Arlo Parks’ album Collapsed In Sunbeams explores mental health and friendship The artist, who is also a mental health ambassador for the British charity CALM, explores mental health and friendship in his new album Collapsed In Sunbeams. Arlo Parks spoke to all things poetry as his gateway to music, mental health in creativity, and the making of Collapsed In Sunbeams. Arlo Parks’ album, Collapsed in Sunlight, is a collage of joy, pain and sadness. He also remembers a quote very dear to “her,” by Audre Lorde: “The pain will change, or it will stop.” “Parks” says that she knows what pain and fear and hurt can do, but remains optimistic that things will get better someday. Midway through the album, in “Black Dog,” Parks describes that “it’s really about me as a friend taking away the pain of a loved one.” “‘ The song is an emotional outburst, but understated.” Now in his 20s, Parks has released his debut album, Colapsed in Sunbeams. It was the poetry that first captured Arlo Parks, not the music. But music entered Parks’ creative practice when she started talking poetry to beat. “She was talking about mental health and growing pains,” he says. Also, many of the artists she admires today are vulnerable when it comes to their own mental health, whether it’s anxiety, depression, OCD or trauma. Parks once held a friend’s hand in a moment of depression and despair. Parks says t was a human air to the poem, but it was just as strange and intense. For Parks, revealing difficult situations and revealing truth is as important as showing the possibility of joy. When she began writing poetry, everything seemed to be about escape: a Hollywood fantasy, a separation or a love affair. Art, poetry and songwriting merged to create her first EP, Super Geração Triste, a collection of vivid, confessional songs from the perspective of Generation Z.
Subscription to our newsletter open soon.