Hand-in-hand with last week’s emotionally in-touch Latin ballad, Frio, Mellow Pop bassist and songwriter, Omar Apollo continues refining his craft as one of modern music’s most rangy and least definable figureheads with new single, Hit Me Up. Folding into the mix the talented poeticism of Dominic Fike and production from Kenny Beats, the track – which with the last, seems to be hinting at something larger in the works – has the feeling of an angsty, grungy Mellow Pop modern take on an alt-rock anthem. Fit with a signature bassline, a soulful chorus, and verses from Apollo and Fike teetering on hip-hop adjacency, Hit Me Up is perhaps better not defined as anything at all.

 

Omar Apollo has been blowing away the world with his range for some time. Springtime project, Friends was somehow equal parts funk, soul, pop, and acoustic R&B. So, for Hit Me Up to be a modern, boundaryless coalescence of whichever influence Apollo chooses is not surprising. But as always, it is unexpected. And that’s got to be the most exciting thing about Omar Apollo.