Omar Apollo, Drifting | Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈

In the 63rd edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight the song, “Drifting” performed by Grammy-nominated pop singer/songwriter, Omar Apollo. 

Prepare to beam with P-R-I-D-E 🏳️‍🌈! Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 celebrates, embraces, and spotlights songs by LGBTQ musicians or allies.  Here, we provide background and insight into musician(s) and analyze + go gaga over the decadent bops served up.  When the music dictates deeper, more transcendent discussion, we ensure the point is fully articulated.  All styles of music are welcome while the songs can be classics or brand-spanking new. So, without further ado, in the 63^rd edition of Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 (2024), we highlight “Drifting” performed by Omar Apollo.

“I wish I could jump from here / I wish I could fall from here / Could you take all my fears? / ‘Cause I’m drifting / I’m drifting away.” Ah, the escapism! My love for Omar Apollo (Omar Velasco) is endless.  Call me biased, but the handsome, gay Mexican American singer/songwriter is talented. Before officially coming out, the queer elements of Apollo’s music were easily perceptible, at least to me. In his second studio album, God Said No, Omar further embraces who he is. “Drifting” marks one of many gems from his underrated sophomore LP. Teo Halm produced “Drifting,” which samples “Edge of The Ocean” by Ivy.

Omar Apollo sounds stellar throughout “Drifting.” He sings expressively and with ease. A beautiful man with a beautiful voice 😍! Even so, he is reflecting on his feelings.  As light as the calm and cool but rhythmic backdrop is, as are Omar’s pipes, the things weighing on him are heavier.  At the end of the first verse, he sings, “Last night was the last night / That I tried to ignore.” So, he seeks to move forward from “past life.” In the second verse, he admits he’s “more restless than before.” That leads to the pre-chorus where Velasco admits, “And I’m so tired of climbing / I can’t let go, maybe I should let go.” Perhaps.  That, in turn, leads to the centerpiece, the chorus, excerpted earlier.  He seeks that happier, sunnier place, something Dominique Durand expounds on in the post-chorus (“There’s a place I dream about / Where the sun never goes out…”). Omar Apollo is the sugar honey iced tea – how many more ways can I say it? “Drifting” is awesome!

Omar Apollo // God Said No // Omar Apollo / Warner // 2024

Omar Apollo, Drifting: Beaming with Pride 🏳️‍🌈 No. 63 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner/ The Musical Hype; Omar Apollo / Warner; Elias Souza, Los Muertos Crew from Pexels; CatsWithGlasses, David, Maicon Fonseca Zanco, Square Frog, Sudo from Pixabay]