈥淥h, this is a ‘she’s just become a mum’ record” but it’s the things I know about it that are laced deep within it. There are certain songs where I address that very rawly, I think in the song 鈥淲eirdo鈥� especially.
AP: On songs like 鈥淲eirdo,鈥� or 鈥淣otting Hill,鈥� how do you navigate interrogating your personal experiences and emotions, while also maintaining your privacy?
WATERHOUSE: When I鈥檓 writing I don鈥檛 really think about that much at all because I also know that not everything that I write has to go on an album and be released into the public. There’s things that you can write that can just be for yourself, and kind of like help you externalize a feeling that鈥檚 unexplainable.
It鈥檚 interesting, it鈥檚 like two different parts of my brain: The part that doesn鈥檛 care what anybody thinks and is just writing so freely, and then, later on, when you’re like choosing the singles, or choosing what’s going to be on the record, this other voice comes in and it’s not a purist. It鈥檚 much more like, I want people to like this and I want to be loved. You鈥檝e got the two different voices warring with each other, and it鈥檚 hard to get them to speak to each other, or know which voice should succeed.
I鈥檓 always mining from my own past in a way, and 鈥淣otting Hill鈥� was really about mourning a place, but also memorializing it. I sold my apartment and never really said goodbye to it because I had a baby in America. And I, you know, fell in love in that apartment, had some of the worst nights of my life, some of my best. And then suddenly you outgrow somewhere so quickly and you鈥檙e having a baby in a different country, and it鈥檚 a walk-up and you鈥檇 never be able to get a stroller in there, and it’s like full of everything in your 20s. It’s giving its flowers to this place that raised me.
AP: I saw that Mick Fleetwood played drums on 鈥淢orals.鈥� I鈥檓 curious how that came to be.
WATERHOUSE: That was a fun way to collaborate. When we got a response from Mick Fleetwood, I was kind of amazed. We struck an agreement that he would drum on 鈥淢orals鈥� 鈥� I got like a billion videos of him in a studio in Hawaii playing all these incredible takes and I was just blown away that the whole thing was happening. And then I recorded a song for his record, that is with Amy Allen. He鈥檚 been working on a record for quite some time. I don鈥檛 know how much I鈥檓 allowed to say about it, but it was a very cool thing to have happened.
AP: When we last talked, you were preparing to bring your daughter, then 6 months old, with you on tour. Has she heard the new album?
WATERHOUSE: She knows now what I do, it’s funny. I was reading to her the other night and there was a 鈥渃hoose, what would your world be like? and where would you live? the mountains?” and we were kind of like picking things and there were a bunch of jobs and I said, 鈥淲hich one does mommy do?鈥� and she pointed to the woman with the guitar. So it鈥檚 kind of crazy. She’s almost 2 1/2 now, so she鈥檚 really switched on, like knows what we鈥檙e doing, I can explain it to her much better. I鈥檓 just like in heaven with her, just enjoying her so much and I feel so deeply grateful that I get to bring her with me.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
