Omar Apollo Shares His Coming Out Story in the Tender "Ice Slippin"
Photo: Cam Hicks
After a massive leap in stardom, earning a Grammy nomination alongside his debut album Ivory and touring across the country supporting SZA, Omar Apollo is on the brink of a new era with “Ice Slippin,” a fragile reckoning with abandonment and evaded accountability.
Bare and purgative, Apollo wears his heart on his sleeve on a single that might be his most naked yet. Tending to his own fractured heart as he pleads for another’s return home, Apollo is forced to confront the truth that he may be the reason why they’ve fled. It’s hard to pick yourself back up when you’re slipping on ice, mirroring the deepening tunnel of growing heartbreak.
In a less literal sense, Apollo has shared the song to be a recounting of the winter he came out to his family, sharing that he received “cold judgment as opposed to the acceptance I felt I deserved. This song is a reflection and reaction of all the emotions I had to face before and after I decided to leave the icy streets of Indiana.”
Co-produced by himself and Teo Halm, the influence from the Indiana-born’s singer rumored courtship with Frank Ocean is evident in his emerging sound, using layered vocals to tell a haunting story. “Ice Slippin” is also the first to release from his forthcoming EP LIVE FOR ME, which will feature four brand new songs out on October 6. It’s evident he’s moving intentionally with the seasons, taking on a more somber and vulnerable tonality as we ease into the autumn weather. The more he’s stepped into the truth of himself, the more his audience has grown in deeper devotion, and there’s little doubt that this next project will veery anywhere differently.
Watch the "Ice Slippin" lyric video below:
