Video: Adiel Mitchell – Sunset Bay Cafe [Prod. Levi Double U]

Not too long ago, Adiel Mitchell dropped his very first official music video for the song “Sunset Bay Cafe” produced by Levi Double U. The video come together after the two met with Brian Blake of BFresh, an urban clothing company based in Denver, CO. In the video, Mitchell models the brand’s freshest threads and each scene mimics the wide-lens cue of an urban fashion spread. “It was extremely important for me to partner up with a clothing brand for this video just for personal goals. It had always been a dream of mine to have a sponsored project by a company I fully believe in and value. When the opportunity arose for a collaboration between the two of us, I knew I had to take it.”

Despite his two-year tenure as a solo music artist, this is the very first live-action official music video for the singer/songwriter. His YouTube channel has no shortage of lighthearted musical content like popular song covers, dance freestyles, and classic YouTube culture reaction videos. Nonetheless, Mitchell has yet to really turn up the notch and give his fans big-production visuals to accompany his music. His last video, a collaboration he did with Mandy Groves and Shinu to cover Lil Nas X’s “C7osure“, was an animated Memoji concept in the same vein as Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” remixes. “It was the first music video I directed alongside with Levi and we both edited the entire thing ourselves,” Adiel added about the Sunset Bay Cafe video. “I gained the knowledge of editing, recording, and overall music video etiquette from my days with Two Worlds and YouTube, so it was extremely refreshing to revisit the process from the post-production perspective.”

Mitchell first developed the tune in April but shelved the project until newly found inspiration gave the song some direction. “Honestly, the idea popped off before the beat was even in my hands. My roommate, Denver, recently went on a trip out to Florida and while he was there he visited this beach cafe with the same name and texted me like, ‘Bro, you should write a song called Sunset Bay Café. it just seems like something you’d do.’ As soon as I heard the name, the melodies starting writing themselves. Once time aligned and Levi showed me the original beat, Sunset Bay Café was born. I swear the song knew what it wanted to do on it’s own. All I had to do was record what it was saying to me,” Adiel said.

Remnant of the theme song for the hit Netflix series, Stranger Things, the upbeat 80s-themed, arcade-inspired Pop song, invokes the nostalgia of an innocent youthful past paired with the smooth, silky vocals of today’s R&B and Hip Hop. “I originally wanted to drop it at the end of September but as I scheduled the video shoot, directed, starred in, and edited the video which felt, at times, like all at once, I ended up having to push the video back,” Mitchell shared. “However, it worked out in my favor because with the announcement of the Stranger Things Season 4 coming soon, I knew October’s haunting allure would be perfect for this upcoming cuffin’ season.”

The song is play on two people, potentially two strangers, who show interest in each other but neither of them have taken the step to fully dive into the spur of the moment. “I wanted this song to portray the feelings you get when you meet someone for the first time and you catch a crush instantly or vibe or whatever you call it,” he continued. “The first verse hints at the visualization of that first date or that first moment you get with your boo and the second verse opens more specifically with what’s going on in my head in that moment. I thought that contrast was dope and it was cool to write from two different perspectives in the same song. It’s very theatrical. It feels old school but it all stands up with today’s pop music. I want people to dance with me and find themselves a boo thang with this one.”

Adiel Mitchell spent the last few years completely focused on recording and touring his stage show. In 2018, he made his official debut with About Last Night, and followed it up with Jungle at the top of 2019. As a YouTuber, the creative process of piecing together a music project was a major departure from the randomness of weekly YouTube content creation, but with the release of the “C7osure” cover video, Adiel’s built a lot of steam behind his return to the platform. His last hit, “All The Way (Lounge Remix)”, is available to stream and download everywhere.