Within the vibrant hues of falling in love, there’s the dark shadows of realizing your love was only one sided. In between is the bittersweet mellow sound of Arlo Park’s latest release.

After releasing her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams in 2021, Arlo Parks released a new single earlier this month, “Softly.”

The song covers the struggle of not really knowing what is happening to your relationship — if something has changed and you’re somehow the last to know. In the chorus Parks asks to “break it to me softly,” not wanting the harsh reality of a broken heart.

The second verse, explains that maybe the relationship was more in Parks’ head than she thought. She fell into the horribly common trap of loving someone more than they love you, before coming down from that high and realizing just how ridiculous you are.

“I must admit I wanted you to save me /
Now I’m sat on the ground, feeling half crazy /
I don’t want you to go.”

One of my favorite things about Park’s music is the vivid language and detailed imagery she puts in her lyrics. The specificity shouldn’t be relatable — how many of us have had relationship trouble with someone with a cobalt blue scarf who used to steal traffic cones for us? But overall the heartache is so present and becomes something that everyone can see with painful clarity.

For days when everything feels like it’s falling apart, for when love fails, for when you realize you’re fooling yourself, “Softly” is the soundtrack.