DREAMER ISIOMA X WORLDWIDE MAGAZINE

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4. SPRING SUMMER 2023

TALENT DREAMER ISIOMA ★ PHOTOS BY DESMOND PICOTTE ★ PRODUCED + STYLED BY ANDYOMO ★ MAKEUP ARTIST GIA MOSCIONI ★ STYLING ASSISTANT KAICY "KIKA" NARANJO ★ STYLING ASSISTANT 2 OLIVIA CORDERI ★ TALENT MANAGER MATT ALBIN ★ INTERVIEW BY ANDYOMO

SPECIAL THANKS TO @viviennepash @flyingsolonyc @flyingsolo_pr@hellcateyewear @shopsundaysilver @dopl.world @swarovski@planet.i @keithkellyco @mimika_leather @bondhardware@theseriesny @balenciaga @telfarglobal @fang.nyc@verseenterprise @eiramknitwear @subinhahnofficial@houseofquitocarib

AndyOmo: Hi Dreamer. How are you doing? 

Dreamer: I'm fabulous. How are you doing? 

AndyOmo: That's amazing, glad to hear! I'm doing so well. We just had a killer shoot and I can't wait to be able to see everything. 

Dreamer: Was awesome!

AndyOmo: Do you mind just telling our readers a little bit about yourself? Where you're from, how old you are, and what industry you're in.

Dreamer: I'm a Dreamer Isioma, I'm 300, and I'm from Lagos, Nigeria. And I live in Chicago. 

AndyOmo: Love that. Yeah. And how long have you been in music? 

Dreamer: For a minute, I don't know. I was bumping music since the womb. 

AndyOmo: That's awesome. Being a first-generation Nigerian American, do you feel that you have to conceptualize your path to success?

Dreamer: Uh, I feel that pressure, but like in a different way because my own family is like successful, so I want to just be able to like, Live up to that, but like, on my terms. Through art. 

AndyOmo: That's amazing. So Princess Forever came out recently. You're now second full-length album. Uh, let's talk about it. Afro B and alternative r and b, A little Jazz and Funk. Where do you get your inspiration when it comes to producing the music and the smooth yet impactful sounds that we hear as listeners?

Dreamer: Just like life, I'm inspired by life. I travel a lot. I've seen a lot of things. Uh, so I just get inspired by just like living 

AndyOmo: I get that, I do. Half the time I feel like I need to be Alice in Wonderland to fully capture the psychedelic experience that listening to your music gives me. It's truly magical. And where do you kind of get this sense of psychedelic, fever in your music? 

Dreamer: Well I always have been like, a kid at heart. I've always just liked to have fun and be silly. But you know, if I take shrooms every now and then it might spice up my writing. Help tap into my inner child. 

AndyOmo: Yeah. I love that. And what messages do you hope people receive when they're listening to this album? 

Dreamer: I hope that they feel love. And, they feel loved and are reminded that there's love all around them, no matter what they might be experiencing. Like there's always a world outside of what your world is. Multiple universes are not within our reach. 

AndyOmo: I love that. You talk about your music being healing. Would you say this healing is in reference to your experience as a queer black artist, or would you say this is more about being a human?

Dreamer: Well, I'm not human, so definitely not that one, but it definitely has been like a healing process, as a trans person for sure. This album Princess Forever really struck me because, it's kind of like an oxymoron in the sense where it's like I'm a transmasculine person, but like, I still love femininity. I still love things that are considered feminine, even though I'm someone who has kind of like removed a lot of parts of me that involve, or relate to like being a woman or whatever. 

AndyOmo: Right. There's duality in it. 

Dreamer: Yeah, it's duality and I just feel balanced. And with that balance, I've become more in tune with the earth and the universe.

AndyOmo: And so I was gonna ask, would you say that your journey with being comfortable in both the feminine and masculine allows you to explore deeper into your creative passions? 

Dreamer: Yeah, 1000%. And it also just helps me be more confident. Cause now I really don't give a fuck. 

AndyOmo: Right? I definitely can relate personally. I think as trans people we can often feel pressure to conform still to this idea of the gender binary system, and as an artist, we must tap into just who we are and who we are is a balance of it all. 

Dreamer: Facts. 

AndyOmo: That's awesome. It's amazing to see that confidence that comes from finding that, in you.

"I've been searching endlessly for peace and love. I've been searching endlessly through the rage, love and rage." 

Can we dive a little bit deeper into that? Talk about how you find that love. Through the kind of heavy emotions of life. 

