Prima Apollinaare Turns Personal History Into Pop on New EP '23'

Italian-born, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Prima Apollinaare has released 23, a four-track EP that finds the independent artist turning some of her most personal memories into music. Following 2021’s Songs EP, 2023’s Alignment, and her 2024 album 22, the project marks a more autobiographical chapter in Apollinaare’s evolving pop catalog.

Her path to music has hardly been conventional. Growing up in Monza, Italy, Apollinaare was surrounded by entertainment through her singer-songwriter mother and father, who managed performers, yet she was discouraged from pursuing music herself. After leaving Italy and building a new life in Los Angeles, including an acting career with appearances in Carnival Row and Mozart in the Jungle, she eventually returned to the creative ambition she had put aside.

That history sits at the heart of 23. “Didn’t Look Back” revisits the childhood experience of being dropped off at boarding school, transforming the image of watching someone leave without turning around into an emotional exploration of abandonment and memory.

“Automobile” pulls from another formative experience, recalling trips to the Monza racetrack with her father and the childhood collision of speed, glamour, danger, and fear. Rather than simply retelling these moments, Apollinaare uses them as emotional building blocks, allowing the distance of adulthood to reshape their meaning.

For Apollinaare, music has become both an act of reclamation and a way of processing the past. That purpose extends beyond her own career, with the artist ultimately hoping to establish a free music school for children and others unable to afford lessons. With 23, Apollinaare isn't erasing where she came from. She's finally giving those memories somewhere to live.

Your journey into music happened later than you originally wanted. How has reclaiming that dream as an adult changed the kind of artist and songwriter you’ve become?

It didn’t change me; it simply shaped me into the musician I am today. I had to work hard and learn. Music is a serious craft, and I just put my heart into it.

“Didn’t Look Back” revisits the experience of being left at boarding school as a child. What made you feel ready to turn such a specific and painful memory into a song?

I have forgiven my father, and therefore I wrote a song to release my pain.

“Automobile” takes a completely different childhood memory and examines it through an adult perspective. Has creating 23 changed the way you understand your own past?

No, it has not changed the way I understand my own past. It simply encouraged me to write about it and release it.

You’ve described music as something sacred and deeply connected to healing. When you’re writing, where is the line between processing something privately and deciding you’re ready to share it publicly?

I go by the way I feel in the moment. I don’t decide anything. Whatever I feel in a particular moment when I am in the studio, I write. I like to live in the moment and be present with what I feel. It’s energy and flow for me, not plotting or premeditation.

Your long-term vision includes opening a free music school for people who might otherwise be excluded from music education. How much of that dream is connected to giving others the opportunity you wish you had growing up?

Not being able to live your dreams when your heart and soul are calling is extremely difficult. Therefore, opening a music school for people who dream of being musicians and, for whatever reason, cannot is all connected and equally important for me to achieve. Can you imagine living a life that you don’t want to?