In the past week, singer-songwriter Omar Apollo released two new singles. I’ve been following Apollo’s music since his song “Ugotme” was released in 2017. When I saw that he had posted about a new song on October 30th, and then again on November 5th, it was like Christmas came early!
Apollo first surprised his fans with “Frío”, his first all-Spanish track. Apollo has several bilingual songs out and has been producing art that unites his Mexican-American heritage for some time now. “Frío” is a love song that’s more about love gone wrong— as he sings the chorus, “Y no puedo amarte / De vuelta / Me besas / Con fuerza / Ay no me sueltas / Acábame / La tristeza.” This is translated to, “I can’t love you / Back / You kiss me / Strongly / Don’t let me go / Finish with / My sadness.”
Brian Medrano of The Harvard Crimson writes about the reggaeton in “Frío,” which is a bit of an exploration on Apollo’s part. Medrano describes, “the single features the iconic “dembow” percussive backbone found in most reggaeton music. The song starts with a cool, atmospheric synth accompanied by a set of lo-fi, heartbeat-like thuds.” The song, as all of Apollo’s tracks, definitely highlights his stellar vocals and experimentation. No two of his works sound the same; he is always evolving and trying out different twangs in his vocals and beats. I adore one song of his, “Ashamed,” where you can really see his interest in playing with sound and manipulating his different singing voices.
The second song he released is a collaboration with Dominic Fike and Kenny Beats called “Hit Me Up.” This song is the perfect mixing of Apollo’s and Fike’s tendencies for creating upbeat melodies and beats. Apollo sings, “Pullin’ up, pullin’ up / In my car / All my friends / Coming down / Say you won’t, say you won’t / Ride with me, yeah,” and I was sold. In collaboration with Fike’s distinctive rapping, Apollo’s soulful, crooning voice has once again produced a hit.
This track had me in a good mood right off my first listen. I have no doubt I’ll be jamming to “Hit Me Up” for the rest of the month. Fike’s song “Three Nights” was the bop of my summer, and this track is about to be the anthem of my fall semester. I can only hope it’ll uplift me through finals!
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