For Omar Apollo, making music should feel like falling in love

Omar Apollo wasn’t afraid to hit the reset button. He scrapped an entire album’s worth of work and started over again, writing and recording music that would eventually become his debut album, Ivory.

It was the right call, as one song, “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me At All),” became a viral smash on TikTok and his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He found fans in industry titans like Pharrell Williams, and the success led to the R&B singer’s first Grammy nomination for best new artist.

Omar’s knowledge and understanding of music is impressive. He picked up a lot of that knowledge playing in church as a teenager in Hobart, Ind., working in Guitar Center and watching singing tutorials on YouTube.

In this session, you’ll hear about his meticulous approach to production and vocal performance, plus Apollo performs live for the World Cafe.