7.9

GENRE: Pop/R&B
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2022

Even after releasing two EPs and a successful mixtape, Omar Apollo is still an obscure heartthrob. From recording music in his bedroom to working with different label executives and producers, the singer learned that making everyone happy might make your art veer away from your true essence: he had to scrap an entirely finished album because the material didn’t reflect his identity. The silver lining is that by listening to his instincts, Apollo was able to create new material that became Ivory, his debut studio album. The record took a long time to finish, but rewarding roads are not supposed to be short. You can still hear the business inclinations on the album—the kinds of marketing directions that one way or another are forced upon artists by their label—but Ivory shows the maturity of an artist who has finally learned how to say no.

His music videos have the grainy photography of an A24 movie, depicting youth, lust, house parties, and bright-colored clothes under pale lighting. Ivory encapsulates these characteristics of young briskness with all its energetic highs and lethargic lows. It doesn’t take long to be seduced by the bustling “Talk,” where Apollo showcases his relationship uncertainties over energetic electric guitars and fast tempo beats. “Bottle up my feelings, so much one day you won’t love me/One day you might love me,” he reveals his anxiety, later contradicting himself: “These feelings got me talking too much.” But even in these jittering moments, it’s easy to picture Apollo, foot on a table, a Fender in his hands, nonchalantly sketching verses.

Apollo weaves his falsettos and croons together throughout the album. The balmy “No Good Reason” turns on the fog machine for the following track, “Invencible,” a highlight of Ivory that features Daniel Caesar’s smooth vocals over electric guitars and accelerated snares. Even at the mention of 2-CB, a synthetic drug that has been raising concerns in many countries, Apollo’s voice sounds romantic due to the song’s echoing effects. It seems like Apollo has this gift of turning angst into serenity, a trend that stretches throughout the genre-shifting on Ivory. He bounces from alternative R&B and hip-hop to soul on Frank Ocean-inspired tunes (“Personally” and “Evergreen” both sound like Blonde’s stray kids), all the while with the charm of an ex-boyband member and the irresistible apathy akin to that of Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner.

On tracks like the highly catchy “Tamagotchi,” Apollo shows he can also take the braggadocious pop star role. “Bitch, my bag Céline (Céline), you can’t get it off me,” he says in English after singing about Louis Vuitton in Spanish a few lines earlier. Featuring guest Kali Uchis’ voice impacts “Bad Life” with a jolt, but eventually, her vocals settle and float like a feather. In “Mr. Neighbor,” Apollo feels comfortable letting loose, carrying himself with the non-commitment of a kid but elevating his voice to an adult level. Ivory is padded by the kind of boldness that only experienced artists usually possess, with Apollo’s versatility sparkling throughout its run, swaying between seriousness and playfulness with astonishing facility. The record has the sensibility of a free artist and the strength of one who muscled his way from Soundcloud into Spotify’s biggest playlists with his own hands—a process seemingly impossible and seldom immediate.

Listen to Ivory: