Arlo Parks: Beyoncé songwriting credit on Cowboy Carter was ‘beautiful surprise’

Mercury Prize-winning Britist artist Arlo Parks says it was a “massive, beautiful surprise” to learn a song she co-wrote was included on Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed new album, Cowboy Carter.

The Texas-born star released her country-influenced eighth album last week, featuring collaborations with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Miley Cyrus and Linda Martell. She also covered Paul McCartney’s 1968 song, “Blackbird”.

Parks’s Cowboy Carter contribution transpires on the funk and soul-influenced “Ya Ya”, which samples Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin” and also interpolates the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”.

The 23-year-old is credited on the track alongside Beyoncé, Beach Boys star Brian Wilson (who wrote “Good Vibrations”), Grammy-winning producer Cadenza, Harry Edwards, Giift, Lee Hazlewood, Jay-Z and singer/producer The Dream.

Speaking with The Independent from New York, ahead of her performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Friday (5 April), Parks revealed she had wanted to write songs for other artists “for a long time”.

“I feel like my strength is being in a room, coming up with melodies, and it’s also where I feel most creatively fulfilled,” she explained. “As a massive fan of Beyoncé’, I tried to make a song that I would love to hear her sing.”

She continued: “She’s such a generational force, and the only way I could approach it was not to imitate, but to create something I thought she would sound sick on. It was a massive, beautiful surprise to find the song was included on the album.”

As a British artist, Parks said there was “something really interesting” writing with country music in mind. “I was listening to a lot of country music as research, to try and bring in that context,” she said. “But also I think there was something inspiring about keeping it quite broad.”

Asked what she thinks of Cowboy Carter, Parks said the record was proof of Beyoncé’s strength as a shapeshifter: “She completely brought herself to that [sound]... you have the Paul McCartney cover [of ‘Blackbird’], the Dolly Parton [‘Jolene’]... moments of paying homage to these figures, but also bringing her power and her Blackness, and how unrelenting she is as a creative force, to that world. It was such a beautiful melding.”

In March, Beyoncé responded to naysayers in the notoriously insular country music scene, saying the decision to record Cowboy Carter came when “the criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me”.

The album, she said, was born out of “an experience I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed... and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive.”

Her remarks have widely been interpreted to reference negative reactions to her performance of “Daddy Lessons”, from her 2016 record Lemonade, at the CMAs with country trio The Chicks.

“I think something really inspiring [about Beyoncé] is the fact that she’s obviously aware of the way things could be received, but there’s such a purity of intention, and also the paying homage to the Black artists who have contributed to making country music what it is, digging into the roots of it,” Parks said.

“Similarly on Renaissance, she had this very unflinching approach. Her artistry eclipses [any negativity].”

Aside from “Ya Ya”, Parks said she particularly loves Beyoncé’s song with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted”. Cyrus is the goddaughter of Parton, and has performed “Jolene” with her on a number of occasions.

“I like the fact that she sits so comfortably everywhere,” Parks said. “I can’t think of another artist who can sound just as comfortable over a really pastoral, gorgeous ballad and then on the hardest beat with Grace Jones [on Renaissance]. No one else can do that.

“There’s definitely a playfulness to [songs on Cowboy Carter]. It feels like it comes from a really deep place – this sounds obvious to say, but she’s clearly really enjoying herself. It’s very intuitive.”

Parks rose to fame with early singles such as “Cola”, “Caroline” and “Hurt” before releasing her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams. The project was awarded the Mercury Prize in 2021, making Parks, then 21, one of the youngest ever winners.

She has since performed on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival and released a second album, My Soft Machine, last year. She recently completed a tour of North America, concluding with two sold-out shows at the Bowery Ballroom and Brooklyn Steel, both in New York.

“I’ve been feeling really blessed,” she told The Independent. “We just finished this tour and it’s the happiest I’ve ever been after a tour, and I’m going to hibernate and be in writing mode, and that’ll be so nice.

“We’re going to fill the space with books and posters and candles, and really dig in. That’s something I’ve been craving for a while.”

You can catch Parks on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon this evening (5 April) on NBC.