Powell Aguirre (born April 10, 2000), known by the stage name Surf Mesa, is an American electronic musician from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. He gained fame for the single "

ILY (I Love You Baby) "ILY (I Love You Baby)" (stylized in all lowercase), originally titled "ILY", is a song by American producer Surf Mesa featuring vocals by Emilee Flood. It was first released on November 26, 2019. When the song was re-released through Astralwerk ...

" (2019), a song which sampled a cover of

Frankie Valli Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. ...

's "

Can't Take My Eyes Off You "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is a 1967 song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. It was recorded as a single by Frankie Valli. The song was among his biggest hits, earning a gold record and reaching No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for a week ...

" (1967) and gained popularity on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

Biography

Aguirre was born in

, and is the son of jazz saxophonist Tony Aguirre. He has been making music since the third grade of elementary school, first learning through

FL Studio FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...

and production tutorials on YouTube. He began working on the Surf Mesa project in high school, releasing music on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. As Aguirre was planning a move to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

to study computer science at a technology school, he broke his leg and was bed-bound for three months. During this time, Aguirre was able to focus fully on producing music. Aguirre decided to move to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

after visiting a girl he was interested in, as he realized the opportunities for musicians in the city. In 2019, Aguirre released his debut single "Taken Away" featuring Alexa Danielle, and his debut

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

''Bedroom''. In November, Aguirre released "

", a song based on singer Emilee's cover of "

". The song gained massive popularity on video platform

, leading to Aguirre being signed by

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

and

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

. By June 2020, the song had become an international hit, reaching the top 10 in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Malaysia and Singapore, and the top 5 of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Dance/Electronic Songs The Dance/Electronic Songs chart has been published weekly by ''Billboard'' since January 2013. It is the first chart to be published that ranks the most popular dance and electronic songs according to audience impressions, digital downloads, s ...

chart. In June 2020, Aguirre released an official remix for American electronic musician

Marshmello Christopher Comstock (born May 19, 1992), known professionally as Marshmello, is an American electronic music producer and DJ. His songs "Silence", "Wolves", "Friends", " Happier", and " Alone" have been certified multi-platinum in several ...

and American singer Halsey's "

Be Kind "Be Kind" is a song by American producer Marshmello and American singer Halsey. It was released as a single through Joytime Collective, Astralwerks, and Capitol Records on May 1, 2020. "Be Kind" peaked at number 29 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ...

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Remixes

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surf Mesa 2000 births Living people 21st-century American male musicians American electronic musicians American DJs Astralwerks artists Downtempo musicians Musicians from Seattle