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Feb 01, 2022 By Mark Redfern Photography by Lillie Eiger

London-based singer Arlo Parks has shared a new song, “Softly,” via a video for it. The song follows her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, released in January 2021 via Transgressive. The album won the Mercury Prize for the best British album of the year and landed high on our Top 100 Albums of 2021 list. Zhang and Knight directed video. Watch it below.

Parks had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘Softly’ is a song about yearning, about how fragile you feel in the dying days of a relationship when you’re still desperately in love. The song is about how it feels to brace yourself before the blow of a break up and reminisce about the days where it all felt luminous.”

Zhang and Knight had this to say about the video: “For us ‘Softly’ explored the idea of wanting something that was once perfect to end in a gentle way, and we wanted to express this using the world surrounding Arlo. We were instinctively drawn to the warm toned, hazy nostalgia of the 1960’s, as we loved the idea of something universally romantic being slowly stripped away throughout the film. We based the colors of the bricks, trims and doors on mid-century painting in order to bake this romanticism into everything. The production itself was a huge challenge, as everything was captured in-camera with each piece of the set built on wheels operated by several production crew. However, we knew it was all worth it when we saw the skyscrapers dancing around Arlo for the first time.”

Read our review of Collapsed in Sunbeams here.

Read our interview with Parks about the album here.

Parks had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “My album is a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it. It is rooted in storytelling and nostalgia—I want it to feel both universal and hyper specific.”

When Collapsed In Sunbeams was announced, Parks shared the single “Green Eyes,” via a video for the track (which features Clairo). “Green Eyes” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared another song from the album, “Alone,” via a touching video in which Parks supports a depressed friend. Parks then shared a video for the song “Caroline,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Parks previously shared Collapsed In Sunbeams’ “Hurt,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then she performed the album’s “Black Dog” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Then she performed the album’s “Hope” on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Then she shared a remix of “Too Good” done by Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Arlo Parks Tour Dates:

2/16 - Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte*
2/17 - Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium*
2/19 - Washington, DC @ The Fillmore Silver Spring*
2/20 - Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore*
2/21 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa*
2/22 - Richmond, VA @ The National*
2/24 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall*
2/26 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia*
2/27 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues Boston*
2/28 - Boston, MA @ House of Blues Boston*
3/02 - Pittseburgh, PA @ Roxian Theater*
3/03 - Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live!*
3/05 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room*
3/07 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Ballroom*
3/08 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore Detroit*
3/10 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre*
3/11 - Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre*
3/17 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore*
3/18 - Minneapolis, MN @ Fillmore Minneapolis*
3/20 - Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium*
3/23 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre*
3/25 - Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall*
3/28 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues*
3/30 - San Francisco, CA @ Nob Hill Masonic*
3/31 - Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater*
4/02 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre*
4/05 - Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
4/07 - Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom*
4/09 - Austin, TX @ ACL*
4/10 - Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center*
4/15-17 & 4/22-24 - Indio, CA @ Coachella
6/4 - Leeds, UK @ Live at Leeds
6/5 - Paris, FR @ We Love Green 2022
6/10 - Gräfenhainichen, DE @ Melt Festival 2022
6/17 - Manchester, TN @ Bonaroo Music and Arts Festival 2022
6/22 - Dublin, IE @ Aviva Stadium+
6/25 - London, UK @ The O2 Arena^
6/30 - Vilnius, LT @ Lukiškių kalėjimas 2.0
7/1 - Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
7/10 - Madrid, ES @ Espacio Mad Cool
7/12 - London, UK @ Somerset House
8/9 - Melbourne, AU @ 170 Russell
8/11 - Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
8/13 - Sydney, AU @ Metro Theatre
8/16 - Paredes De Coura, PT @ Praia do Taboão
9/2 - Co, Laois, IR @ Electric Picnic

* = with Clairo
+ = with Harry Styles
^ = with Billie Eilish

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