Omar Apollo’s rise out of Hobart, Indiana (basically an outer suburb of Chicago) has been, for lack of a better term, meteoric. Folklore says that the 21-year-old songwriter borrowed money from a friend to get his music on streaming platforms before playlist curators picked his songs for one of those Spotify playlists the kids are listening to these days.
Expect said kids to buy every ticket for this Tampa Bay debut from the Mexican-American guitar-pop sensation and Latinx hero, but understand that he’s not exactly a grizzled music vet.
“Low key, I'm still a fucking kid. I'm learning things,” Apollo, who turns 22 on May 20, told CL. “I want to inspire people to do something good, but I’m still figuring it out, too.”
Many of the kids in crowds look like Apollo. Brown, young and looking to more with their lives. Before his show at Crowbar, the young songwriter took some time to talk about being a role model, overzealous cops pulling his band over, why he doesn’t care how you categorize his music and more. Read our full Q&A and get more info on the show below.
Omar Apollo w/Role Model. Fri. April 19. 7 p.m. $15 & up. Crowbar, Ybor City. aestheticized.com.
Omar, hello. Can you hear me all right? How you doing today?
Yeah. I think I drank too much coffee and I'm really tired. I'm jittery. I'm an idiot. I don't know why I did that.
Are you at home right now in L.A. or are you already in Florida warming up for this tour?
Nah, I'm home.
I wanted to know if there was any ballet folklorico that makes it to the live show at all. I know you're crazy on stage.
Ballet?
Yeah, I read that you have a background in ballet.
Yeah, definitely. I fucking love it. Hell yeah.
I know you've played through illness at FADER Fort, but how much can you prep for a tour this long?
I just kind of ask a few friends. I heard the top bunk is the way to go on a tour bus. Putting certain things on your rider, to put in the fridge so when you're hungry you don't have to just eat shitty gas station food — stuff like that. Me and my band have a good chemistry and have been rehearsing for a while. So I'm just kind of ready to go, honestly.
Is your band still all Mexicans with colored hair? The Niños Timidos?
That was for the last tour.
OK, so no more Niños Timidos then.
We got some colored hair; mine's colored, too. We’re all pretty excited. We keep texting like, “What the fuck?” We can't wait to go on tour. The venues are bigger, different, and I do certain things I wouldn't normally do, like soloing or singing, dancing — because the energy is so big and shit.
I like watching artists like you not get thrown into a room that's way too big. And I'd rather see somebody like you sell out shows in these clubs and then move to bigger rooms instead of having to kind of fill them.
Yeah.
You mentioned the top bunk of a bus, so there's no more Gertrude or the Xani wagon?
Gertrude! Yeah, we used to drive the to shows in Gertrude and the Xany wagon. Now we got Sprinters and tour buses and shit.
That's awesome. I would imagine, back in the day, that you guys would get stopped. You know, bunch of kids in the car. That probably won't happen anymore.
Oh, yeah, we used to always get fucking pulled over. They'd take us out of the car and shit.
Man, that is wild. I still think that's so so crazy. I mean, it makes complete sense, you know?
It's racist. Cops are allowed to racially profile you and shit. They see hispanics. Then they go search your shit without asking. They definitely did that shit to me. They’ve pulled all my homies out, checked us for guns, checked us for weed, and we're like, “Come on, we’re gonna be late for rehearsal because of you.”
That's crazy. And I like what you've said about purposely avoiding politics in your lyrics,because you want to be an action-based person in terms of your activism instead of singing about it.
For sure, definitely. I rather do something. That’s important.
I wanted to get back to that in a bit, but you have this new EP coming out . PR talked about how it's different from Stereo, but what do you think you accomplished on it? And how nervous are you to have it out?
I'm more excited than nervous but I am nervous, still. I'm just excited to put the music out and perform new shit. It's so fun to perform new shit. I'm interested to see how the crowd likes it. I'm excited. I worked hard on it. Some songs I made like last month, and now they're coming out, so it's cool.
