LOS ANGELES—The music video for Dakota Payne’s single for the award-nominated series, Luxxxe Studios’s Friends in Heat Season 2, titled "Smoke and Mirrors," premieres at midnight on Saturday, April 20 on Payne’s YouTube Channel.
"Smoke and Mirrors" released Friday, October 13, 2023, on all major streaming platforms. It was written by Dakota and Trent Park and executive produced by JD Daniels for Friends in Heat Season 2.
“Working on the music portion of Dakota's artist journey has been the most fun," Park said. "This song came so quickly to us and it's so epic to see the visual bring a new life to the sound. Ron is such a creative genius when it comes to painting a visual masterpiece to the music, excited for people to check it out!”
Ron Katagiri directed the music video.
“It is always an amazing experience working with Dakota because of his incredible vision and creativity," Katagiri said. "This project is extra special because we have JD Daniels of Luxxxe Studios producing the music video where it features two of their gorgeous talents, Brian and Justin. The visuals we've created are some of Dakota's best so far and I cannot wait to create more moving forward.”
Dakota remarked, “The journey of bringing 'Smoke and Mirrors' to life has been amazing. JD Daniels having the faith in me to not only executive produce the song, but also the video means so much to me. I got to work with such phenomenal talent. Trent Park on the music and Ron Katagiri on the video that we got to include the stars of Friends in Heat, Justin Yurmouth and Brian Bonds.”
The video features Luxxxe Studios exclusive Justin Yurmouth and award-winning veteran Brian Bonds reprising their roles as the naughty lovers of the series, Jake Carmichael and Darryl MacDaniels.
Yurmouth enthused, “I am thrilled to be involved with this music video. It is great work from Dakota Payne and it fits the vibe of the Friends in Heat series perfectly. I’d like to thank JD Daniels, Dakota Payne, Brian Bonds, the director Ron Katagiri, and everyone else who helped make this music video come to life.”
Bonds added, “It is such a huge honor being a part of Dakota Payne music video for 'Smoke and Mirrors.' I am a long-term friend of Dakota and I’m very happy to have been a part of this experience. I think this song really gives Friends in Heat a wonderful look and atmosphere and I really hope that this video will add even more to the movie itself. I really commend JD Daniels for being able to pull both of these projects together and really make Friends in Heat an amazing series for our viewers to enjoy.”
JD Daniels said both Payne and Park did "an amazing job" with the video.
“I know people are going to love what Ron Katagiri did with the music video and that we got to include Justin Yurmouth and Brian Bonds," Daniels continued. "It is a great companion to the award-nominated Friends in Heat Series.”
Behind the scenes footage for the video shoot can be seen on Robby Lewis’s Luxxxe Studio Insider video post.
Watch Dakota Payne’s "Smoke and Mirrors' video here starting at midnight on Saturday.
