Omar Apollo and Daniel Caesar explore the complexities of love, sexuality, and longing in the beautifully trippy video for “Invincible,” which dropped Wednesday.
The clip opens with the angelic vocals of Daniel Caesar singing, “If I were to go, tell me would you notice me” as Apollo plays an electric guitar in an abandoned creek. The Stillz-directed video then follows what appears to be Apollo and Caesar as children playing with a toy ambulance and SUV. Their game comes to life as Apollo rides in a black vehicle as Ceasar is transported in an ambulance — not to a hospital, but a family party where he’s placed on a dinner table and a young boy blows out the candles of his birthday cake on top of Ceasar’s body.
“64 hours since my baby spoke to me/He kissed me now I love his dopamine,” sings Apollo, before an MRI gives a psychedelic view into Apollo’s mind as he adds a rap verse. The video then breaks into a seemingly imaginative love story as a shirtless male couple — wearing puppet heads made by Costa Rican visual artist Andrés Gudiño — hold hands, affectionately play flight, and intimately caress each other’s bodies in an empty, dirt terrain. “I had to call you back to tell you that (call me back)/You could have spared my feelings,” Apollo sings, backed by Caesar. “I’m not invincible (I’m not invincible)/I’m not invincible.”
The Gudiño-made masks are the artist’s depiction of the taboo of sexuality and eroticism. “Accepting my own sexuality or wanting to experiment with my sexuality was always very sinister, very hidden,” Gudiño told Tico Times about his art in 2017. “Everyone needs pleasure. I was very drawn to how those topics are handled and how a context can influence oneself and determine you as a person.”
The release of “Invincible” comes a day after Apollo announced that he’ll release his debut album Ivory on April 8, featuring previously released singles “Bad Life” with Kali Uchis and “Go Away.” Apollo is set to go on his Desvelado Tour in April and May. He’ll also perform at Coachella.
From Rolling Stone US
