It’s tough to top an album like Omar Apollo’s 2020 release Apolonio. The full-length project— steeped in slow-burn bedroom soul and reverb-laden R&B — exhibited much of what makes the budding bilingual star one of the most riveting breakouts in recent years.
But when it comes to his follow up LP, Ivory, the Mexican-American singer-songwriter isn't chasing the echoes of his past. He’s creating an ethos that's true to the artist he is now.
“With Ivory I had really gotten into songwriting. When you first make a song, it's your first instinctual thoughts, and for me, the instinctual thoughts were of this longing. But I wanted to make different songs,” Apollo tells The Weekly. “I wanted some to be happy. I wanted some to be sad. I wanted some to be party music. I had more intention behind the songs, which is something I'm excited about that I think is really different on this album.”
Ivory opens with a 45-second intro, Apollo introducing listeners to his intimate world with the tenderly spoken lyrics, “If you put your head on my sleeve/Do you want me to sing you asleep/I wouldn't tell a soul what you dream/I think you'd want me to know it's like ivory.”
We dive deeper into the artist’s psyche and how he chooses to present it from one moment to the next. On “Talk," Apollo personifies the heady rush of newfound love with restless guitar strums and up-tempo drums. Meanwhile “Go Away'' finds the 24-year-old dialing up his falsetto to match the candied synths of the dance track, produced in part by Chromeo.
“When I was making this album, I was really into The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I was listening to it like crazy," Apollo says, "that album and probably Arthur Russell and Joni Mitchell.”
Carter Lang, who co-wrote most of SZA’s album Cntrl and Swae Lee and Post Malone’s “Sunflower,” produced the majority of Ivory, with the exception of “Tamagotchi,” a Latin-infused bop that The Neptunes' Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams worked on. Apollo flew out to Miami to join Williams for a music session he says was at first nerve-racking but rewarding after the production maestro gave him space to write a song over their beats.
“When he came back, I had already finished it. It was pretty quick, less than an hour. He was super excited about it," Apollo recalls. "He was like "How long are you staying? We gotta make more, extend your flight.'”
Apollo, who's openly queer, expresses his sexuality on "Tamagotchi" and many other tracks on Ivory. "Evergreen," easily one of the record's best songs for its '60s rhythm and blues influence, candidly alludes to the pain of longing for a man who chooses to be with a woman.
In contrast, "Killin' Me" is as sexy as it is fluid, with the artist slipping effortlessly between English and Spanish as Apollo dotes on his latest infatuation. When prompted about it, the singer says he's entertained the idea of creating a Spanish album and would love to move to Mexico to get into "the headspace."
Until then, he's happy to continue bending genres and language barriers for his diverse fanbase.
“I remember when I would meet fans when I was on tour and read DMs, I'd see a lot of things about I'm a first generation Mexican too, it's so good to have someone to relate to. Those types of things are stuff I didn't have,” he says. “...It makes me want to go even harder and put out more music.”
You’ll hear Ivory and more when Apollo brings his Desvelado tour to Brooklyn Bowl on April 19.
Omar Apollo April 19, 7 p.m., $23-28, Brooklyn Bowl, 702-862-2695.
