Indie pop artist Arlo Parks has received a 2021 Mercury Prize for her 2021 debut album Collapsed In Sunbeans. The Mercury Prize awards outstanding musical achievements for projects released in The UK or Ireland. Parks was up against Berwyn, Black Country, New Road, Celeste, Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, And the London Symphony Orchestra, Ghetts, Hannah Peel, Laura Mvula, Mogwai, Nubya Garcia, Sault and Wolf Alice for the award.
The moment @anniemacmanus announced the winner the Hyundai Mercury Prize! Congratulations again to @arloparks our 2021 winner.#HyundaiMercuryPrize pic.twitter.com/0sDyABG4WS
— Mercury Prize (@MercuryPrize) September 9, 2021
“Too Good” is an upbeat, yet personal track, as Parks goes into great detail to describe her flirtation with another person. While Parks’ romantic subject expresses some interest by picking at the rips of their Nikes and discussing Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, in public they’re “too cool to show it” making the relationship unnecessarily complex. During the performance Parks is backed by a full brass band, as they sing in a striking white dress shirt, which is underneath a black dress.
Collapsed In Sunbeams came out in January and was acclaimed upon release for its soothing indie pop sound and Parks’ introspective lyrics. The performer will be hosting two shows in the near future in New York City and Los Angeles.
a joy to be burning up the red carpet in @Prada for the Hyundai @MercuryPrize Awards – feel surrounded by so much talent n genuine love for music – this is the venue I used to cycle by on the way to school as a kid… pic.twitter.com/CVDfPZ8TPJ
— Arlo Parks (@arloparks) September 9, 2021
“When I first started writing in the beginning, it was very much surrounding the idea of escape and of fantasy, then when I got a little bit older it very much became a way of looking inward. So I was only really writing about my feelings,” Parks explained in an interview with Rolling Stone. “And then I got to this balance, where I’m speaking about stories of people around me. I am looking at it in the way of a student — my subjective lens.”