Rising Stars: Meet Mitchel Dae

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitchel Dae. 

Hi Mitchel, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I was in college, I was studying pre-law in Massachusetts with hopes of going to law school upon graduation. As time went on, the prospect of being a lawyer increasingly began to solidify as a fulfillment of other people’s expectations for me, rather than something that I actually wanted to spend my life doing. I’m honestly not sure exactly how music came into the picture. I know it was the beginning of my junior year and all I wanted to do was write songs that talked about how I felt. The only problem was, I didn’t know how someone goes about “writing a song”. It also didn’t help that I only knew how to strum three very out-of-tune chords from a guitar I had stolen from my sister. All of these things were ingredients to start my journey in music. It was a horribly sloppy start, but a start nonetheless! 

Upon graduating college in 2016, I moved down to Philadelphia to work on music with my cousin Melvin who is a producer. He was the first producer to invest in me as an artist and help me channel all of the messiness in my mind into something audibly cohesive. Melvins investment in me that early on instilled in me a confidence that shaped the trajectory for how I would move forward in music. I owe more to Melvin than I can repay. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
After working with Melvin for that year, I moved back to MA where I married my best friend and high school sweetheart Taylor. We struggled through the next couple of years. I worked all sorts of odds and end jobs while she completed grad school to become a Speech/ Language Pathologist. Somewhere in that timeframe, I was introduced to a local producer named Dan, Dan took an active interest in my music and we began working together. Somehow through all of the financial struggles, Taylor and I were always able to pull together just enough money to cover our bills and afford studio time on occasion. The infrequent privilege of being able to afford time to go to the studio made me a more deliberate songwriter and producer. I had to know what the song was going to be because I only could afford one shot at it! Of course, this did not always play out perfectly or as expected, but I’ll spare you the details! 

In the summer of 2019, Taylor graduated grad school and needed to complete a fellowship to obtain her license to practice. This could be done anywhere in the country so we decided it would be cool to move to Nashville. It was a decision that was filled with uncertainty for the future and fear of leaving our friends and family, but an adventure that both of us were excited about! 

We took the leap, lived in a sketchy apartment, and began to invest in our prospective careers along with a new community. I was playing out at writers rounds while trying to meet as many people as I could. It was really cool to be embedded in such a vibrant city where the culture is defined by the diversity of kindred spirits meeting and growing together! 

A few short months after moving to Nashville, COVID happened and everything shut down. I feel that quarantine actually had really good implications for me as a songwriter. I found my voice during that time as many of my crutches were stripped away from me. During quarantine, I wrote a song called Innocent. It’s an angsty alternative song that chronicles my ongoing internal wrestling with shame, fear, doubt, and lots of other things. I wrote it but didn’t really show anyone for a while. I figured it was better left as a private journal entry than a representation of myself to the world (or the few people that would listen to my music at the time). One day, I randomly felt the inclination to show it to Dan (the producer from earlier. He also lives in Nashville now and we still work together!) Dan encouraged me to not hold it for myself and we began production for it. I have never felt more nervous to release a song, but I braced myself and submitted the final product to distribution. 

I don’t think I was ready for what happened next. The song quickly became the biggest thing I have worked on and has amassed almost 1.5 million streams on Spotify. I get frequent messages from people telling me how much the song means to them and how it makes them feel “seen”. This was the first time I realized that music is no longer just our own when we release it out into the world. It becomes somebody’s wedding song, breakup song, or “I need a good cry because my hamster died” song. My point is, people experience very intimate and defining moments in life that oftentimes are remembered or processed most deeply through song. As a musician, I really try to not hold back or take for granted that a song I write could actually be that for someone in a defining moment of their life! 

To be honest, I don’t really know exactly what the future holds for me, but I sure do hope that I can keep making honest music that people connect and resonate with. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At the moment, I work a day job for a book publisher in town. When I’m not doing that, I’m working on my music and renovating my house with my wife! 

Right now, I’m having a blast producing and writing angsty alternative pop-punk music! You should totally check it out! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t really pay attention to “luck” anymore. I feel that the times I have sat around waiting for my” lucky moment” were some of the most unproductive and discouraging seasons of my life. Instead, I have shifted my focus onto showing up every day and putting in the work I know I need to do to get better. I’ve found that consistency not only builds up your ability to execute but establishes the discipline necessary to succeed! 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mitcheldae/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mitcheldaee
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrEjHS2kPnOg2z77oksC9sQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mitcheldae
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5bO289lfxAHDKDrrR7UytN?si=MdaC0oKSSkyLY3XGk7LHmw

Image Credits
Evan Bourcier
Denis Zenchenko
Dan Knittel