Omar Apollo

Omar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer and songwriter. After signing a record deal with Warner Records, his debut album, Ivory, was released in 2022 to positive reviews and earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Apollo sings in both English and Spanish.

Early life

Omar Apolonio Velasco was born to Mexican parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Guadalajara. A first-generation immigrant, he grew up in Hobart, Indiana with his three older siblings. Apollo's parents both worked multiple jobs to support the family.

Apollo was a ballet folklorico dancer when he was a child and he was also a part of his Catholic church choir. Apollo's parents bought him a guitar when he was 12 at his request; however, it was an electric guitar without an amp. Apollo traded the guitar for an acoustic guitar at a pawn shop. At age 17, he worked at McDonald's in order to save up enough money to buy a laptop and then a microphone which he used to learn how to sing and play by watching and mimicking YouTube cover videos.

Apollo was also taught by his uncle and he played music at church; he formed a short-lived band with a friend at the church.

Career

2017–2020: Career beginnings, breakthrough and debut mixtape Apolonio

Apollo creating and uploading his songs to SoundCloud, a platform with DIY streaming. At the time he worked at Jimmy John's and Guitar Center, and he lived in an attic. In 2017, using $30 borrowed from a friend, he uploaded his song "Ugotme" to Spotify, where it was soon added to the platform's Fresh Finds and racked up 20,000 streams in a day. A year later, the song had more than 15 million streams.

He released his first EP, Stereo, in 2018, which was similarly well received. In 2018 and 2019, Apollo went on two tours, the "Want Tour" and the "Voyager Tour." His second EP, Friends, was released in April 2019. The EP featured production by rock producer John Shanks, who had previously worked with artists such as Michelle Branch and Melissa Etheridge. Apollo is managed by Shanks' son, Dylan, whom he met over Twitter in July 2017 when the latter booked Apollo for a university show at NYU. Apollo signed with Artists Without A Label earlier that year and performed at SXSW as part of a showcase with the group. He went on a European tour in 2019 and played at Lollapalooza as well as Tropicália. In late 2019, Apollo released the singles, "Frío" and "Hit Me Up" which are collaborations with producer Kenny Beats. In April 2020, Apollo released the single "Imagine U", another collaboration with Kenny Beats.

On August 7, 2020, Apollo released the lead single "Stayback" from his debut mixtape; and on September 10, he released the second single "Kamikaze." On September 25, Apollo appeared on alternative R&B Japanese singer Joji's second album Nectar on the track "High Hopes." Apollo released two more singles, "Dos Uno Nueve (219)" and "Want U Around" (featuring Ruel) before releasing his first mixtape Apolonio on October 16, 2020.

2021–present: Ivory

Apollo was featured on "Te olvidaste" by Spanish artist C. Tangana on his 2021 album El Madrileño. The song received two Latin Grammy Awards nominations for Record of the Year and Best Alternative Song. At the 65th Grammy Awards, Apollo was nominated for Best New Artist, his first Grammy nomination.

In 2021, Apollo released the single "Go Away," including a music video and a live performance on The Tonight Show. He followed up with the single "Bad Life" featuring Kali Uchis, their second collaboration; "Hey Boy" from Apolonio was the first. In February 2022, Apollo released the single "Invincible" featuring Daniel Caesar and announced the release date for his debut album. The next month he released the singles "Killing Me" which included a live performance on The Tonight Show as well as "Tamagotchi," which was co-written and produced by The Neptunes. With the release of "Tamagotchi", Apple Music Up Next selected him as its featured artist for the month in April 2022.

Apollo released his debut studio album Ivory on April 8, 2022 and embarked on the Desvelado tour supporting the album. The album received mostly positive reviews with praises going towards Apollo's musical growth and vocal performance. It entered the Billboard 200 chart, marking his first-ever entry on the chart. The deluxe version of the album, Ivory (Marfil), was released on August 12, 2022. In September 2022, the track "Evergreen" went viral on TikTok which helped boost the song to enter the Spotify and Apple Music charts and eventually debut on Billboard Hot 100 at number 62 for the week ending of October 1, 2022, earning Apollo his first-ever entry on the chart. In response to the rapid success, the song was chosen as the album's next single and was sent to contemporary hit radio on October 4, 2022, making it his first-ever radio single.

In addition to solo tours, Apollo also performed at the Coachella, Something in the Water, and All Points East music festivals in 2022. In early 2023, he opened for SZA on her SOS Tour. Later in 2023, Apollo was announced as the ambassador for the skincare brand Youth to the People. Omar also starred in the fall/winter 2023 men's campaign for the fashion house Loewe. In September, Apollo was honored with the Inspira Award at the 2023 Hispanic Heritage Awards.

On April 5, 2024 Omar shared a video for his new song "Spite," and teased a new album "LP2." The song, produced by Teo Halm and Blake Slatkin was released on April 5, 2024

Artistry and influences

Apollo's music has primarily been described as R&B, alternative R&B, and pop with elements of soul, funk, hip hop, latin music, trap, and bedroom pop.

While growing up, he listened to his parents' favorite musicians such as Pedro Infante, Los Panchos and the Beatles. His own influences include diverse musicians like Neil Young, Paul Simon, John Mayer, Prince, Bootsy Collins, Rick James, and The Internet, a r&b band. When speaking to Billboard, Apollo listed Minnie Riperton's Perfect Angel, Whitney Houston's self-titled project, Nirvana's Nevermind, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as inspiration for his musical career.

Personal life

Apollo's parents encouraged him to attend college; however Apollo dropped out after two weeks in order to pursue a musical career. He has Mexican citizenship.

Apollo is gay and has denied queerbaiting allegations saying, 'It's not a choice, it's just what I am. [...] I'm totally aware of the privilege we have now to be ourselves and still have a career [...] people thought I was queerbaiting before. I wasn't super open about my sexuality, but people were hearing things. [...] It had a lot to do with me growing up in Indiana which is very conservative. I stopped putting pronouns in my music for a couple of years then I just realized, I can't let other people's opinions influence and dictate my life. In an interview in 2022, Apollo said, "I feel like in the beginning, [...] I was trying to keep the mystique. But I don't even care anymore [...] now I'm just like, I'm very gay."

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

EPs

Reissues

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Music videos

Songwriting credits

Tours

Headlining

• The W.A.N.T. Tour (2018)
• The Voyager Tour (2019)
• The Speed of Sound Tour (2019)
• Desvelado Tour (2022)
• The Prototype Tour (2022)
• 2024 World Tour (2024)

Supporting

• SZA - SOS Tour (2023)
• Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever, The World Tour (2023)

Accolades and achievements