festnoise | Music & Festivals

Jun 17

Jun 17 A conversation with Omar Apollo

Nowadays YouTube plays a very important role in the music industry and it has different Music initiatives running. One of them, started in 2016 is the Foundry program where they select emerging artists to promote and train them in best practices for growing and engaging their audience on the platform by hosting workshops at YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, New York and London. With notorious alumni like Dua Lipa, Rosalia or Cuco, on April 2019, YouTube added 11 new artist to the program, including Omar Apollo.

Born to Mexican parents who long ago escaped of gang violence in Guadalajara, - his dad crossed the border back in 1979 being only 23 and his mum would join him 13 years later -, Omar Apollo is a 22 years old first generation American, born and raised in a small and white town in Indiana, not far from Chicago (USA).

Where he is at now, its thanks to an unquestionable talent but also thanks to a lot of perseverance and self-confidence because he bears within himself a history of economic difficulties and racism. Despite a difficult childhood, Omar looks back to his past without rancor, with a smile and a positive attitude that leaves you speechless.

Immersed in a tour throughout Europe, on Friday June 14th, Omar Apollo stopped in Berlin and I had the opportunity to talk to him before his concert at Badehaus.

Your parents went through difficult times trying to provide for you and your two siblings. Does that suppose an extra pressure for you?

Omar: “Yeah! There is because both my parents don´t work. I am kind of doing what my dad was doing before. My dad hurt his knee so he cant work and my mum does not work, cause now if she would work it would be for 7 dollars an hour, so I guess there is a bit of pressure, yes. I'm like a confident person, I believe in myself and it's not up to me if Im super successful or not. I know it sounded totally unconfident but I said it like anything can happen, like I'm not in control of that. So there is like a pressure because I don´t wanna fuck up, but it's ok, I can deal with it!”

How did your parents take you pursuing a career in music?

Omar: “Oh, they didn't like it! My dad was like: ok! but my mum was like: no! And then then they came to my show and there were 200 hundred people and they were like: wow! So they understood after that and they were ok. I talk to them everyday, they just want to make sure im good.”

How was your childhood back there in Indiana? What kind of problems did you personally face as a child?

Omar: “Well mostly it was like money problems. I mean, racism it has been a thing since I was a kid. When I was in preschool I can remember this is how it was but I tried to lean into something else rather than into anger, but mostly it was just about money. My dad was working 2 jobs, my mum was working 2 jobs and we just be at home like we had to boil water to take showers and stuff like that and then my parents started to be in a hung a bit, like shitty jobs...It was enough for me to go to school and be able to eat, like that was it. But it was ok.”

I can imagine those were really rough times but I'm impressed with the way you talk about it, like you don't care much and with no reproach and great dignity.

Omar: “Yeah cause this is how it was! For me it was kind of normal and my cousins had it worse than me. They would not even eat some days, so when I saw them...I was living a nicer life, even though both were terrible! But I was never feeling bad for myself, it was the way it was for everyone around me, friends, family,...”

“And it wasn't like there was a super nice house down the street or that I had really rich friends, no one had money so this was just normal to me! And then we would talk about rich kids and it would be like, my friend that had stairs in his house, we would say he is rich! And then it was like...no, he is not rich but that was our idea of rich. When I started traveling I found out what rich is! I see now all these mansions where people live in and...damn! Its crazy!”

Omar Apollo performing with his band at Badehaus in Berlin

Being almost the only brown kid he was constantly judged and Omar got used to racist encounters. From Police searching for guns to teachers who would treat him as a drug dealer, he always tried to give his best and whilst looking for gratification, he ended up being stronger and having a bulletproof attitude. And since Omar moved out of Indiana, his perception of racism has changed.

Omar: “In Indiana there is mostly white people and not too many Mexicans and after moving to Los Angeles I was surrounded by nothing but Mexicans, so moving out was a big cultural shift. Racism isn't crazy in LA because there are mostly Mexicans but in Indiana it was my family and my cousin's family and everyone else were white. So I got these racist comments all my life and moving to LA made me realize that this isn't normal like people being racist!”

Omar got his first guitar at the age of 12 and like many other kids, he learnt to play it through YouTube videos. Years after, he uploaded his song Ugotme to Spotify and got lucky to have it directly playlisted getting 50.000 plays the first day.

Today, streaming platforms have become so popular that it would be difficult to find someone who still doesn't have an account on any of them. However there is also a lot of controversy with their money transparency and how the artists get paid.

What do you think about streaming platforms, do you think this is a sustainable model for everyone?

Omar: “I think Spotify is great! I mean it was paying my bills when I didn't have any money. They started giving me for my plays like two hundred a month, 300 hundred a month and that was all I needed! But, shit I don't know I never really thought about that to be honest...I had enough so I didn't complain, you know what I mean? I was like dude, my songs get plays and then they pay me, thats crazy man! I was like I take whatever, I don't care!”

