Dreamer Isioma Taps Into All Parts Of Themself
Falling in love has to be one of the scariest and beautiful feelings to taste and even coming close to it will have you wanting more. Isioma’s encounter with love even at the young age of 17 is documented and hearing the thoughts ruminate from then to now in their new project brings a feeling of nostalgia and longing. With these different themes circulating, it shows that there is no real binary in anything; dichotomy is not complex enough in this case. Princess Forever is about garnering community and taking care of it, loving one another enough to heal, and being okay and patient with the changes that happen within yourself.
In just a short three years, Isioma has done something special—they’ve cultivated true artistry. You can hear that in this new project and in this conversation with office. While on set I was able to step into Dreamer’s world and meet the characters that make up this one dynamic human. Ahead of their tour starting this month, we were able to slow down amidst the constant movement they are in and confront all that they had been through. Sitting across from me was not Dreamer the character but Dreamer, the "ever-evolving" artist who is reshaping what it means to be a Black and queer artist.
top ECKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
So you're a big advocate for mental health awareness. Was this project therapeutic for you in terms of healing?
Yes... incredibly, so. It's very healing to my inner child.
You’re first-gen Nigerian-American and you’ve had a traditional Christian upbringing, which I relate to. Can you share how that has influenced the music you make? And with your personal journey?
I mean yes. It's very much reflected in the song “Why Pray To God?”
I literally had that as my next question.
See? Look at that, period. I've definitely had a very long wrestle with not only Christianity, but religion in general. Christianity on many levels. There's the whole colonization thing. And then also the structure specifically. I grew up Catholic. I was in fucking Catholic school. I'm trans. It was not working for me. So, it was a long wrestle. There was a point where I said, “I hella don't fuck with God.” But I have grown and now I’m trying to get more in tune with the earth, more with nature. Have a healthy body, healthy mind, and energy these days. I've been saying this a lot where I'm like, “I want to live to be a good person without the fear of hell and the goal of heaven”, you know what I'm saying, and that's how I feel. It doesn't matter what you believe in. I don't care what you believe in. Do what makes you happy, as long as you're not hurting nobody type shit. Just be a good person.
Was the making of this album spiritual in any way? Like, as that relates to the song “Why Pray To God”, like, were there any spiritual aspects of it for you?
Yeah, the earth; living; experiencing new love; new life. You know what I mean?
Do you meditate?
I do yoga.
Love it. So did you study any Afro-surrealist artists for the album? Who are some of the people you look up to?
Yeah, you can consider him an Afro-surrealist artist. Donald Glover, Atlanta. That's how I learned the term Afro-surrealism. That show really inspired me and it made me realize a lot of parallels with my life — growing up as a African Black person in America. It's very weird. I feel like I'm in Atlanta every day.
That’s so real. It is hard. How have you grown from Good Night Dreamer to now with Princess Forever?
I have way more swag.
Yeah!
I’m a lot hotter now.
Right!
Hair grew, money longer.
Right, right! In terms of not material. What would you say?
[laughs] I mean, you know, besides my amazing body. I would say that I've grown musically. I've taken a lot of time to relearn music theory and how to play the instruments that I grew up on like piano and guitar. Studying artists like Tyler the Creator, Andre 3000, Erykah Badu and then sometimes way back with Nina Simone and Chuck Berry. The original rock stars, you know what I'm saying? Always studying and getting better.
What was the hardest song for you to write?
I don't know, they all came very naturally. Some of them came super fast like “Fuck The World.” I just wrote that shit and just wanted to be done. “Saturn Ring." I sat on that for a good year. I wrote the first verse and did the second one later. Then there's songs like “Done In Love With You." I wrote that song when I was 17 years old.
It did feel like a younger version of you in that song.
Yeah exactly, but I wanted it to be bigger so I waited for the production. All of those aspects ran their course, but they also came naturally.
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What was it about Space is the Place that drew you to intersect the story with your life and project?
I mean, that movie is just fucking awesome. It's a great film. Sun Ra is so raw, because he was doing that shit at a time when nobody was even thinking like that. Black people were not thinking about space, we had other shit to deal with. When I think about space, like no, there's a world outside of the bullshit that you're living in type shit. Niggas was king. So seeing that, and seeing him being brave enough to do that made me want to be like, “Okay, well, I'm in the future. And we're still dealing with this bullshit.” Niggas is not thinking about space, we have other shit to think about. But also, I want to remind people that there is a world outside of the bullshit. There's a way out, there's a new path and we can still fight against oppression, and all of those things.
The storyline of Terra 2000 is really cool and very realistic in regard to building community. Are you looking to build something like Wasted Island Youth in real life?
Yes, literally, Wasted Island Youth is really a thing that I run. I want it to be a nonprofit. We ran a couple events last summer, and it was really fun. Now I've been doing a lot of partnering with my mom's charity; it's called Xanderena Foundation. We've essentially tried to give education and health care to people in various villages in Lagos. I've been doing the creative direction for the uniform designs, the website, social media, and all that fun stuff.
I love that. So, this album is definitely a good balance of feminine and masculine energies, which is obviously a theme within your own life. How has your self-discovery journey been kind of documented and put into this project? You popped off with “Sensitive” in 2020 and then you've been front-facing on the internet for three years now. So how have you been able to document for yourself and put it into your project?
Shit, I mean, just what you hear is what is happening. I am very authentic to the music. I'm speaking through the vessel of like characters of course, there is a character of Dreamer versus me, who is also a Dreamer. And then there's also like the kings or Princess Forever, who is an extension of myself. So you are seeing me but, different versions of myself, you know, and I'm ever evolving like the next phase of me, maybe it is not similar to this, but it still is me.
top ECHKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
top ECHKHAUS LATTA, pants R13, shoes ECKHAUS LATTA, earrings HEAVEN by MARC JACOBS, earring JUSTINE CLINQUET (stylist’s own), necklace CHOPOVA LOWENA.
The throughline in the album is love. How would you describe love now compared to how you would have described it when your first album dropped?
Well, I will say love is not just a feeling, it is definitely an action. You know, I have an amazing partner who has very much taught me how to love and how to be a better partner in love.
How has love in your life helped you heal? I expected the album to be sad considering healing as one of the main themes but it wasn’t. I feel like healing is usually synonymous with suffering.
Yeah, of course, niggas be sad but love is supposed to be fun. If you're stressed out, you're not in love, you need to leave, but I am vibin' in this bitch. But yeah love is supposed to be fun and whether it's loving yourself, your friend or physical partner, it's fun. So it's vibes. It was a fun album.