Do you feel like they're different from stuff on Stereo? In the past, you've said that you kind of want your music to be something that people can put on in the background, especially during important moments — music to remember moments by. Is that still the motivation?
Hell yeah. Definitely, 100 percent. I feel like I did that. I’ve played it at a few functions, my friends’ houses — my friends will be like, 'Yo play your music.”
The story about you teaching yourself to sing, perform these vocal runs and everything is, is pretty well known now. But it's funny to hear you mention your friends, because I would imagine these are the same friends that who were actually pretty cool by telling you that you sucked at the time that you sucked, because a lot of people would never do that.
We're all super transparent.
Have you been able to grapple with your rising stardom yet? Are you still insecure about it?
I feel like everyone kind of struggles with having your face everywhere and having to do interviews. Having people comment on them on Twitter — people can tell you how they feel about you from anywhere in the world. But it's always going to be there.
Twitter's the worst.
Yeah, I just talk to my family and my friends
I love hearing you talk about your family, especially your dad and your mom and all the hard work they've done. Have you ever read your dad's love letters to your mom?
No. I don't even know where they're at. That was too long ago.
Are they around? Would you ever read them if they became available for you to read?
If they wanted to show me, yeah, but if they didn't want to show me then I would be like, 'I don't care.'
To go back to the new EP, I know that you said that you're kind of happy to take as much time as you need on a full-length. Is there any pressure from labels or PR to put out these EPs? Or even to write second verses? Some of your songs don't have second verses. Is it like that, or is everyone hands off with your output?
Oh, yeah, they're hands off as fuck. I do everything on my own. I’ll work with my friends, and the label just kind of trusts what’s going on. Nobody pressures me about nothing. It's cool, it's chill.
I know your dad had that art ear and exposed you to a lot of good stuff, but have you ever thought about what your music might sound like had you not found Pedro Infante, Vicente Fernández, and Estela Núñez? Would it be less soulful?
I don't know because what you listen to when you're really young really does affect your subconscious ideas, melodically. So it would definitely be different because I grew up on that shit, you know,? Yeah, so it would be different, but it would still be good. Definitely different, but good.
Do you have moments when you have the studio monitors turned up, or something in your headphones, where you can hear that stuff kind of come out of you subconsciously? Stuff that's definitely something that your uncles or something used to sing when I you were a kid?
Hell yeah. Sure.
And you're 21, right?
I'll be 22 in May.
OK, when's your birthday?
May 20th.
People have written about a big heartbreak that you had when you were 18. Obviously, that pain has led you to, not close yourself off, but guard yourself a little bit. Has any of that faded away as you've kind of aged into a grizzled old man?
Yeah. I mean, I've definitely had other heartbreaks now. Definitely new shit, new feelings, so, that's cool — not cool, but the music's cool.
So you have been able to kind of open yourself up in your new town and experience different kinds of love or romantic relationships?
For sure, definitely.
I think you played your first show in 2017 and started producing songs in 2016. Could you talk about whether or not this accelerated rise ever feels dizzying or disorienting?
Like disorienting? I don't think so.
Too fast?
Honestly, I get tired really quick. I only get overwhelmed when I have a lot of work and shit. There’s a lot of traveling, and everything kind of happens for a reason. I've learned so much about myself and my life and because of all this. I would never neglect a blessing. That’s something my mom always taught me.
Have you been able to move your parents out of Indiana yet?
No, but that's the goal though. I definitely want to move them somewhere warm. They can't really go outside or leave the house. My parents are a little older, so I just want them to be able enjoy the outside and shit, but they’re stuck in the house. My grandma is in my old room. I want them to be able to go outside — dad likes riding bikes.
Well, you'll be in Florida for the beginning of your tour. So maybe you can find a realtor or something.
Haha, yeah.
I want to ask you about your friend that loaned you $30 to put your music online way back in the day.
That's the homie.
Who was that? And have you been able to pay the homie back?
