“It's a very strange thing to suddenly be approached in the street and ...” — Arlo Parks Quote

It's a very strange thing to suddenly be approached in the street and have streams of messages, and not know how to work through getting bad reviews and hate comments. It's something that can really weigh on the mind and be quite isolating.

When I was younger, there was that desire to be cool and to fit in and to look a certain way. And I was quite an introverted kid who wrote plays in her spare time, so I didn't feel very cool.

When I started making my own music I was listening to people like Erykah Badu and Elliott Smith. I think I always gravitated towards slightly more understated voices because it felt like I could really connect with what they were saying. It felt more like a conversation.

I really like Pat Parker. I really like Audre Lorde. I read a lot of the Beats when I was younger, so Diane di Prima, Gary Snyder. I've been discovering a lot more modern poems as well.

Nobody has really gone out to Russia to fight somebody like Kovalev. A lot of people are paying attention to it and can't believe what I'm doing. Some people think I'm going to pull out. I've seen comments saying 'Oh this is a good publicity stunt' and I was just laughing. They don't understand.

Everyone makes their own comments. That's how rumors get started.

I'm covered up, but I'm still getting these comments that say I shouldn't be. But the girls who wear the bikinis, they're being told they're too revealing! Enough. It's their body, their choice.

You can never really ignore negative comments. There will always be some comments that will hurt you.