On his second album, God Stated No, Omar Apollo wields his heartbreak like a butterfly knife. On “Accomplished With You,” an ethereal, brass-assisted pop tune, he cloaks moments of devastating vulnerability with a protecting layer of indifferent cool. Within the shrugged-off refrain, he insists that he’s executed together with his lover—a toughness that stands in stark distinction to his earlier, velvety pleas for them to let him go. The video matches this power, depicting the star as he alternates between waving blades on the viewer and operating them painfully alongside his jawline. It’s a becoming visible illustration of a report the place Apollo sharpens a few of his darkest moments into glinting pop gems.
God Stated No originated from three months Apollo spent in London in 2023. Following the discharge of his debut full-length Ivory in 2022, excursions with SZA and Billie Eilish, and a nomination for Finest New Artist on the 2023 Grammys, the Mexican American singer-songwriter was using an expert excessive, however privately nursing a damaged coronary heart as he surveyed the wreckage of a relationship. Working with acquainted collaborators Teo Halm (right here as govt producer), Carter Lang, and Blake Slatkin, Apollo first sketched out the 14 songs within the prestigious Abbey Street Studios, later ending the album within the U.S. Together with his largest hit up to now being the gut-wrenching “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me at All),” Apollo already has one thing of a repute as a heartbreak aficionado—as he just lately instructed Complicated, “my pure state is at all times longing.” However on this report, he paints that emotion with each shade on his palette. God Stated No stretches far past downbeat balladeering; Apollo weaves his unhappiness, anger, and self-doubt by a set of anthemic choruses and disco-tinged pop tracks.
On “Much less of You” and “Drifting,” Apollo remembers Robyn’s model of tearful dancefloor anthem, the previous combining Giorgio Moroder-esque vocoder melodies with a eulogy for a relationship that’s slowly evanescing, and the latter sprinkling Apollo’s romantic disillusionment over a breezy, Balearic-type beat. These shades of understated Europop are a brand new ingredient of Apollo’s sound, brooding the place as soon as he may need belted. However his voice stays the star of the present, significantly when he’s buying and selling attractive, tumbling melodies with Sudanese Canadian singer-songwriter Mustafa on the plaintive “Aircraft Timber.”
Whereas they’re typically luxurious to take heed to, Apollo’s ballads symbolize the album’s least compelling moments. “Empty” and “Get rid of Me” meander drowsily, doing little to differentiate this report from his earlier bed room R&B releases. A meditative voice observe about grief from Pedro Pascal additionally wears skinny on repeat listens. The album is extra arresting when Apollo knowingly leans into the extra unhinged elements of heartbreak. Take the rousing lead single, “Spite,” the place, with a hook that bristles with scrumptious fury, Apollo walks a razor-thin line between loving and hating the accomplice who’s preserving him hanging on. Over sulky licks of guitar, he brings the complicated loneliness of a situationship to life by bittersweet vignettes of dying flowers, unread textual content messages, and lengthy flights taken alone. Elsewhere, he howls an embittered and determined hook on the expansive “How,” his anger as coldly insistent because the drum machine that backs it.
These wild-eyed moments trace at extra complicated and impressive prospects for Apollo as a storyteller and as a pop star. On “Life’s Unfair,” a strutting funk-pop tune, Apollo coolly admits to doing “one thing actual unhealthy” to somebody he as soon as needed to marry. The trap-inflected standout “Towards Me” takes a type of hyper-masculine, posturing response to being dumped. On these songs, Apollo could also be filled with longing, however he’s additionally flawed, fired-up, and the self-proclaimed “baddest bitch.” God Stated No stands aside from Apollo’s earlier releases not solely due to its style experimentation and its stickier choruses, however for its willingness to get ugly. Right here, Apollo has been knocked down, however he doesn’t play the sufferer. As an alternative, he bares his tooth.
All merchandise featured on Pitchfork are independently chosen by our editors. Nonetheless, while you purchase one thing by our retail hyperlinks, we could earn an affiliate fee.