Dreamer: Oh, geez. Well, I, I just have like a great support system. I just love it. I was searching for friends and I have like now amazing friends. I have an amazing team, an amazing partner. My family and I, you know, we're cool. 

AndyOmo: That's good to hear. 

Dreamer: Yeah. I don't know, just having support around me helps me get through all the bullshit because the world is fucked up. Like there's a lot of war, there's a lot of sick people in power. Like, I don't even wanna get into it, but like, I would just wanna focus on the positive. 

AndyOmo: Would you say that love is a version of success? 

Dreamer: Yeah, it's not easy to love, you know? 

AndyOmo: To build that support system is extremely important, having your chosen family as well as your blood family too.

I love the conversations that you have through your lyrics and how each song almost sounds like a diary entry. Do you write your own lyrics? And if so, how easy do the lyrics come to you when you're writing a new song? 

Dreamer: I do write my own lyrics, for the most part. They come pretty naturally, it's just like life. It really is just experiencing shit and just writing it down. 

AndyOmo: It does feel like it's an intimate scene into your life, and that's truly beautiful, from a listener's perspective. 

As soothing and relatable as a lot of your songs sound, I also noticed that you have a lot of fun in the duality of being a modern-day rockstar and being so playful through your more upbeat songs. Is there anything you'd like to comment about this found duality as an artist with the smooth and the rugged? 

Dreamer: Just growing up, I've had a very smooth and rugged growing up, so, I have just grown through that. 

AndyOmo: And, how do you stay connected to your true self through your art as a black and queer creative?

Dreamer: Just do what I want. Don't let other people try to, like, influence you or like morph you into something that you know that you're not just like, Do it. What feels right to you? 

AndyOmo: Seriously. Okay, bringing it back for a second to some of your past music, one song that personally has been on repeat for me is Goodnight Dreamer, the namesake song from your last album. The words and production of the song are truly the lullaby of modern society. Constantly fighting to have a voice, being slept on, you say, and finding that acceptance of understanding that life is hard, but it's hard for us all. Do you have anything to comment on what you hope people take away from this song??

Dreamer: Uh, I was saying that motherfuckers were sleeping on me because I'm raw. But like, eventually, like, they'll wake up. You just gotta keep going. Right. Keep, keep doing you. And the ones who are awake are the ones who are with us today and we're grateful for them. 

AndyOmo: With so many other amazing past hits, like Valentina, hard, sensitive, how would you say the impact of writing and releasing that music has affected the artist you are today and the people that hear your music now? 

Dreamer: Well, it definitely affects me because it pays my rent. So that's like, great. Um, but you know, it taught me a lot, making music, that music, it really just taught me how to make music. Cause I didn't know how to make music. Those were my first things. So I was just like, boop boop, click, click. And now I can, you know, actually put on a metronome and like play some shit and actually make bigger things. 

AndyOmo: Yes. I love that. Exactly. The art is great. The technique comes with it, you know.

Dreamer: Thank you. 

AndyOmo: Are you excited about your upcoming tour? Are you the kind of artist that's constantly already working on new stuff during the tour or are you the kind of person that likes to lay back and like let the tour happen and then go on from there?

Dreamer: No, I'm always making music. I'm always doing shit outside of music, but I'm definitely excited for the tour. And like it feels like it is my first real tour, so like it's gonna be sick as fuck. It's gonna be like a whole production. Like everyone, I don't think you've seen a show like this one.

AndyOmo: That's so exciting. I definitely have to get my tickets, I can't wait. And on to our last question, but first, thank you for taking the time to hear us and to be with us today. It was truly amazing. 

Dreamer: Yes, of course. 

AndyOmo: Our last question would be, what are a few words of encouragement for Black, brown, and queer babes out there that wanna break into your industry?

Dreamer: Well, I would say definitely get feedback cuz if you suck you should maybe reframe or just stop. There's a lot of people who are terrible and I'm tired, like, figure it out. I was bad and I reworked and now I'm here. Do you know what I'm saying? Go rework. Get better and just like take your time with it.

AndyOmo: Take your time. I think that's big too. In a world that's all about immediacy. 

Dreamer: Yeah, definitely. 

AndyOmo: When art is something that is personal and is on no one's timeline. 

Dreamer: Exactly. 

AndyOmo: Well thank you so much again. 

Dreamer: Thank you. 

AndyOmo: Truly was a blessing and I appreciate your time today. Thanks, dreamer.