Arlo Parks

“When I was growing up, there weren't that many queer girls of colour making music. So I just wanted to be able to exist, just to be that, without putting too much emphasis on it.”

“I've always been a very emotional person and as a child. I guess writing felt like something that I could do in private to process things.”

“To me, nature is so inspiring - that sense of constant change, the way things are cleansed or washed away, and it's beyond your control.”

“My dad loved jazz, so there was a little Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway. My mum is French, so she'd listen to a lot of French music, but a lot of the music that actually formed my taste, I just found online.”

“Minneapolis has always been a mythical place for me because my mom is a massive Prince fan.”

“I'm journalling, checking in with myself. I write about the week and how it felt, my hopes and plans. I do it every evening, and have done since I was 13.”

“I've definitely seen the rise of more charities and Mental Health Awareness Week, and people in general seem a lot more open about struggles that they've faced.”

“It sounds cheesy to say it, but I think my motivation has always been to help others.”

“When you approach the world with such vulnerability and openness, people return that energy. It's draining, but it fills me with a purpose. I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

“I really like Pat Parker. I really like Audre Lorde. I read a lot of the Beats when I was younger, so Diane di Prima, Gary Snyder. I've been discovering a lot more modern poems as well.”

“It's got to be speciality coffee or nothing. I love posh coffee but I have lattes with sugar, so I'm not a purist at all, but it has to be specific or it's just not worth it to me.”

“I had someone tell me recently that Black Dog had started this important conversation about mental health that had saved their marriage. It's really quite mad how these songs have travelled.”

“I asked a lot of my artist friends and just friends in general what their favorite albums of all time were. I made this massive list and I just listened to all of them, all the way through.”

“Honestly, I've been reading a lot of books on visual art. I've been reading a lot of books by Olivia Lang, I've been listening to a lot of folk and singer-songwriter music, but also a lot of electronic and really hard techno. I'm just trying to create something that pulls from everywhere and that hopefully feels unique.”

“The way that I write is very instinctual and based off raw feeling--I'm a very emotional person and I think that comes across in my writing. Also the songwriting that I enjoy, for example Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen and Nico tend to be both photographic and visceral.”

“I think that there was a part of me that hoped that maybe people will be able to connect to what I was saying. But it was quite a scary thing, actually, making that decision to put music out there, and to be so vulnerable.”

“I went to see my first gig when I was 15 - it was Loyle Carner at Shepherd's Bush - and I remember just feeling the bass in my feet and in my body. I was so energised.”

“I'm very extroverted - I'm really social. People have a sense I'm a reserved wallflower, but that's not who I am. My music is inward-looking, and that is a part of me, but I like having a laugh.”

“My dad was into jazz, so there was a lot of Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington playing in the house, but also a lot of soul, such as Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald, while my mum liked Prince and Diana Ross.”

“It's important to have a moment where you just stop and look at where you came from.”