Arlo Parks says her wave of successes in 2021 feel “almost dreamlike” and has thanked her fans for their support during one of the “most significant” years of her life.
The Mercury Prize and Brit Award winner said her dreams were “solidifying” and acknowledged the “bewildering avalanche of recognition” following her debut studio album Collapsed In Sunbeams.
Sharing a collection of photos on Instagram, the 21 year-old said: “I’m celebrating the moments that gave my little heart wings this year.
“Collapsed in Sunbeams came out in January and completely swivelled my world in a million different directions at once.
“It brought me such a bewildering avalanche of recognition – winning the @brits and the @mercuryprize with my parents waving and cheering in the distance, finding out I was nominated for two @recordingacademy Grammys in a random thrift store in Cologne…
“All these things feel almost dreamlike, I feel them sinking in with time but there’s something about this personal slotting into place, this hard work bearing fruit, these dreams solidifying that feels so rare and pure that maybe it will never really sink in.”
The west London-raised singer fended off competition from artists including Wolf Alice, Celeste and Mogwai to claim the prestigious Mercury Prize in September.
The achievement earned her praise from pop superstar Taylor Swift, who described the album as “stunning”.
Parks was nominated for three Brit awards in 2021, including Album of the Year, Best British Female Solo Artist and Best New Artist, which she won.
She also won two accolades at the 2021 AIM Independent Music Awards for UK Independent Breakthrough and Best Independent Album.
In her social media post Parks expressed her thanks for a number of things including her “impossibly sweet partner” and “pizza in the bath”.
“I’m thankful for my first North American tour and selling out O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire twice, right next to where I grew up,” she wrote.
“I’m thankful for eating eggs with my friends, for reading In the Dream House, for Wim Wenders movies, for Joan Didion, for Bell Hooks, for Many Times by @dijondijon_
“For pizza in the bath, for meeting my impossibly sweet partner, for the white bolts of inspiration straight to the skull that have me voicenoting in airplane bathrooms.
“2021 has been personally one of the most significant years of my life – hard, heavy with grief, painful at times but speckled with moments that were absolutely luminous.”
She added: “Thank you everybody, for your affection and your voices and your eyes – wishing you waves of love for the new year.”