Really? Indiana?? How Omar Apollo Blazed a Trail for Himself and Young Latinx Artists

The town of Hobart, Indiana isn’t exactly known as a creative hub, but amidst the homogeneity Omar Apollo was able to find the voice that led him to his popularity as a musician today. His music mixes inspiration from artists he would hear as a kid into a unique bilingual indie-pop style that dives into themes of heartbreak, aging, and self-discovery. 

After moving from Jalisco, Mexico his parents and three older siblings settled in Hobart. He grew up with musical influences from his parents, including Estela Nuñez, Los Panchos, The Beatles, and Pedro Infante, as well as some of his own such as The Internet and Prince. At around 12 his Christmas list included a guitar at the very top. His parents however got Apollo an electric guitar with no amp, but after some research he was able to trade in the electric guitar at a pawn shop for an acoustic one. The mechanism of collection was very important at this stage of apollo’s creativity. Having just gotten his first guitar he stated to teach himself to play by watching videos of other people playing, copying their finger placements to learn the chords. From there he would experiment by moving one of his fingers to a different string and learning what hand placements made what sounds. Another early inspiration for Omar Apollo was his family’s connection to their local church. Being an altar boy gave him spots singing in the church choir and playing guitar for songs during mass. Keeping up with how he learned to play guitar, he played the church songs by copying the hands of the other people who would play. The church was where Apollo first recognized his style and desire to break from mainstream, recalling that his attempts to suggest changes and make the songs “prettier” were always denied. 

As he grew older he became more involved with music production and releasing songs. After long shifts at the McDonalds in Hobart he saved enough to buy a laptop and make his own beats. This allowed Apollo to play around with his style and release some of his songs. One song in particular, “Ugotme”, caught special attention and blasted him into fame literally overnight. When one of his friends first heard the song Apollo had 3,000 followers on SoundCloud. Liking it so much, the friend spotted him $30 to release the song on Spotify. In the next 24 hours the song was put on a fresh finds playlist and gained 20,000-30,000 listeners. This song would become the first single from his debut EP, Stereo. 

                             

This DIY style of music production became a core component to Apollo’s creative process. He says that because there was no classical training in his music career it provided the opportunity to be uniquely expressive. Nobody could tell him if what he was doing was right or wrong, so he went off purely what sounded good to him. This allowed Apollo to nourish his own musical style. In these earlier years Omar Apollo made his music for himself and his friends, but he recognized his potential after finding artists like Smino, The Internet, and Daniel Caesar on Soundcloud. The lack of popularity of his early songs never concerned him because he liked the music he was making--he was intrinsically motivated by his own growth as an artist. After “Ugotme” and his other songs gained more popularity, he started to see the possibility of making money off his music. He started doing house shows, eventually concerts, and gained millions of listeners across Apple Music and Spotify. This created more extrinsic motivation for Omar Apollo than he had in the past. He started making enough money to support not only himself, but also his whole family. A big reason for why he makes music today is so that he can give back to his parents for all that they did to raise him and his siblings.

Sources: 

https://remezcla.com/features/music/omar-apollo-profile/

https://www.thefader.com/2019/06/11/omar-apollo-friends-interview

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/omar-apollo-interview-866248/