Loveland by Suki Waterhouse // Album Review

Loveland showcases Suki Waterhouse's search for herself and, in turn, becomes a stunning reflection of love in every stage of her life thus far. This feels like the moment she has most come into her own as an artist, songwriter, and overall creative voice - the one she has been striving toward with all of her records up to this point. It is the most reflective of who she wants to be and the type of work it has been clear she has been building toward through her sounds and aesthetics.

"I was looking for, like, a personal revolution," she said in an interview with Associated Press. "It's always amazing to me how, you kind of write the album and you become it. You become somebody new from it."

The album is deeply indicative of her influences in a way that still allows her own personal voice to shine through. Suki worked with a wide range of collaborators who helped bring her vision to life in the most evolved form yet, creating a collection of songs that is largely lush, romantic, and personal to her own experiences. She puts so much of herself into these songs in ways that feel like intimate and vulnerable reflections on her past, with some cheeky moments that allow more of her personality to come through too. She often pulls from 60's and 70's influences and lyrical aesthetics, while also weaving in more modern inspirations, with Lana Del Rey continuing to be a major touchstone for her music.

The lead single and opening track of Loveland is the bright anthem "Back in Love", which symbolizes a personal and artistic return to form for Suki. In a press release, she said, "The phrase 'Back in Love' reflects many ideas. For me, it's about coming back to your sense of self after having an identity shift." Especially in the context of becoming a mother and finding herself within her new identity postpartum, which she opened up even more about in an interview with Variety; "I felt like my identity had been cut open in becoming a mother and also having a lot of expectations on myself."

The lightness she eventually came to feel after that period of self‑realization informed so much of this record and her renewed sense of confidence. "Oh, I'm loving my lust for life, turning the dark to light, happiness hits me when I'm back in love again," she sings in the beautiful chorus. "Happy With It" ties into that same feeling, which is a disco‑influenced moment of choosing her own happiness first as she enters a new phase of life.

Much of this album feels written from the perspective of many different phases of her life and experiences across every stage of love. It's not necessarily a linear story, but instead something open for interpretation that leaves space for the listener to find their own connection within. From the what‑could‑have‑happeneds of "Almost", to breakups and shifting seasons of life on a bittersweet song like "Teardrops", to the dreamy romanticism of the title track "Loveland", the album captures love in all its forms.

"Notting Hill" is one of the standout songs on this record, written as an ode to the London neighborhood where Suki lived throughout much of her 20s. It's drenched in specific, nostalgic moments from her life, which is a rare instance for her writing to be primarily framed through deeply personal memories rather than broader emotional themes. This song captures the ways in which she really came into her own during that time, looking back on all the good and bad of her early adulthood there. It is written as sort of a personal time capsule, but it also speaks to something more universal too for anyone entering a new phase of life and letting go of a place that shaped them. In that way, everyone has their own Notting Hill - resembled in a place they have to eventually move on and say goodbye to, even if they want to keep it frozen forever in a different time. "Like a lost soul wanders, so does my mind, I think of London all the time," she sings in the opening lines of the song.

"I'm always mining from my own past in a way, and 'Notting Hill' 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," Suki said in an interview with Associated Press. "And then suddenly you outgrow somewhere so quickly and you're having a baby in a different country, and it's a walk-up and you'd 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."

"Seasons" is another moment on the album that feels like a broadening of who Suki is as an artist and the direction she would ultimately take with the rest of what became Loveland. It's the first page of a new journey of self‑discovery and the spark that set the tone for everything she would write for the rest of the record.

Suki wrote it in the middle of her last tour while she was "...going through quite a tough time," as she described in her interview with Vogue. In the midst of that personal heaviness, she took a detour to Upstate New York to work with producer Aaron Dessner at Long Pond Studios. Over the past few years, he has become increasingly well-known for crafting warm, intimate instrumentals that draw out the deepest emotional corners of the artists he collaborates with. That became an essential element in the creation of "Seasons" and in helping her tap into the larger rebirth this album would go on to represent for her. It captures the loneliness and isolation of living a transient life on the road and feeling the weight of never feeling fully settled anywhere long enough before moving on to the next place.

"I don't remember what it's like to be home, but I'm starting to like being alone, there's gotta be a better way for me to figure it out," she sings in the first verse. "When the only feel I'm feeling is down, someway, somehow, I'll start again, I'll start again". A lyric from Lana Del Rey's "Venice Bitch" feels incredibly reminiscent of what "Seasons" represents - "It seems like everywhere you go, you take yourself that's not a lie" - which similarly captures the idea that no matter how far you travel, you will still always be confronted with yourself at the end of the road.

"Driving west in the pouring rain, how sad that the seasons change when the loneliness stays, I'll carry that weight and start again," Suki sings in the chorus. Suki also wrote "Almost" during her time at Long Pond Studios, which is another song steeped in an inexplicable sense of yearning for what could have been, what almost was, and in many ways will never be again. The ways these two songs are linked sonically and emotionally are central moments within the narrative of this album.

"Morals" is another defining track on the album, one that represents the larger evolution of how far Suki has come artistically through the years and is particularly reflective of a major full‑circle milestone for her. The track features drums performed by Mick Fleetwood, which becomes an especially meaningful detail considering Suki's breakout role in the Fleetwood Mac‑inspired series adaptation of Daisy Jones and the Six. It truly feels like a convergence of the influences and the era of music that have shaped her sonic and visual identity for years.

The inherent cool-girl persona that Suki has always embodied so effortlessly throughout her career - and especially within her music - is fully amplified on a song like "Any Man". It has a sort of blasé nonchalance to it that simultaneously feels completely self-aware too. "I can have any man at all, got a special touch, I'm not doing much, just second nature, baby," she sings in the playful chorus. The sense of confidence and sly teasing is so distinctly her. The track was written and produced in collaboration with Amy Allen and Joel Little - both of whom are known for crafting infectious pop hooks that perfectly reflect the artist they're working with.

"I haven't met one who can resist it, the model, the athlete, the stupid musician," she sings in the second verse. "They call, and they beg, yеah, they're fucking persistеnt and like my cigarettes, I quit them". The sharp, self-aware humor and edge that she slips into is so natural and delivered with such a confident cadence.

Other songs like "When I Get Drunk (I Want You Boy)" and the shimmering gem "Puppy Dog Eyes" bring in more of the alternative psych rock elements that suit her style so well. The edge of those songs is pushed even further on "Tiny Rasin", which is a gritty standout that has a very classic rock attitude that feels so right for Suki to finally be tapping into, especially since she really has the delivery to be able to pull it off.

"Might have bitched a little too hard, Molly said that I should leave him and for a moment we aligned, but then I changed my mind," she sings in the opening verse. "And I hung up like the crazy bitch I am". The song depicts a rollercoaster of a relationship told in such a funny and chaotic way, often detailing every emotion in the span of a single verse. Suki said the song was driven by her "...postpartum angst, but with lots of love in there too," in her interview with Variety.

"That's my bag at his place, that's my kiss on his face, that's my all mine, that's my alright," she sings in the second verse. "That's his name on my charm, that's my kid in his arms".

"'Tiny Raisin' is a love song at its core. It's a song that stands by the fact that real love in its truest essence can be chaotic, ridiculous, and imperfect, while still being something that is absolutely worth choosing over and over again at the end of the day." she said in an interview with The Music Universe.

The most personal and specific moment on the album is the final song, "Weirdo", which was written as an ode to her longtime partner and the ache of missing him when they're apart. It captures what it means to sacrifice parts of your life in order to chase your dreams and all of the ways family and ambition can coexist, but not always easily.

Suki is very open and transparent about her relationship on this song - about how they are both pulled toward the work that fulfills them, both finding success in their respective fields at the same time after years of building up their careers. The level of detail she shares makes "Weirdo" feel completely singular to her, like no one else could ever quite articulate a song about the kind of life she lives, or the complexity of this relationship.

"You're on a set, is that ancient Rome? Now I'm in a drive-through, out on the road I'm callin' you up, just lettin' you know, I'm missing my favorite weirdo," she sings in the opening verse. "You're on the phone, makin' us laugh, sometimes it gets me down bad, our daughter misses her dad".

With Loveland being bookended by two of her most personal songs, it feels most reflective of the moments she allows herself to be fully honest through her work. The way listeners have connected with the work already will hopefully give Suki the space to be even more transparent as a writer in future releases.

Suki explained the heart of the song beautifully in her interview with Variety. She said, "It's acknowledging that these big life moments are happening, and it's this whirlwind that we're on. But at the same time being like, 'I haven't brushed my teeth next to you for a long time.'" She continued, "It isn't about going, 'This is horrible and the worst thing ever.' It's actually just being quite settled, and the strength of knowing that these things won’t be happening to us forever."

"Dreams come true, but they take me far away from you," she sings in the chorus - which is a line she returns to throughout the song. It's such a beautifully honest depiction of two creatives building a life together, knowing that in order to chase the dreams they've worked toward for years, they'll sometimes be pulled apart, but the love between them endures.