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Singer Omar Apollo has spoken about how Pedro Pascal’s “heart-shattering” contribution to his new album, God Said No, came to be.
The penultimate track of the 27-year-old singer-songwriter’s latest album features an emotional voice recording provided by The Last of Us star in which he recalls feeling hopeless.
“Ok, I’m not sure how to start this,” Pascal, 49, says in the song titled “Pedro.”
“I remember I finished the job and I was too scared to go back to the US. It was like the second wave of Covid in Europe. And I was going from Budapest to Switzerland. That was a place I could get to to buy some time and figure out what I would do before Christmas,” he continues.
“I also arrived very shattered. I had had an incredible time on a job, but my heart was pretty shattered by something. And I remember walking – I think it must have been Lucerne.
“I remember thinking the saying ‘it brought me to my knees,’ and it was this sort of residential area. And I remember just literally being kind of brought to my knees by a park bench.”
He adds: “And I remember asking the park bench to come alive and save me because I didn’t feel like there was kind of any moment past that moment. But there was, there was. I can’t believe I’m sending you this.”
During a recent interview on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show, Apollo explained that he had played Pascal the album’s final song, “Glow,” which is about grief and its complexities.
“I had the idea that it would be really beautiful if he said a story about grief – a colossal loss,” Apollo shared, adding: “He sent a voice memo. It’s a very beautiful story. It’s very heart-shattering.”
Pascal has yet to speak publicly about the song.
In a previous interview with GQ in May, the actor opened up about his friendship with Apollo, saying: “Omar is a very good friend of mine. I love his music. He’s also like me, someone who grew up bilingual. He loves Corona, I’ve had Corona with him.
“And so I love being a friend in each other’s journeys, and uplifting whatever I can creatively, supporting whatever creative experience that he’s having as a friend, as an artist, as a Latino, as a Spanish speaker. It just means a lot to me,” he said of being included in the singer’s new album.
Next, Pascal will star in several projects including the Fantastic Four reboot, Gladiator 2 and Celine Song’s new movie, Materialists.