Naming their duo after the NASA program that sent the world’s first astronauts to the Moon, bandmates Jordan Phillips and Adam Stark launched Apollo LTD into orbit in 2015. Their full-length debut, Out of Body, followed in 2019, earning the songwriters their first Top 40 hit (with the electro-pop single “Gold”) and racking up a Dove Awards nomination for Best Rock Album. By the time the awards ceremony rolled around in October 2020, though, Jordan and Adam found themselves stuck at home in Nashville, kept indoors by a worldwide pandemic that had turned everyday life upside down.
Much of Apollo LTD’s second album, Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful, was created during those strange months in isolation. A bombastic, uplifting pop album about resilience and resolve, Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful reframes the unique obstacles of modern-day life as reasons to come together rather than pull apart. This is music for clubs, cathedrals, and coliseums — wide-armed, Technicolor music that’s built to move, punctuated by messages that pack as powerful a punch as the EDM drops, pulsing drumbeats, and singalong choruses that push each track skyward.
“That’s a narrative we always weave into our music, which is the desire to believe that things are going to get better,” says Jordan. “2020 was a year that created a lot of anxiety in all of us, but with these songs, we’re choosing joy in the midst of chaos. Things can still be beautiful, even if they aren’t ordinary. The thread is hope.”
From the synth-pop sweep of “Soldier On” to the dance-floor dynamism of “Tears to Diamonds,” Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful builds upon the bold, climatic sound of its predecessor. There’s a wider arc of diversity at play, too, from “Good Day” — a summery swirl of pop melodies and hip-hop swagger, with rapped verses from Social Club Misfits — to “Better,” whose electric guitars ground the song in earthbound stomp. At its heart, though, Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful is a bombastic, uplifting pop album about resilience and resolve, dreamt into existence by two collaborative producers and songwriters who’ve learned to keep a steady perspective during unstable times. This is music for clubs, cathedrals, and coliseums — wide-armed, Technicolor music that’s built to move, punctuated by messages that pack as powerful a punch as the EDM drops, pulsing drumbeats, and singalong choruses that push each track skyward.
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