Songstress OlyasDream is a multidimensional performance artist. She appeared on American Idol 2021 playing the HandPan. Usually people use this drum for meditations, but she produced the alternative rock genre with it. She considers herself the founder of a new mass pop stream in music: spiritual development.
Her artistic story begins when she was working as a dancer in a theatre in China. Then she moved to Hollywood to pursue acting. Music came into her life alongside the hand pan; and the passion to play led to developing her music career. “It all just started happening,” she comments.
OlyasDream had many low days and kept looking for an artistic realisation. One night she had a dream, she saw a strange, rounded metal object that was making a loud sound. That sound went through her ears and her head making her wake up. She had no idea what it was, but the sound stayed with her for another week. Even now she can hear it.
Four months later, doing architecture class homework, she decided to listen to motivational speakers on the internet. One speaker, whose topic was to talk about the human’s attention, came on stage and without saying anything, started playing hand pan. She immediately recognised the sound and turned her head to the computer screen. Since then she was magnetized to the videos of people playing HandPan. Every day she spent hours listening to its music. A couple of weeks later, she made a decision: “I can’t exist without it.”
She chose the most dramatic scale she liked on the HandPan and ordered one. Shortly after receiving the HandPan, barely able to play it right, she got an offer from a producer friend Julia to make a music video. They created her costume out of the rhinestones and picked the place in the nearest desert to film at the sunrise. When they were on set, Julia took a slate out with the date, scene number, and a project name. She said, “I don’t know what you want to call your project, but I named it today like your Instagram name, OlyasDream”. So that was perfectly aligned with the whole story and idea.
Three years later, she became a member of the composers club in Malibu and met many great people who helped her with the direction of the musician’s ideas. One singer, Beto Hale, asked her to help to record the backstage orchestra players he invited to play and record the song. In exchange, he offered to record and mix her first song at his studio. That’s where she ended up recording her debut album.
OlyasDream was a contestant on American Idol 2021. She comments that it was a great experience, “in fact my very first stage performance and I was super scared.” She gained a lot of fans after the show and received a lot of messages on how unique her art is and how it inspired people who were afraid to showcase their talents due to being shamed by society. “And that I inspired them to pursue the soul passion. These are the best comments and really inspiring me too.”
She wants her music to be an inspiration to express themselves truly and fearlessly. Her latest offering, ‘Wildest Dreams’ is OlyasDream’s has a shamanic, dreamy feel to it. The alternative rock track features hand pan, drums, guitar, and electronic software on the production alongside her captivating vocals.
One day she had a fight with a friend and realised that the phrase “I know what you are” is rather annoying and can not be accurate. She got inspired by the differences they had with all the people and found it very beautiful and charming, even if they are not so. “ I love being surprised by personality traits and viewpoints. Also how differently each person experiences taste, colors, etc,” she comments. Then, she began to dig deeper into herself realising she’s unsure of the idea of what she is.
“The instrument is my inspiration and my dreams are my influences,” OlyasDream comments. Her music comes from the soul, the cosmos, from the creative portal. She does it because it comes to her and wants to get out. “Also, I really like the way to express feelings through the rock and leaning towards that.”
Noting that she considers herself the founder of a new mass pop stream in music: spiritual development, she expresses that it’s just coming to her and she keeps expressing it. “I feel many things on a very universal level and always go into the open space with my lyrics. I feel the connection with my imagination and it is taking place far beyond the earth.”
OlyasDream has an incredible production sound that is defined from the first note. She writes and records demons at home, first, together with some beats to showcase the mood and flow of the song better. Then she goes to the studio, to Beto Hale, her co-producer for this song where they work on it together with the engineer. “ They always have great ideas for the track sound and placements. I love co-create with other people, I think it’s like giving birth to a song into the outside world,” she comments.
Closing out the interview, OlyasDream comments that her mission as a musical artist is, “My mission is to unveil the raw unique artistic approach in this world for everyone who craves it. For people not being stopped by the standards and norms. For creatives to create their souls desires and paint the world with more colors. I believe that could lead to more love, care and happiness in our world.”