By Emma Dunlap | Talon Staff
“Whenever I go on tour, Tallahassee will always be a spot on the U.S. tour that I hit.”
Ricky Brielo, now known as “Apollo1027,” has over 40,000 listeners on Spotify and is growing in popularity every day. His most popular song “Designer Snakes” having 3,266,149 streams was produced in Tallahassee, Fla., while he was a student at Florida State University. He graduated with a major in Retail Entrepreneurship with a minor in Spanish in 2020.
“I definitely would say that being a student allowed me to get certain gigs at venues just because the owners would be like, ‘Oh you’re a student here? I want to support you,’” Apollo1027 said. “It definitely helped me get performances and through performances, helped me gain a little bit of popularity.”
Brielo said he came up with his artist name “Apollo1027” in 2018 when he decided to pursue his music career. Apollo is a neighborhood in Puerto Rico where Brielo spent the majority of his childhood with his family, and 10-27 is Brielo’s birthdate.
Self-taught, Apollo1027 said he has always had that “musical itch.” He said he creates music that is inspired by his or his friends’ life experiences.
Apollo1027’s favorite places to perform in Tallahassee are Potbelly’s, the Wilbury and Backyards. As he continues to get more listeners, more followers, and more subscribers, he said he will continue to come back to Tallahassee to perform.
“My goal is to have a show at Doak Campbell Stadium once I’m up there,” he said. “I’m definitely gonna come back here because I’m just an alumnus, I love FSU, I’m a diehard FSU fan, I graduated from here, and I’m super proud to be a Seminole.”
