"I spent my nights in melting snow/ Turning my sorrows into pure gold," DPR IAN sings in the opening lines of his orchestral new single, "Don’t Go Insane," from his recently-released second EP Dear Insanity... Life is brutal in its uncertainty, in its unsolvable mysteries, in its highs and lows — what else besides the creation of art can prevent us from being swallowed by despair, IAN seems to ask.
More than a melancholic title, IAN knows the struggles of sorrow firsthand. Born Christian Yu in Sydney, Australia, the 33-year-old singer was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teenager, and has since built a career that contextualizes and transmutes his struggles.
Representing his manic lows, he developed the character of MITO — a one-eyed fallen angel with a hoarse voice, always surrounded by thunders. For his manic highs, there’s Mr. Insanity — the colorful, cheeky opposing force, never knowing where he’s going. Through them, IAN gives shape to his own Marvel cinematic universe, telling superhero/villain stories of birth and death, glitter and dust.
But before embracing his own creative powers, IAN sharpened his skills in other trades. As a teen, he spent a few years b-boying on YouTube until he moved to South Korea, where he became the leader of K-pop group C-Clown from 2012 to 2015. Afterwards, he co-founded the multimedia collective Dream Perfect Regime (DPR) along with friends LIVE, Cream, and REM.
The collective DPR grew to be one of the biggest independent music labels in Korea, running everything from business to visuals. At first, IAN worked solely as a video director and editor, collaborating with names like iKon’s Bobby and Winner’s Mino, until he recalled the spark to pursue his own artistry. His first effort as DPR IAN came in 2020 with the haunting "So Beautiful," later released on his first EP, 2021’s Moodswings in This Order (also known as MITO 1). He released his first LP in 2022, Moodswings in to Order — or MITO 2.
Dear Insanity…, IAN’s first non-MITO-focused release, is described as a video game side quest, or a TV show spinoff. Through his evocative songwriting and self-directed music videos — see it in the nostalgia-tinted "Peanut Butter & Tears," or in the dizzying chase of "So I Danced" — IAN’s universe expands into limitless possibilities.
In an interview with GRAMMY.com, DPR IAN dove deeper into his lore, discussed being imprisoned by his own creations, and marveled at his team turning dreams into reality.
This story has been edited for clarity.
It’s been 15 months since the release of your first studio album, Moodswings in to Order. When did the idea of making Dear Insanity… come up?
I have the original story, MITO, that's based on the manic lows I get, but I've never had a character that I based on my manic highs. A lot of times when I feel manically high, I disassociate myself with who I am, because of how radical and crazy I get with ideas. It just feels so different as to when I'm just me, like now, just very lukewarm. When I'm in my manic highs, I am more active, I come up with more ideas, and a lot of the ideas that I came up with for MITO were in that state.
In [Moodswings in to Order], I have a song called "Mr. Insanity," so it kind of started from there. Even in that albums’ visual, MITO Movie (Part I), I preface it with saying there was a creator of this universe that happened to be called Mr. Insanity, so the next thing I thought was that I needed to deep dive into this character.
I think a good example is Batman and the Joker. You get a further understanding of Batman through the Joker, you realize what Batman's capable of feeling, and you see it in different perspectives — but it's only through the buildup of their relationship. You leave it up to the audience to take that pick of which one may be the villain and which one is the superhero. So that's kind of what I wanted to do in this EP.
I thought it had to be about someone that represents my utmost manic highs, but all in all I've always thought Mr. Insanity to be more of a scary character. You're not sure what he's capable of.
He's unpredictable.
Yes, that is the word. And because of that unpredictability, you don't know where the story is going to end up. It's such a crucial part to the [MITO] lore, because it introduces the concept of where this lore is, in context.
I say "Welcome to the Other Side" in my songs, like "No Blueberries," so that place has actually been called The Other Side for a very long time. So now, in Dear Insanity…, we not only introduce the character Mr. Insanity, but also where they're from.
What is The Other Side, exactly?
The Other Side is essentially a universe that exists only in the consciousness of someone dreaming, and it is also a play on our DPR name, Dream Perfect Regime. We call our fandom Dreamers, so it only made so much sense that this universe exists in dreams.
If you have seen Ant-Man, he goes down to the Quantum Realm, and there's a whole universe that exists right beneath us. [The Other Side] is kind of like that, but it's not just a dream. IAN comes back with souvenirs and certain things, and he finds a loophole. Once he discovers that, he starts embarking on these journeys, longer and longer. But the problem is, the longer you stay there, the more you go insane, and that is the whole idea of this EP.
When [IAN] decided to embark on this journey, it's kind of like if you decided to commit yourself to go to Mount Everest. He's finally ready to embark, knowing that he will go insane. He understands the limitations of it, but once he fully commits, we get the first song, "Famous Last Words," which is when he starts writing a letter to his future self. He already knows he's gonna go insane, but he still chooses to go down that path.
