When Omar Apollo first started music, he was working odd jobs and had to borrow money from a friend to upload his song “Ugotme” on Spotify. The track blew up, earned a spot on several playlists, and effectively launched Apollo’s music career. After dropping his debut LP Apolonio in 2020, Apollo is ready to start a new era. Now taking his Spotify success full-circle, Apollo teamed up with the streaming platform to deliver two songs for their Spotify Singles series.
For his first track, Apollo opted to rework his most recent single “Go Away.” The original version of the song is a swooning ballad about a long distance crush. But for his Spotify Singles version, Apollo leans on Auto-Tune to transform the track into a lo-fi jam. Along with a new version of “Go Away,” Apollo took on an atmospheric cover of The Mamas & The Papas’ iconic song “California Dreamin’.”
About his decision to cover the 1965 track, Apollo said: “I chose that song because I heard it in Chungking Express by Wong Kar-Wai. They played it so many times in the movie that I became obsessed with it. I definitely felt like it was a time machine being at East West [Studios] — it’s cool to know the history behind the song when recording my version.”
Listen to Apollo’s stripped-down “Go Away” and cover of “California Dreamin'” below.
Omar Apollo is a Warner Music artist. .
