Last year, Omar Apollo kept quiet. Since 2018's Stereo, the Mexican-American musician has dropped a project every year with the exception of 2021. Despite the silence, it seems there was a lot in the works. Today, Apollo announced what's being called his debut album, Ivory, which is out April 8 via Warner Records. Along with the news comes the single "Invincible" featuring Daniel Caesar and a STILLZ-directed video.
"Invincible" begins with bluesy electric guitars and ribbons of vocal falsetto. "If I were to go / Tell me, would you notice me?," the chorus goes. Instantly, the song shifts into electric shocks of percussion and a heart-pounding beat. The verses deal with human fragility that hangs over us every day we wake, get out of bed, and go about our days. "Drip drip drip with the cold IV / Out of consciousness if I ever slip it," Caesar sings recalling an unexpected ambulance trip. Those words spin back around: "If I were to go / Tell me would you notice." Whether walking out the door or someone breathing their last breathe, "Invincible" reckons with the imprint one leaves on another, what's left behind, and whether or not we can recognize it.
Accompanying the emotionally potent track is a surreal video in which the separation between home and hospital disappears: A child blows out birthday candles while medics place Caesar on the dining room table; Apollo endures an MRI scan in a garage. Later, a couple frolic through a desert and climb a water tower while wearing giant decorative masks created by Costa Rican visual artist Andrés Gudiño. It's dreamy and gorgeous.
Watch "Invincible" below and pre-order Ivory here.
