Welcome to Metro.co.uk‘s , and this week, we’re diving deep with Arlo Parks.
Having written her first song at the tender age of eight, Arlo, now 22, began uploading demos to BBC Music Introducing in 2018, catching the attention of music executives.
Just a year later, she performed her first-ever gig at The Great Escape Festival, before going to secure further slots at iconic festivals and Latitude and an opening spot on ’ tour (more on that later).
Arlo’s debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, was released in 2021 to critical acclaim, winning the Mercury Prize and seeing her take home the Breakthrough Artist Award at the Brits.
Ahead of her new album My Soft Machine, out now, Arlo insisted to Metro.co.uk she wasn’t suffering from difficult second album syndrome – despite the soaring success of her first LP.
‘I feel like difficult second album syndrome is a thing but for some reason I have managed to escape it,’ she explained.
‘I think it’s because I just started telling myself, “I’m working on songs.” I don’t even want to think about it as a record. I’m just making songs that I like. And that took away the heaviness and the dread that can be associated with album writing.’
Unlike her first album, My Soft Machine includes a track, Pegasus, featuring another artist – frequent Taylor Swift collaborator Phoebe Bridgers, 28.
How did it come about? ‘We’ve sung together in the past,’ Arlo said. ‘ And she has this way of maintaining the integrity of her own voice, but then is also really able to slot into other people’s worlds.
‘I just love the way that she has such a command over her voice and especially with a song like Pegasus that sense of romance, that sense of melancholy at the same time. I feel like she has that balance of light and shade and that bittersweet quality that I really love.
‘I just sent her the song and was like, “How do you feel about it? I really want you to be part of it.” And she said, “Yes.” It was very simple and natural.’
Arlo was as full of praise for As It Was singer Harry, 29, who she supported on several dates during his tour last year, including in Dublin, writing on Instagram at the time she was ‘pinching herself’.
She said that while they didn’t get much time to swap tips about the music industry and chat backstage, Harry was ‘lovely’ and ‘super welcoming.’
Arlo explained: ‘[On tour] we said, “Hello.” And that was lovely and he was super welcoming. But then he retreated back into his own little safe space.
‘To command an audience like that – 10s of 1000s of people night after night – I feel like you need to spend a little bit of time by yourself taking care of yourself. But he was really lovely.’
Last September, Arlo on her own headline tour after reaching a ‘very dark place’, following on from artists including and who’ve also .
Today she’s unsure how the music industry can tackle artists’ mental health – but relies on a network of other musicians, including Lorde and Clairo, for support.
‘It’s really difficult because people have different needs,’ she explained. ‘And a big thing about musicians is we’re just traveling all the time. It’s difficult to really set up a base, a place where people can go and seek help and get advice and therapy and counseling.
‘But I feel like something that I’ve experienced, which has been really helpful is just how people are there for each other within the music industry. It’s very easy to just reach out to someone on text and be like, “Hey, how do you cope with self-doubt or writer’s block? Or what’s something that you do to combat burnout?”
‘Everyone is just swapping wisdom and they’re there for each other. Artists very much like supporting each other and championing each other’s health and happiness. That’s definitely something that feels like it’s moving in the right direction.’
As for who she hits up in her phone book, Arlo replied: ‘It’s the people I’ve been maybe friends with for a longer time, people like Maggie Rogers, Clairo and Ella from Lorde. There are so many people who have a real sense of openness.
‘We have this loving exchange with each other and we can just joke around and talk about things that are very particular to this particular job and just be there for each other. So it’s really nice.’
Lorde, Maggie, Clairo – and Arlo herself – are just a fraction of the female musicians dominating the airwaves right now calling once again into question this year.
Arlo agrees that there are ‘so many women making exciting music’ and points out All Things Go Music Festival in Washington for featuring a line-up made up of ‘70% women and non-binary people.’
‘There’s such a richness [to their music],’ she continues. ‘And I feel like people are loving that music, the music is traveling, and people are enjoying it.
‘Hopefully, over time, more and more people will just catch up to that because there’s no lack of beautiful and varied music coming from women.
‘I just hope that happens more and more and more.’
My Soft Machine is out now on Transgressive Records.
What does Arlo's weekend look like?
What’s your dream Saturday?
I’d have a little lie-in and go to my favorite place for brunch. I’d have scrambled eggs, avocado, some hash browns, fresh orange juice, and coffee and then just go for like a long walk and talk with a friend, ideally in the woods or by the beach. That’s honestly my favorite thing to do. In the evening, I’d have a barbecue with some natural wine and just bring my favorite people together. We’d listen to music, talk and then maybe at the end of the day, go to a late-night screening at a cinema and watch some weird and wonderful film.
What TV shows have you been bingeing at the moment?
I’ve been watching Beef on Netflix. It’s wild. It’s great. And I love it. I’ve been told to watch Succession by quite a lot of people but haven’t yet watched it but apparently, it’s really, really good. What else have I been dipping into? I love The Office. I’m rewatching the American version; it’s like my comfort show. I’ve been watching Bake Off actually. It just feels like this world where nothing goes wrong except for someone adding a bit too much milk or forgetting to reduce a sauce. There’s something really wholesome about that.
What’s the wildest rumour you’ve heard about yourself?
This is the one I need to clear up once and for all: for some reason, everyone thinks I’m really short. I’ve heard overheard people be like, ”Is that Arlo Parks? Oh no, she’s too tall.” People online say that I’m like 5’4 and I am 5’11. I am not short and I don’t why everyone thinks that I am. It’s strange. I don’t know if my energy online suggests that I’m short? Who knows? But that has been the rumour that’s followed me around my whole career.
