Your new favorite rising acts talk personal style, artistic influences, and their biggest wins to date.
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Photo: Marcus Maddox
School may be out, but Star Study is back in session. Welcome to the summer edition of our guide to your next music faves, with new installments releasing every other week.
Over Fourth of July weekend, at the wedding of the century, Suki Waterhouse ran into one of her forever heroes: Pattie Boyd, storied English model, photographer, and rock-star muse. Waterhouse first met Boyd about ten years ago, while still reeling from the fresh hurt of a 20-something break-up. “I remember asking her, ‘Will I ever find love? Will I ever stop being so chaotic? Can you be with someone for a long time and will they not cheat on you?’ Waterhouse recalls, flashing a knowing smile. “She said, ‘Darling, I’ve been with my husband for 25 years. Of course you will.’”
GIRL IN THE COSTUME Shawl, Bodysuit, and Headpiece, available upon request.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
So this summer, at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s nuptials, Waterhouse got to tell Boyd she’d been right. She’d met her fiancé and everyone’s favorite former vampire, Robert Pattinson, playing the deduction game Werewolf at an L.A. house party in 2018. After five years, they got engaged, then pregnant; now they have a 2-and-half year-old daughter. “I said, ‘Life’s really good, and I have a baby.’ It was really sweet.”
Waterhouse began her career as a model after she was scouted at the age of 16. Soon, she switched to acting in movies, appearing in the comedy-drama Love Rosie, the sci-fi series Divergent, and more. She is a bona fide music fan with an abiding love for ’60s and ’70s rock-and-roll bohemia — which she has channeled into a burgeoning indie-pop career (she opened for Swift during the Eras Tour) and a notable performance as keyboardist Karen Sirko in the Fleetwood Mac–inspired TV series Daisy Jones and the Six. In June, she released her swooning third album, Loveland, a vintage daydream of indie pop, soft rock, and folk music that is as sweet as a classic rom-com.
GIRL IN THE COSTUME Shawl, Bodysuit, and Headpiece, available upon request.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
Age: 34
Hometown: London
Top artist of the moment: Camille Blackburn. I think I found her on Instagram and started DM-ing her because I was completely struck by her. Her song ‘Be in Your Band’ stopped me in my tracks, and I can listen to it over and over again. I’d describe it as indie soul — kind of rock-soul. It’s beautiful.
Biggest “pinch me” moment: Probably the combination of having my daughter and then having a year in which so many incredible things happened in my career at the same time. I had her, then I got to play Coachella, open for Taylor, and put out a record I was really proud of.
Even though I’ve felt emotionally fragile through a lot of it, I just think, How lucky am I that all these things got to exist at the same time? It honestly makes me cry thinking about it.
TULAROSA Bathing Suit Top and Bottom, at revolve.com. ABRAND Shorts, at revolve.com. FEATHERED FEELING 444 Tiara, available upon request.Photo: Marcus Maddox.
TULAROSA Bathing Suit Top and Bottom, at revolve.com. ABRAND Shorts, at revolve.com. FEATHERED FEELING 444 Tiara, available upon request.Photo: Marcus… more
TULAROSA Bathing Suit Top and Bottom, at revolve.com. ABRAND Shorts, at revolve.com. FEATHERED FEELING 444 Tiara, available upon request.Photo: Marcus Maddox.
On her favorite places in London: I love Straker’s, and I go to Bluebells for breakfast. One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday is shopping around Portobello Market. I usually find a lot of great things there. I love feather boas and feathery jackets. I found this great Betty Boop belt there the other day. I buy a lot of hats too — baseball caps and those English-style newsboy caps. I feel like that’s my defining hat.
On her personal style: I feel like it’s either a 15-year-old boy or the girliest girl going to a 5-year-old’s tea party with hints of the ’60s and ’70s. There’s a difference between the Suki who walks around every day and the woman I want to be. That ‘60s and ’70s persona is my dream version of myself — someone I love trying to emulate.
On her ’60s and ’70s style icons: Pattie Boyd, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Jane Birkin, Patti Smith. Watching old videos of Patti Smith performing ‘Baby It’s You’ had a huge impact on me when I was 14 or 15.
VERSACE Jacket, Bathing Suit, Shorts, and Belt, at versace.com. JUDE Shoes, at thejude.com.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
On the last song that made her cry: “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith. I went to a Wes Anderson tribute concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and Beck, who’s a friend of mine, performed it. I was sitting there thinking wow. There’s such magic in that simplicity. It made me think we do too much now.
On the movies that inspired Loveland: Notting Hill, of course. I kept thinking about it and writing things down because I was feeling quite homesick.