You mentioned Batman and Ant-Man, and your latest music videos also seem to have a lot of influence from superhero movies. Is that one of your main inspirations lately?
My goodness, yes. Growing up, I watched so many comics, and I loved the idea of characters. I remember watching the musical "Cats," and it was just people in cat costumes, but playing the role of a cat so undeniably well that, as a kid watching, it shocked me.
Just the visual stimulus of being exposed to so many things that spark my creativity, I think it was such a blessing. I watched a lot of Steven Spielberg films too. And then you have Tim Burton, who has such a crazy twist. It's so compelling, but so artsy at the same time that you can't look away from it.
So, I realized you can portray different types of emotions in a different light and still get [your point] across. That's how I started with MITO. When people view something such as a mental disorder, for example — I know back in Korea [bipolar disorder is] still considered somewhat taboo — I was like, "I could always turn it into art."
Do you sometimes feel imprisoned by your own characters? Or that it’s easy to hide yourself behind them?
That’s a great question. I truly believe that personifying a character has a 100 percent influence in the way you think, in the way you are. I guess you could say there's pros and cons.
There is somewhat of a gray area. MITO, for example. Obviously, the fact that I gave it a name brings it to life, it's like you curate your own characters. But you also sometimes don't understand [their] power, and I was very careful of that, because I knew once I stepped into this fantasy world, it would become more real to me. So I needed to find a distinguishable area where I could differentiate myself, because, like you said, I would always be imprisoned, without me even knowing.
I know now, when I go manically low, sometimes I really think I'm MITO. Trying to come out of that — I learned it the hard way — is like, "Ok, so this is what [he’s] capable of."
It’s such a challenging idea, because when I make a song, for example, sometimes I feel like MITO would [make it] a lot better. And sometimes I want to channel him, so…I'd have to wait until my next switch to complete it. Sometimes I come back and I’m like, "What is this song?" [Laughs.]
You've been on a four-month world tour and played on some of the biggest festivals this year, like Coachella, Head in the Clouds, and Lollapalooza. How did you find the time to create this EP?
During the tour, I wanted to make the EP. I had the mindset of This is gonna be my first world tour, I'm gonna experience so many things and I'm gonna write about it. But after 46 cities, I just couldn't; I was down in the dirt and just so completely out of it. I don't even remember the last part of [the tour].
Now I understand why it's so hard on any artist to do a world tour. The constant energy change, the traveling is so tiring, and at the end you still want to show your appreciation to fans, because every city they're seeing you for the first time, and you have to bring in that same amount of energy you did last time. But we did 46 cities, and I thought that was… insane. Which is why I came out with this album afterwards. [Laughs].
You didn't write any songs during the tour?
I did write songs, but I didn't finish them. I was in this process in the beginning, and then the tour happened and it got deeper, and deeper, and deeper. My mood kept changing constantly. It's funny, the songs that I wrote in the beginning felt a lot more bright, and then it progressively got darker.
Does that creative process influence your music videos as well? How do you come up with those ideas?
It's always been in my head. For example, the whole explanation of The Other Side, I think the first and foremost thought was, What does The Other Side look like? The main theme color was green, just because for some reason it drew me in so much. And I had to understand what existed in this world, like what the citizens looked like, and it's just these pink people.
Mr. Insanity's partner-in-crime is called The Green, and it's literally just a person in a green screen suit. It acts as a double meaning for me, as a video/visual artist, because I love using green screens as they can make the impossible possible. So, I love the idea that The Green was just a person in a green suit, and ultimately he has the most power. We discover that in the future.
How long does it take you to edit one of those videos?
My goodness. I'm editing right now as we speak. I’m working on another music video which is coming out relatively close after [the album release]. I think "So I Danced," "Don't Go Insane," and "Peanut Butter & Tears," we did all that in the span of three months, spaced out, but I only had two weeks at max per video.
But I have such an amazing team, without them I couldn’t have done any of this. It's not possible to do a whole music video in two weeks [alone]. It can only go so far with yourself, and for me, I don't see the point in doing it by myself. To build something with somebody is more meaningful.
I think that was always the approach of DPR in general. We want to build things together. This universe, this lore that we're building, it's only possible because we're building it together. We all talk about it, and a lot of the ideas would come from our stylist, or our video department, or my manager, because they are all driven very passionately about this story as well. Sometimes I just step back and look at what's unfolding.
Do you think there is an end for the whole story?
Ultimately, I always wanted to end it in a trilogy. The main storyline is MITO, so you have MITO 1, MITO 2, and MITO 3 is where I am going to end it. But I believe that's not gonna be for a while, because, like you said, my art is a reflection of what I'm going through at the time. So, for MITO to end, I have to be ready to commit to giving up that character.
I kinda don't want MITO to end.
[Laughs.] Yeah, I think a lot of people will say that. But the good news is, you have the main storyline, but then, I am going to continue with The Other Side, and MITO is a huge part of it. I don’t know when [it will happen], but overall, that's the idea.
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