Arlo Parks (Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho) is a British Indie Pop artist who has used the power of words to bring her compositions to life with vibrant and descriptive lyricism. Alongside rhythm and melody, she infuses poetry to complement the intensity and dynamics of each instrument.

As she has quite clearly pointed out, her words are designed to be as vivid as photographs, providing imagery that, while true to her, also helps elucidate relatable experiences to her audience. Perhaps that is why she has garnered over 2.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify at the time this article was published. And perhaps that is also why she has earned critical acclaim for her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, in the form of 2021 Brit Awards nominations: Best British Female Solo Artist, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist.

Parks was nominated for Best New Artist because she is, in fact, relatively new to the professional music scene. She began coming to the spotlight in 2018 when she uploaded demos to BBC Music. Radio presenters were impressed by her creative expression and eventually distributed them to Ali Raymond of Beatnik Creative, a record company. Thus, she released her debut single, Cola, with Beatnik Records.

Those presenters and Raymond clearly heard something special about that song because it took only a year for it to reach more than 3 million streams on Spotify. Arlo Parks continued to release more tracks in the form of her debut EP Super Sad Generation in April 2019. After that, Arlo Parks released three tracks before her second EP, Sophie, in the same year. This EP focused specifically on experiences that other members of Gen Z could relate to—heartbreak. It was, however, explained through stories that listeners could live through her words in only a matter of minutes.

Her latest release, a full-length album called Collapsed in Sunbeams, is what has earned the most recognition. Her album had also reached number three on the UK Album Charts, which is perhaps not surprising if one were to look at the numbers of her streams.

What’s amazing about Arlo Parks is that she has managed to release a lot of new music in a relatively short career. Despite that, she hasn’t compromised the quality of her art, with lyrics that are truly evocative and riffs that are catchy enough to keep you interested even with repeated plays.

While Arlo Parks may not be a wholly independent artist (considering she’s signed with Beatnik and Transgressive Records), she still stays true to herself, which is perhaps a characteristic that’s arguably found most notably in independently composed and produced music. With fewer external factors to influence the art direction of an independent musician’s creation.  

The 21-year old artist has shown audiences around the world the depth of her unique art, and we certainly can’t wait to hear more of her music soon.