Arlo Parks live in Madrid, 2021.
Photo: Redferns, Mariano Regidor. All rights reserved.
In her new single “Softly,” Arlo Parks sings about the pain of a breakup and longing for a time when love was whole.
“‘Softly’ is a song about longing,” says Parks. “It’s about that feeling of fragility you feel when a relationship is at the end of its life but you’re still deeply in love.” Adds the singer, “The song is about how it feels when you’re preparing for the shock of a breakup and remembering the time when everything was beautiful.”
Behind the video is a complex production
The video for “Softly” comes from the director duo Zhang & Knight. Explaining the concept behind it, the filmmakers say, “For us, ‘Softly’ was about the idea and the desire for something that was once perfect to have a gentle ending, and we wanted to express that with the world around Arlo.” This is shown by a backdrop of houses that gradually fall into each other around Arlo Parks.
Zhang & Knight continue, “We were instinctively drawn to the warm, hazy nostalgia of the 1960s, as we loved the idea of something universally romantic slowly fading away as the film progressed. We recreated the colors of the bricks, trim and doors from mid-century painting to bring that romance to everything. The production itself was challenging as everything was shot on camera, with each part of the set being built on wheels operated by multiple production teams. However, we knew it was all worth it when we first saw the skyscrapers dance around Arlo.”
Stream the video for Arlo Parks’ new single “Softly”:
Most recently, Parks released her critically acclaimed album COLLAPSED IN SUNBEAMS in early 2021. Afterwards, the Briton was able to look forward to a number of prizes. Among other things, she was awarded at the “Brit Awards” in the category “Best New Artist”. But she would actually like to do just one thing, as she said in an interview with the “NME” said she wants to be creative full-time every day of the rest of her life, “preferably into the early hours.”