Omar Apollo on How His Debut Album Speaks to a New Generation: ‘Queer Kids Don’t Want to Label Themselves’

variety.com:

Alex Gonzalez Omar Apollo isn’t here for your labels. In regards to his sexuality, his musical stylings or the process in which he writes his songs, Apollo cannot be kept in a box.

The 24-year-old wrote most of his debut album — “Ivory,” out today — in real-time during studio sessions, drawing from experiences of his own, of his friends and taking place in his fantasies.In the week leading up to the release, Apollo made time to chat with Variety between rehearsals for his upcoming tour and catching up on the latest episode of “Atlanta.”His rise to fame has been over five years in the making, from having to borrow $30 from a friend to uploading his song “Ugotme” to Spotify, to now pulling in nearly 5 million monthly listeners on the platform.

Still, he doesn’t consider himself famous. “I love when people want to say hi,” Apollo says. “Sometimes I get a tweet with someone saying ‘I just saw Omar,’ and I’m like ‘You should have said hi.’ I’m always down to say hello or take a photo.”Apollo grew up in Hobart, Indiana, where, as a teenager, he didn’t own a phone but would communicate with his friends using a texting app on his wifi-enabled iPod Touch.

Living in a tight-knit community, he and his friends would text each other a location to meet up, and just trust they’d be at said location in the time it took to skate three miles.He maintained that camaraderie with most of his friends into his young adulthood.