Speaking about money, after struggling all your life with the lack of it, what was the first thing you did when you saw yourself less tight?

Omar: “I bought a synthesizer, it was a lot like 25 hundred Dollars, I had never spent that much, like ever! But now a friend gave me good advice, he said: you are going to be a musician for a long time so you don't have to spend your money when you get it!”

“And I have a crazy theory on that, well it's not a theory but its kinda fucked up! So, I grew up...not rich and money has never run in my family. So you see all these artist, like kids artist that are in poverty situations and then they give them tons of money and they don´t know how to spend their money, the don´t know how to use it cause they didn´t grow up with any of that stuff and then they get locked in crazy deals and they just fuck their lives up.”

“I haven't signed anything, im completely independent...but I just have been extra careful cause that shit doesn't run in my family so I don´t wanna fuck up, at all! So I ́m just being very very careful and I have great people around me, my manager and stuff they take care of me and make sure everything is cool. So it is just sad, i wish they would teach more about money in school and what happens when you get it.”

“Once you get it it's so easy to spend it and then people start spending it faster than they are making it. I don't know, I wish I could do something, I got to get creative and do something for kids that there are like I guess trying to do music or trying to do anything and they don't have experience with money.”

“Humans are not supposed to have access to that much money, when you get like filthy rich, like stupid rich that money is not an issue, you better make sure you are the right person who can handle that cause it could really fucked somebody else. You get bored because you are too crazy rich and you start doing crazy stuff!”

If you had to look back, what would be the key things you did or the moments that took you where you are today?

Omar: “Just making projects, something that people can listen to, something understandable and they can touch! And then, playing shows cause in a show everyone is recording it and then people put it up and the friends would go like: who is that? And then it's like a little fire! I would say that honestly though, what I did it was just being consistent, not being lazy about it and actually caring about the music. You got to make sure that you rehearse, you got to make sure that you practice and like you are confident in your singing ability or whatever you are doing!”

Versatile, chameleonic, seductive, Omar ́s music is a mix of sounds and genres like R&B, funk, pop, jazz or hip hop. After a first EP (Stereo, 2018), on April he released his second EP (Friends, 2019), and like the first one, it has been self edited.

If you should tell someone what you do, what would you say?

Omar: “Oh, I would just tell them to come to the show because I can not explain. When people ask I'm like: dude I don't know and I don't care enough to explain it! I'm not gonna try to convince you, you can't make people do anything. Its psychology, you gotta make them wanna know what's going on. So if I've got a show and then ten people are there and then I got another show next week and another ten people are there, people are just gonna hear about it!”

“And I don't even know what I am musically, i'm still a child in music, I ́m like a little baby. There is so much to learn, so much I don't know…! I recently found Arabian funk, and that is teaching me so much!”

You use the English language to sing, you have many songs with Spanish titles though. Are you thinking to sing on future albums in Spanish too?

Omar: “Oh, the songs that the titles are in Spanish...I just named the files on my computer and I left them. Like Hijo de su madre, I don't even say that in the song! That was something my mum always said to me and I just put it. But I do have some Spanish songs or with Spanish phrases but I'm gonna make more, I've been listening to a lot of Spanish music.”

How much of Mexico and how much of the US is on you?

Omar: “Culturally I'm totally Mexican. That's just how I was raised but also I was totally raised in America so it's just interesting polarities. Sometimes it's weird trying to explain American culture to my parents, they are from Mexico, they are old school still like 50 ́s type mentality, and America is like, you can do whatever you want, you can wear whatever you want...so I guess I'm equally in terms like culture and stuff.”

After this European tour Omar and his crew of life-long friends will head to Chicago, where he is gonna play at Lollapalooza festival, not far from Hobart, his hometown. Lollapalooza is one of a kind and a big showcase to the world, how important is that to you?

Omar: “I went there when I was 16 for dancing. I was dancing on the internet and then my friend who is also a dancer was like: hey, do you wanna go to Lollapalooza for free? We just had to make a dance video! It was cool, it was really cool! But we only got to see two acts cause we had to catch a train but...its crazy Im playing that shit! Its weird cause that's something that we always talked about when we were in middle school or high school, and now I'm gonna be there, its crazy!”

Are you preparing anything special for that show?

Omar: “I definitely would Iim gonna play one of these Arabian funk songs because that's the stuff that I'm with right now!”

Check out his upcoming shows from below and if he is stopping in your city, get a ticket! Whether it's in front of a big or a small audience, he is pure energy on stage as I was lucky to witness in his Berlin show at Badehaus!

Upcoming shows from Omar Apollo: