Arlo Parks
4/22/202656 min
Arlo Parks is an English singer-songwriter, and poet. Born and raised in Hammersmith, West London, Parks released her first EP Super Sad Generation aged 19, going on to win the Mercury Music Prize, a Breakthrough Artist Brit Award, and Grammy nominations for her first album Collapsed in Sunbeams, released in 2021. Parks performed at Glastonbury and Coachella, opening for artists including Billie Eilish and Harry Styles. Parks’ second album, My Soft Machine, was Brit-nominated and included a song featuring musician Phoebe Bridgers. Parks toured this album globally, and it was named one of the Best Albums of 2023 by Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Billboard. In 2023, Parks released a debut poetry collection, The Magic Border, and has cited poets including Sylvia Plath, Allen Ginsberg, Mary Oliver and Ezra Pound as influences on her lyricism. Her newest album, Ambiguous Desire, is inspired by the clubs and nightlife scenes of New York, London, and Los Angeles, where Parks has lived since 2021, and was released in April 2026. In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Arlo Parks discuss favourite album covers, restlessness, and drive. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBella Freud· Host0:00
[doorbell ringing] Hi. Come in. Welcome to Fashion Neurosis, Arlo Parks.
Arlo Parks· Guest0:18
Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
Bella Freud· Host0:21
Can you tell me what you're wearing today and why you chose these particular clothes?
Arlo Parks· Guest0:26
Yeah. So I decided to wear things that friends of mine had made and all my little lucky charms, so I'm wearing my Blue Burnham jewelry. Um, and then my friend Jawara created this kind of hardware piece meal Massive Attack shirts, 'cause I do enjoy kind of wearing references- Mm. ... um, on, on my chest, on my body. And my friend Victoria made these Parachute pants for me and these Acne shoes. So I think things that feel me, um, and things that carry meaning today.
Bella Freud· Host0:59
The shirt, I mean, it's all really beautiful, and it all seems to sort of gel together, but the T-shirt is just fantastic.
Arlo Parks· Guest1:08
Thank you. Thank you.
Bella Freud· Host1:09
I love that. I'm a huge Massive Attack fan.
Arlo Parks· Guest1:12
Yes.
Bella Freud· Host1:13
And I've seen them so many times, and it feels great that they're somehow in the room [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] ... thanks to- Yeah ... your T-shirt. It's really, really good.
Arlo Parks· Guest1:23
Yeah. And there's something to me about the kind of metallic, uh, quality and the hardware with