Hawaiian-born, Long Beach-based songwriter Lionel Boy shares the official music video to “Mango Michelada,” the silky smooth, artfully laid-back tune off his debut, self-titled album. The track is accompanied by lo-fi, documentary-style visuals, shot by Casey Liu and Lionel, that quite literally take the viewer along for a ride.
“‘Mango Michelada’ was made during two short months right before the pandemic between me, my friend Jacqueline and my girlfriend Casey.” Notes Lionel Boy. “The opening lines of this song, “Mango Michelada with Clamato…” were just words Jacqueline started reading off her beer can during mic check. Besides that one line and the title, the song really has nothing to do with the beverage. It’s a random title for a song we wrote during the oddest year of our lives.”
“We wanted the music video to convey the same emotions we were all collectively feeling last year.” Lionel Boy continues. “From being cooped up in a small studio space drinking mango micheladas to being holed up at home during quarantine. Casey grabbed our vx camera and we all took turns driving around San Pedro and Long Beach, cooped up in Jacqueline’s car.”
Lionel Boy performs "Tides" from his self-titled release down on a boat in the harbor of Long Beach, CA.
The Hawaiian-born, Long Beach-based songwriter Lionel Boy releases his debut album Lionel Boy via Innovative Leisure. Lionel Boy’s sound mixes spacey synthesizers, impromptu breakbeats & bedroom pop. The airy, jazz-cracked, electronic pop of Lionel Boy belies a wistful romanticism, a careful observational streak, and a meditative fixation on life and death. Lionel Boy is soulful and easy-going, both introspective and laissez faire, extremely mellow but never soft-headed.
Lionel Boy has just shared the third single from his upcoming, debut, self-titled album. The silky smooth “Mango Michelada” is an artfully laid-back tune ripe for spinning on repeat indefinitely. It’s easy to get lost in the groovy melancholy Lionel spills on the refrain of the track.
“Last February, I moved into a rehearsal space in San Pedro.” Shares Lionel Boy. “The space reeked of febreeze and various chemicals they used to mask the smell of stale cigarettes. My drummer Jacqueline and I would mess around for hours in that space singing nonsense. At the time, we were in the habit of drinking Mango Micheladas at every session. On one of those days, we started out cracking jokes and ended up with a song we couldn’t stop working on. COVID-19 hit about a week later and I ended up having to move out of the studio, but we continued to work on this track throughout the pandemic.”