In January 2023, Suki Waterhouse performed at Paradise Rock Club to a crowd of less than a thousand. This December, just two years later, she gave a full-house performance at Roadrunner— a venue with nearly four times the capacity. 

The swelling numbers of Waterhouse’s devotees are in part a testament to the success of her second album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, which was released last year. But it's also a tribute to the artistry, ingenuity, and magnetism that make Waterhouse a joy to watch on stage — qualities that were on full display during her show at Roadrunner.

From her discography to her stage presence, the best words to describe Waterhouse are “effortlessly cool.” The moment she stepped onstage, she appeared every bit “the quintessential cool girl” that she describes in the song “Nonchalant” — a figure straight out of  a chic, trendy bar in Shoreditch or The Village. At Roadrunner, the spotlight found her clad in chic sunglasses, leather pants, and a stylish fur coat atop a casual jersey, a wardrobe thoroughly emblematic of the balance Waterhouse strikes between melodrama and effortlessness.

But songs like “Nonchalant” allow Waterhouse to break through this unbothered facade and give audiences a glimpse of the reality behind the polished mask: cool as she may be, Waterhouse is not untouchable. Throughout Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, she describes the threads of light and darkness that are interwoven with the glitz and glamor of stardom. She is both the polished singer — “model, actress, whatever” — striking poses, crooning ballads, and delivering smooth one-liners, and a woman with doubts, dreams, and desires that will feel relatable to many listeners.

In all its shades of love, lust, loss, and longing, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is as disarming and vulnerable as it is sparkling and seductive. In concert, Waterhouse leaned into this intimacy, speaking candidly with audiences about her experiences, inspiration, and favorite songs from the album (“To Love” tops the list, for curious minds). After pausing the show to check in on a fan, she even talked to audience members individually, complimenting them on their signs, asking about their costumes, and chatting with them about their lives. 

As a venue, Roadrunner played to Waterhouse’s strengths: small enough to allow her to nurture this sense of intimacy, but large enough to host the elaborate on-stage set that added an unexpected and intriguing dimension to her performance. Though Waterhouse’s attire suggested she’d just stepped off the streets of New York City, the stage around her appeared to be plucked from a fairytale. Lush greenery sprouted from all sides: plants were scattered among band members, vines crawled across the stage, and trees stretched toward the ceiling. Behind her, a massive spider web spanned the wall, and above her head, at center stage, hung an enormous glittering disco ball that would make any Sparklemuffin jealous. The ambient chirping of birds and rustling of leaves brought the set to life, immersing viewers in Waterhouse’s mystical world.

This vividly imagined set offered a refreshing break from typical concert fare: puzzling but exciting, breath-taking and baffling and somehow exactly on-brand. It prompted the audience to think about how and where to situate Waterhouse’s music, summoning themes of new life, wilderness, and exploration. Moreover, it bridged the gap between the familiar, known world and the whimsical— placing Waterhouse on a map of her own invention, beyond the confines of both social rules and reality. Here, in this grey area, Waterhouse was free to experiment, innovate, break the rules, and reshape them in permutations as wild as she could imagine.

And the permutations she invented were truly magical. Hazy, dreamlike, piercing, seductive, acoustic, electric— there’s little emotional or musical territory that she shied away from. Vocally and instrumentally, Waterhouse’s prowess and range was clear, from her moody self-proclaimed “country” song, “Think Twice,” to her stripped-back piano ballad, “Brutally.” “Brutally” is not the only song from Waterhouse’s early career that she revived for the night — she also performed “Devil I Know” and “Moves,” fan-favorites from her 2022 album I Can’t Let Go. Other songs that clearly resonated with the audience were “OMG,” “Blackout Drunk,” and “My Fun,” the most recognizable hits from Memoir of a Sparklemuffin.

The show concluded with a brief encore and a final performance of guaranteed crowd-pleaser “Good Looking,” Waterhouse’s TikTok viral sensation. Like much of Waterhouse’s music, it has a grandiose, old-Hollywood feel: a powerful and riveting ending to a concert that received thunderous applause. 

The success of the show suggests that Memoir of a Sparklemuffin and its tour are just the beginning for Suki Waterhouse. As her star continues to rise, be on the lookout for this Sparklemuffin to become a defining force in the music industry.

// Makenna Walko ’27 is a DJ for The Blues Hangover and a guest writer for Record Hospital.