No, I didn't pay him back. His name is Matt. He moved away from Indiana around the time that he did that. He’s kind of off the grid, hella cool though. He always knows the cool shit that's going on. He was just like, “You have to put your shit on Spotify,”and I was like, “I don't even know what Spotify really is.”
That's awesome. You said his name was Matt?
Yeah, that's the homie. We ain't gonna drop his last name since he's off the grid.
Have you been able to reach out to him? Or like, has he been out to see a show or anything like that?
Nah, I don't think he's seen a show. We were supposed to hang out when I was passing through his state, but he had to work or something. But that's the homie. All my friends know him — he’s hella cool. I need to hit him up; he sends me beats and shit, he's the homie.
It's interesting you mentioned that you get tired, because everybody gets tired, and I hope you don't have any kind of guilt about that. You're obviously this natural self-taught musician. Have you started any classical training or anything like that since you’ve started to break?
Yes, I started taking vocal lessons, and I feel a lot better. I want to take instruments more seriously, but I just don’t have the time right now. After this tour, bro, I’m going to make fucking time — a lot of time learning shit, you know what I mean? I was lucky enough to have a good ear since I was a kid. I just picked up the guitar. I don’t want to take the ear for granted. I want to bring it to work. I feel like I really need push myself as an artist or musician. I want to become a better artist.
I feel like you've been asking people to let you do that since you were in church, trying to rearrange the songs and stuff.
Yeah, we were trying to but they wouldn't let us.
I'm sure they're listening to you now. Obviously, you've talked about seeing a lot of Mexican kids in your crowds, and you've talked about the action that you want to take, and I'm sure kids are talking to you, taking selfies without asking.
Yeah. I love seeing all the Mexican kids and people — it's just really dope. It makes me feel like I'm doing something, right.
I feel like a lot of them are 20, 21, 22 year old kids. Is there any kind of pressure to be a role model at all? It seems like you relish the opportunity, but does it ever become overwhelming to kind of be a shooting star for them?
It can become overwhelming, but at the end of the day I got a family to feed. I'm worried about making sure they're OK before I can really get into that. You know what I mean? But I definitely know that it's a thing. Kids will DM me and say, “Yo, I started playing guitar because of you.” It’s crazy, but it’s not like I’m out here getting super fucked up. I'm just having fun. And low key, I'm still a fucking kid. I'm learning things. I don't have no place speaking to kids. If they can pick up on that, it’s inspiring. I want to inspire people to do something good, but I’m still figuring it out, too.
Calling your music “bedroom-pop” feels reductive.
I don't even care. Call it whatever the fuck you want. I don't care.
Do you like when people call your music Chicano? music? Or do you feel like that puts you in a box too?
I just feel like people love putting categories on shit.
Yeah, especially journalists.
I realized I can't control that shit, ever, so do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care. Why worry about something I can't control?
No, I hear you, man. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like you in the past you’ve compared yourself to other artists, but now that you're in the industry are you still holding yourself up to different people?
Not at all. At first I was learning by mimicking, but I’ve learned a lot, and I’m more confident now. In the past, when someone would drop something, I would have a weird feeling like I had to drop some shit. Now, the way I react is a lot different.
I think you're still doing Neil Young covers on the tour. Any other covers that people can expect on this tour?
Probably like Bob Dylan, or John Mayer or some shit.
Your EP is about to come out. Is there anything you really want people to be listening for or picking up on when they're listening to it? You know, before all these journalists make their own assumptions about what you're hearing in your music.
Everyone interprets things differently. I'm not going to stifle anyone's interpretation. Someone told me they interpreted a song in a way that made it easier to get through losing their little brother, and I was like, “Damn, that's crazy.” They said that the song helped them get through that. I wasn't thinking about that when I was making the song, but if it helps you in any way I'm not gonna stop you. It's all just emotion.
I get it, man. Thanks for your time and good luck on this long tour. We're excited to see you in Tampa.
Thank you.
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This article appears in Apr 11-18, 2019.