I had an apartment in London that I’d lived in through my whole 20s. It was this place where I had such an ache to make a record and was making music all the time. I spent a lot of time alone there — so many nights of solitude that were really wonderful. Suddenly, my life just accelerated. I’d used to watch that movie and dream of moving to Notting Hill, dream of falling in love the way they do in that movie, and then that kind of happened. I realized I hadn’t been back to that apartment in two years, and it was a walk-up on the sixth floor. I was never going to carry a stroller up there. So I sold it and had someone else pack it up for me. My whole decade is in a storage unit, and I still haven’t gone back and looked at it. I was feeling a certain way about not saying good-bye to it. So that song was really an ode to that.
Sliding Doors was a huge inspiration for the song ‘Almost.’ I started thinking about my character in Daisy Jones & The Six and the relationship between Karen and Graham and the idea of something almost being. It made me think about how many people are walking around with that feeling of what could have happened if they’d kissed that person, what could have been.
Mulholland Drive was a big inspiration for the album cover of my last record. For that record, I pictured a Mulholland Drive scene where I’d fallen down into this starry valley. Then, on my next record, Loveland is me picking myself up again and finding my way home.”
ERIK CHARLOTTE Cardigan, Bra, Panty, Hat, and Socks, available upon request. Shoes stylist’s own.Photo: Marcus Maddox.
ERIK CHARLOTTE Cardigan, Bra, Panty, Hat, and Socks, available upon request. Shoes stylist’s own.Photo: Marcus Maddox.
On her music playlists: I’m really into this playlist I made called Indie Millennial. It’s basically all the bands I’m revisiting at the moment — Death Cab for Cutie, the Killers, Foster the People, La Roux, MGMT. I’ve been having so much fun going back to my 2008 era.
I was also reading this spiritual handbook that suggested making a playlist of the music you listened to when you were 11, and I’ve been obsessed with that idea. It makes me so happy. There’s loads of S Club 7, Charlotte Church, Spice Girls, all of that. I was also listening to a lot of 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes — everything that made me happy when I was 11.
Then I have another playlist that’s basically my favorite songs of all time. It has “Never My Love” by the Association, “Baby It’s You” by Patti Smith, “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith, “Strangers” by The Kinks, and “These Days” by Jackson Browne. Those are some of my favorite artists in the world.
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Photo: Marcus Maddox
On her favorite corners of the internet: Patreon and Substack have really taken over a lot of my internet time. I love looking at people whose taste I admire, seeing what they subscribe to, and discovering things that way. It’s such a great recommendation engine. On Substack, I read mostly music writing. I like Deep Voices and No Tags.
I also really like something called Moon Lists. They make these little journals that I buy whenever I’m traveling or going on tour. They’re full of really specific prompts that help you pay attention more closely.
THE SOCIETY ARCHIVE Dress, available upon request. Hat stylist’s own.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
On the books she’s read: I read Lena Dunham’s Famesick recently and absolutely loved it. Now that I’m in my 30s, I feel like I have to be a little smarter about the way I work. More than anything, I want to be present and be a good mom.
I completely devoured Strangers by Belle Burden, and I’m really enjoying Suzie Boyt’s Love & Missed. Zoe Pilger’s Eat My Heart Out inspired the bonus track. Chris Kraus gives it a glowing review on the front cover. I swear it’s the original Fleabag.
Around the time of writing the record I was also reading a lot of self-confessional writing by women. I read Marie Calloway’s What Purpose Did I Serve in Your Life? She was one of the first writers who was really, radically honest about herself — living in New York, her relationships, sex, and her life on the internet. I also just finished Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling. It’s incredibly harrowing. It feels very close to home in some ways, and it made me want to write songs.
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On playing pretend with her daughter: We spend a lot of time imagining things. We’ll just be looking into thin air and I’ll say, ‘Oh my God, there’s a giraffe! Look how long its neck is.’ We just make these little imaginary worlds together.
She’ll suddenly say, ‘The bears are there,’ and then we’ll become Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She loves rustling around on the bed, and we’ll build a little tent. I’ll pretend the bears are outside, making bear noises, and we’ll make a campfire, cook sausages, go to sleep, wake up, and do it all over again. There’s a lot of pretending to be asleep and waking up.
On her eventual return to acting: I’d love to do something with another woman, like kind of head-to-head with another woman.”
PRADA Top and Shorts, at prada.com. THE SOCIETY ARCHIVE Hat, available upon request. JUDE Shoes, at thejude.com.
Photo: Marcus Maddox
Production Credits
-
Photography by
Marcus Maddox -
Styling by
Emma Oleck -
Production Assistant
Steven Molina Contreras -
Hair
Jacob Rozenberg -
Makeup
Cedric Jolivet -
Styling Assistant
Lili Marner -
The Cut, Editor-in-Chief
Lindsay Peoples -
The Cut, Photo Director
Noelle Lacombe -
The Cut, Deputy Culture Editor
Brooke Marine -
The Cut, Photo Editor
Sofía Mareque
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