Owl City - Alligator Sky ft. Shawn Chrystopher

What this video is

Released in spring 2011 as the lead single from Owl City's third studio album All Things Bright and Beautiful, 'Alligator Sky' represents a pivotal moment of genre hybridization: electropop producer Adam Young deliberately fused his signature shimmering synth-pop with a hip-hop verse structure, recruiting Californian rapper Shawn Chrystopher after collaborating entirely over the internet. The video arrived during…

Why it matters

A landmark example of electropop-hip-hop crossover in the early 2010s mainstream, 'Alligator Sky' documents the moment indie internet-pop artists began deliberately reaching across genre lines to access rap audiences and radio formats. It stands as the only Owl City track to feature a rap verse,…

The director

American director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. Directed multiple Owl City music videos including Vanilla Twilight (2010), To The Sky (2010), Alligator Sky (2011), and Deer in the Headlights (2011). Later gained major recognition in documentary…