The record marks the first official release teasing Apollo’s forthcoming sophomore studio album
Omar Apollo spent the hours before his new single “Spite” arrived dancing on top of a parked car in New York’s Lower East Side. His single release event drew a crowd outside of its venue, and the musician basked in their adoration. That level of attention and devotion is exactly what he’s craving but can’t quite capture on “Spite.”
“‘Spite’ is a song about a long distance relationship and wanting to show the other person that you’re okay without them even though you feel like you need them,” Apollo shared in a statement. “It’s an angry song about not being able to have someone all to yourself.”
Across the song, Apollo grows impatient. He doesn’t want to be the first to cave, but claiming to see right through his partner’s apparent indifference hasn’t been working, either. “30 days you been on vacation / By the end I was losing patience / Why you going out your way to hide me? Every night that you spent beside me,” he sings. “It don’t matter, in my head it’s working / Ain’t been picturing another person.”
While “Spite” itself is somewhat removed from Apollo’s pop-up in New York, its accompanying music video runs parallel to the freedom of dancing anywhere and everywhere. The David Heofs and Bandiz-produced video captures the singer in motion. He grooves through different settings while the dancers who appear throughout the video deliver group choreography on top of motorcycles, and a quintet of young boys dances until they’re quite literally blue in the face.
“Spite” marks the first official release teasing Apollo’s forthcoming sophomore studio album. The record will follow up Ivory, which arrived in 2022 and served as an early introduction to the kind of emotions the singer is most drawn to dissecting. “Emotions are very complex,” Apollo told Rolling Stone ahead of Ivory‘s release. “We feel very happy. We feel heartbroken. We feel cocky and confident. Arrogant, sometimes. It’s like, yeah, I do have emotional experience here. But I’m also going to bounce back.”
