When we say we’ve been wanting to do this episode from the very beginning of our podcast, we literally had it on our very first brainstorming list and almost did it after our Head In The Clouds review episode. Sometimes we decide to hold off on talking about things for no particular reason (maybe other topics are more time-sensitive or we’re just hoping something specific will come up to prompt the conversation), and we’re so glad we waited to talk about DPR until now.

We’ve seen them performing live twice at this point, which is a lot considering we just got into their music last year. But thanks to their appearance at Head In The Clouds in 2021 and their Regime World Tour that kicked off last month, we’re now veteran Dreamers as far as we’re concerned.

Listen here.

Who/What is DPR?

DPR or Dream Perfect Regime, in their own words:

” | dream perfect regime (dpr) is a multi-genre music and video group. we create, direct, produce, and edit all types of visual work as well as curate artists that derive from various musical backgrounds and influences. based in seoul, our collective’s main focus is to engage all audiences by actualizing a distinctive audiovisual experience | “

As of 2015, four multi-faceted and extremely talented artists and creators came together, and today they are known as DPR Ian (Christian Yu), DPR Live (Dabin Hong), DPR Cream (Kyungmo Kim), and DPR REM (Scott Kim).

DPR Ian

Christian Yu (90 liner) is an Australian-born artist of South Korean descent. He wanted to explore his artistry and moved to Seoul, South Korea to do so. He was scouted/street-casted by an agency and passed an audition the very next day and would go on to become the leader of Crown Clown, or C-Clown – a KPop group that would make their debut in 2012. His stage name at the time was Rome, derived from his Korean name Barom.

After a less than enchanting behind the scenes look at the KPop world, Ian sought to end his contract, which his company would not initially allow. Eventually, they released him from his obligations and so in 2015 he joined forces with friends and fellow artists he had met through posting content on YouTube – Dabin, Kyungmo, and Scott. All took on official stage names and appended DPR as a prefix to denote their union.

DPR Ian sat wore the video editor hat for the first few years, focusing first on developing the visual credibility of the DPR collective. Musically, he debuted with So Beautiful on October 26, 2020. On March 12, 2021, he dropped his first EP modeled after a persona that he created that manifested part of his episodes while dealing with bipolar disorder: MITO. MITO is both the name of this fallen angel (we think of him as intrusive thoughts) as well as of a trilogy of music he decided to release. The first part was the EP Moodswings In This Order (MITO) released in Spring of 2021, and the second was Moodswings In To Order (MIITO) released in summer of 2022. The big moments in his discography include:

•  Moodswings In This Order (3/12/21)
  • MITO (Prod. DPR Cream)
  • So Beautiful (Prod. DPR Ian & Prod. DPR Cream
  • Dope Lovers (Prod. DPR Cream)
  • No Blueberries (ft. CL & LIVE) (Composed: DPR Ian & Prod. DPR Cream // Music video: DPR Ian & DPR REM)
  • Nerves (Prod. DPR Cream, ampoff & Yoo Ha Rim)
  • Scaredy Cat (Prod. DPR Cream, ampoff & Yoo Ha Rim) 
  • Welcome to the Show (Prod. DPR Cream, ampoff & Yoo Ha Rim) 
  • No Silhouette (Prod. DPR Cream // EP. DPR REM)
• Single: Diamonds + And Pearls (for the Shang Chi soundtrack with 88 Rising)
• Moodswings In To Order (7/29/22)
  • You can read Kathy’s full MIITO album review here.
  • Every song on MIITO was produced by DPR REM, except Ballroom Extravaganza which was produced by both REM and Prod. DPR Cream. 
  • This is a no skips album, but my top 3 are: Ballroom Extravaganza, Mood, and depending on the day, the 3rd spot could go to 1 Shot, Calico, or Miss Understood.
• DPR Archives – Zombie Pop (Prod. DPR Cream)

DPR Live

Born Hong Dabin (93 liner) in South Korea, but raised in Guam (which is why he speaks English perfectly). He went back to South Korea as an adult to complete his higher education. Originally, he went with the aim study psychology and philosophy, but after enlistment, he changed his point of view and decided to pursue music.

He started posting content on YouTube, which is how he and Ian found each other. After starting the DPR collective, DPR Live was the first to release a full body of work, making his official debut in 2017. He has dropped three EPs [Coming To You Live (2017), Her (2017), and Iite Cool (2021)], and one studio album titled Is Anybody Out There? in March 2020.

Has worked with a lot of the bigger South Korea rappers, and he himself is in those ranks as evidenced by the fact that he is the number one South Korean rapper by listeners on Spotify. Congratulations Live!  

Since Laura is more in tune with Live’s music than Ian’s, some of her favorites include Martini Blue, Laputa, Jasmine, and Text Me.

Fun fact: DPR Live is the maknae of DPR.

DPR Cream and DPR REM

• DPR Cream (88 liner, mathyung) is a producer, singer, and rapper
  • Listed as a primary artist (producer and composer) on both Ian and Live’s albums.
  • Plays bass, drums, guitar, piano, and the synth
  • Debuted with his own double single “The Voyager 737” (Color Drive & Problems) in July of 2019.
• DPR REM (92 liner) – from NY – is the collective’s creative director and executive producer. And again, we can thank him for MIITO’s stellar production.
  • Mastermind behind the tour and operations that keep the collective going. Great to follow on Twitter!

Regime World Tour

For all the details and thoughts on their Regime World Tour, watch our episode, timestamp 33:21 –

The best part was that we got our official fandom name: Dreamers. We love it, and it’s obviously a perfect fit from every vantage point.

And now hopefully you know a lot more about DPR than you did before you started reading this blog post! The description box on YouTube or any of your streaming platform of choice will have lots of links to other interviews or references we mentioned on the podcast if you want to keep digging and falling more and more in love with the Dream Perfect Regime collective!