Omar Apollo Says He's Finishing His 'Best Album'

Omar Apollo looks at himself through Zoom as he tries on the beige Sherpa jacket he just bought. “Are you fucking it?” he asks.

It's hard not to laugh at everything the Mexican American alt-R&B star does. Apollo released his debut album, Ivory, in April 2022, then blew up with the highly emotional song “Evergreen” and followed that success by touring with SZA last year. Lately he has been involved in fashion. (A huge billboard of him dripped at the luxury designer Loewe that stretches over Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles)

Apollo is back in Los Angeles these days putting the finishing touches on his upcoming album, due out this summer. He dropped the first single from his album 'Spite' last Friday and has been experimenting with jazz, house and other genres.

He tells me it's the best music he's ever made. And, no, that's not all he says.

How are you;
I'm fine. I'm posted, I'm completing the album. We are mixing and I am very excited. How are you;

Good. I just got back from visiting family in Durango, Mexico.
Duranguense! I know the dance. You're supposed to act like you've got a penny wedged between your cheeks or something.

Your knees.
Oh, your knees? I remember my mom teaching me how to do this. i was inside baile folklórico When I was younger. It was zapateado and dances like this. The girls had the little clicks on their hands and the big dresses. The guys would have sombreros and pants that looked like mariachis.

How do you feel about this new album? I read that you are more angry about it.
Angrier, for sure, on the single “Spite.” Now it's back to my old mood of yearning for love, but I reimagined it. I entered with Teo Halm. He's been my friend since I was 17. We met when I was working at Guitar Center.

We reconnected to “Evergreen”. We flew to London for two or three months last year. They weren't really breaks. It was nice to get into that state of mind where it's all about making music that we both love and connect with. The album doesn't feel like it's a bunch of songs thrown together. It's a sequence that's made to be listened to backwards and forwards. That's what I like about it. The songs, the writing, the narration, everything about it is simply from someone who has moved on to music. You can just tell.

In one of the tracks, you sing about sadness. I've heard before that grief is the highest, most intense form of love.
It's such a complicated feeling because you can feel grief for someone who died or grief for someone you're grieving for. This song, in particular, is one of my favorites on the album. I took my time and tried to give an image and a feel, and a temperature and a light. Even the writing is kind of psychedelic.

There's a full house song that sounds like it came out of left field.
I was trying to paint a picture. I want to be able to set a scene like a movie would. I wanted something that people could just be in the club with, because when you think of my music, you don't think of the club. So I'm like, “Damn, I need some shit in the club.” But it was just how I felt at the time, especially in London. I went to so many parties.

Who were some of your inspirations here?
They were, like Kate Bush, Giorgio Moroder, Labi Siffre. Let me pull out the playlist: Daniel Johnston, he's sick. Jeff Buckley, Lana Del Rey, for sure. I also listen to a lot of Beyoncé.

Which album?
4. This album is insane.

During your Musicians on Musicians interview with Lindsey Buckingham, he said, “There's nothing wrong with taking external input, but at the end of the day, you can't let that be the driving force.” You seemed to connect with it.
When people tell me what they think, I'll tell them I disagree with them and then tell them why. Theo is a Taurus so he understands me but we would hit it off a lot but that's when you spend so much time together. I trusted everything he did and he trusted everything I did. That's how it should be when you make music. It shouldn't be a bunch of opinions, because then it doesn't become art. It becomes other people's art and then it becomes an act of service, which I don't think is art. I think art is a reflection of your soul and emotions.

I remember having a conversation that rubbed me the wrong way. I thought, “It doesn't matter what your idea and image of me is. What matters is if I can wake up and be excited to go perform the songs and be excited to put them out.” If I feel strongly about it and I feel like I've exhausted every avenue to get where we are, and I feel proud, then I think that's the important thing. These outside opinions can be very confusing, and you just have to take it with a grain of salt.

What kind of opinions are you asking for?
I will ask very specific things. I'd say, “I'll play you 20 songs, pick your favorite.” This is. I don't want to know why it's your favorite. Just tell me which one. I think when you're in the creative process, it's so delicate that anything can damage your energy towards it. That is why it is not good to get many opinions. I actually have a friend who literally won't play me anything, and he's worked on an entire album and he won't show me any of it. It's on my album too.

What can you say about it Live for me EP you dropped in October?
Live for me it was definitely all discovery. It was music I made to get where I wanted to go. It's like a time capsule. I bought both artworks from the painter, Doron Langberg. They’re just on my wall and it’s just a reminder every day, like “Dang. That's the coolest thing I've done for myself: When you execute your ideas and see them in real life, that's a good, satisfying feeling that I just keep chasing, especially with this album.

You have the Disha Hot Sauce you go to Taco Bell.
My mom made the hot sauce recipe. I wanted to do a new launch of my hot sauce, but I had to make it Ivory. I was like, “Damn, I've got to put that aside for now and focus on the music.” The hot sauce packets will be available at every Taco Bell in America. He feels good because he crossed the border from Mexico and opened a restaurant. When I was born, it became too much, so it had to be closed. That was the hot sauce he used in the restaurant, so I say, “Since I made you close the restaurant by giving birth, this is how I get back.”

What kind of food would your mom make?
He would make tortas ahogadas, chiles rellenos, aguachile. He did a lot of shit. She was so good at it, I'm not going to lie. This just made my mouth water.

The first time we spoke was two years ago, before the success of “Evergreen”. How do you handle the fame that came to you so quickly?
At first it was strange. What I would say online would come out in interviews. I'd be like, “Damn, do people remember that? That was a little thought I had.” When “Evergreen” blew up, I already had the infrastructure to maintain, so it wasn't like, “Oh, what do we do now?” I had already done eight world tours. I was selling out venues, but it reached a different level.

In LA, you went from Shrine to opening for SZA at the Forum.
When I played the Shrine, which was about 5,000 people, “Evergreen” hadn't blown up yet, so I was like, “Damn, I feel successful.” After that show, I remember feeling like, “I want to triple it.” And then the SZA tour happened, and I was like, “Damn.” I had to focus because this was a whole crowd of people who just didn't know me. It was terrifying. After the arena tour, that's when I realized how I wanted to make music. I was like, “Oh, I want to make music for arenas.”

Did you develop a friendship with SZA on tour?
Yes I did it. On the road, he was very busy, but she is very sweet. We were at dinner a few months ago and then I saw her at Drake's show. I was so drunk [laughs]. He always shows love.