You're listening to Song Exploder,
where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.
I'm Rishikesh Hirway.
Before this episode starts,
I want to let you know that the song being discussed is about someone who's alive and well today,
but was going through a period of depression and anxiety.
Both the song and the interview allude to suicide, so please be careful before listening.
If you're thinking about suicide, or if you have a friend who is,
or if you just need someone to talk to right now,
you can get support by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.
That's 1-800-273-8255.
Or you can text HOME to 741741, which is the crisis text line.
If you're outside the U.S., check out the list of international hotlines at suicide.org.
I'll link to all of this on the Song Exploder website and in the episode show notes.
Arlo Parks is a singer and songwriter from London.
In January 2021, she released her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams.
It hit number three on the UK charts, and she won this year's Brit Award for Breakthrough Artist.
Last year, Anna Mee called her song Black Dog the year's most devastating song.
In this episode, she breaks down Black Dog, which he made with producer Gianluca Bucciolati.
But I call him Luca.