Words By: Matthew Griffiths

Have you ever had a dream that was so visually intense, it seemed more vivid than reality? DPR’s music videos seem to evoke a similar feeling. It’s in the name – DPR, or Dream Perfect Regime are an independent, multi-genre music and video group who want to “perfect” their dreams.

“We’re perfecting our dreams, it’s a regime; we’re coming up to take over”

– DPR LIVE, 2018 Billboard Interview

As a talented collective with a core of around eight people, their work exhibits a unique sound that coincides with breathtakingly beautiful and creative music videos. Member roles among them vary from vocals, to marketing, to production. However, their story originates with the friendship of two of the members – DPR LIVE and DPR IAN. LIVE was raised in Guam and IAN was born and grew up in Australia, the two of them met in Seoul around 2011-13. LIVE raps, and IAN is a singer, producer, director, and chief editor of DPR. Other members of note are DPR REM (Scott Kim – creative director/executive producer), DPR CREAM (real name Kim Kyung-Mo – musical producer), and DPR CLINE.

Part of their visual prowess comes from how they funded themselves in the early days. In the beginning, DPR didn’t have a lot of money, so they would work for other South Korean artists as a production crew. For 2 years, DPR REM and IAN worked to help fund their own projects. DPR are responsible for music videos such as “Wake Me Up” by Taeyang from BIGBANG, “HOLUP!” by Bobby from iKON and even “BODY” by Mino from WINNER. You can see how much work IAN puts into bringing dazzling visual concepts into reality even in the work he was doing for other artists. I particularly love the water tank scene in “Wake Me Up” which is illuminated through crosses in a way that mimics a shoji window or door.

Fast forward to their latest music video, “Diamonds and Pearls” which is a collaboration between LIVE and IAN, and the quality has just continued to get better and better. Sonically, whilst the track starts off sounding like the grand piano intro to a Queen ballad, the video contrastingly shows the two artists together on a futuristic looking lowrider motorcycle speeding past colourful city lights. The video then shape-shifts into a colourful cosmic trip where we see the two of them sitting atop planets as electro-esque vocals reminiscent of Daft Punk and Jamiroquai aggressively kick in and become the dominant theme of the track.

According to a comment from DPR, this was “a fun video that was super last minute” which testifies to the efficiency of their entire operation. This may have something to do with LIVE’s time spent in military service in South Korea, an experience which taught him how to be patient, as well as how to focus. Considering that most of DPR’s members came from around the world and met in Seoul by chance, it’s remarkable how beautifully their efforts come together to consistently create art of this calibre. DPR are a great example of how young people can change their lives by being patient and working hard, and how impactful our creative energies can be when we know how to work harmoniously with others.