On Nov. 14, Suki Waterhouse released an EP featuring five songs from her early career and one new track. “Milk Teeth” is just over 18 minutes in length and shows Waterhouse’s appreciation for her fans’ favorite tracks throughout her blossoming career.

Waterhouse released singles over five years before being signed to indie record label Sub Pop last year. The Seattle-based label is known for signing grunge pop-rock artists since the late 1980s. Notable artists under Sub Pop include Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, clipping., Death Cab for Cutie, Orville Peck and more.

Earlier this year Waterhouse released her first debut album, “I Can’t Let Go,” with  the label.  This full-length album featured her haunting yet gorgeous vocals that captured love and heartbreak through her unique creative expression. This landed her on both NPR’s and Atwood Magazine’s 2022 Artist to Watch lists.

In the early phases of her career, Waterhouse would release one song a year because she was nervous about making the transition from modeling to music. She modeled for major brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Swatch and Burberry.

“I would only put out one song a year or something because I was just nervous about the whole thing, very nervous that everyone was going to be like, ‘Shut the fuck up. You were a model,’” she told Insider.

“Milk Teeth” serves as a time capsule for Waterhouse’s career. The EP features some of her most vulnerable yet mesmerizing work. Her enchanting lyricism and soft vocals express complex themes of navigating love, loss and intimacy in early adulthood.

“These songs were like secrets to me. They were witness to a time when I felt like I was drowning and I needed to connect on a profound level to stay afloat,” she said in an interview with When the Horn Blows.

The EP opens with the new only track on the release, “Neon Signs.” The guitar-heavy track features a pop-rock melody about taking back total control. “Free yourself up / from the shackles/ of dreams / Because the best / break is one that / clean,” the artist sings in the chorus.

The song’s title is a nod to Waterhouse’s old apartment which was illuminated solely by a red neon light, as she mentioned in an interview to Atwood Magazine.

The EP continues with “Valentine,” a sultry acoustic love track originally released in 2018. “All I wanna ask is, / somewhere down / the line / Won’t you … be my valentine,” Waterhouse vulnerably pleads with her absent lover over  a soft guitar melody.

The theme of love continues with the next song, “Good Looking.” Originally released in 2017, the song later found acclaim on TikTok, garnering 68.7k videos using that song. In the song, she explores an untrustworthy relationship filled with secrets.

She acknowledges her initial lust with “You adored me before / You good looking boy,” but later continues with “The skyline falls as I try to make sense of it all.” She explores the complexity of love and lust in a retrospective account of this relationship.

The EP concludes with “Brutally,” a breakup ballad previously released in 2016. She expresses the pain of a breakup and the desire to move past a relationship, hiding her emotions with a smile. “It’s just the way it’s meant to be / Now your love’s no good for me,” she acknowledges in the chorus.

“Milk Teeth” serves as a love letter to Waterhouse’s dedicated fans.

“There was no deadline, no pressure around this in any other way, apart from the fact that you are desperate to do it and you need to do it. So all of these songs, they’re all sisters and twins. I know they’re the core of everything that’s happened afterwards,” Waterhouse told Insider.

Milk teeth are the temporary set of teeth children have and lose as they grow into adulthood. In releasing an EP of old work, Waterhouse recognizes these songs and their importance in her creative growth as a singer and songwriter. Insider analyzes this EP title as a representation of the artist’s “tender, fleeting, and essential” early work.

Through the end of November, Waterhouse is finishing a U.K. and Europe tour. In early January, she will embark on the “Coolest Place In The World Tour.” Named after a track on “Milk Teeth,” this tour will cover her early releases and tracks from her debut album.