In “Pulse,” columnist Madisyn Cunningham ’27 reviews albums that spotlight the Black queer experience.

The song “Sensitive” took 2020 by storm — and so did the track’s R&B and indie-pop singer Dreamer Isioma. There was a time during quarantine when I couldn’t go two scrolls on my For You page without hearing its chorus, and unlike many songs that go viral on TikTok, the rest of the verses were as good as the viral bit. 

In a TikTok from September 2024, Isioma detailed the tumultuous backstory behind the making of the hit: After almost getting kicked out of college multiple times and moving back to Chicago, he got pulled over and detained by the police with his friend. He left the scene with a large fine and a charge. Amid his anger brewing from working two jobs to support himself and get an apartment, he recorded “Sensitive” as a diss track on the police and government. He watched as it went viral on SoundCloud and then TikTok. Four years later, the singer is still in awe of the doors it unlocked for him.

A year after the release of “Sensitive,” Isioma got top surgery, came out as trans and changed his name to Dreamer. His first album after his name change, “Goodnight Dreamer,” came out in 2022, and “Princess Forever” was released a year later. Like the rest of his music, “Princess Forever” urges the listener to really slow down and listen. Isioma mixes the whimsy of bedroom pop, electronic pop and R&B to create his own, irreplicable sound. The dreaminess of his voice is reminiscent of Evann McIntosh and Greentea Peng — the type of voice that makes any lyric sound like a lullaby, threatening to send you into a sweet sleep. 

Isioma seems to spend a lot of time off the ground — many of his lyrics play on images of the sky, and even further than that, the solar system. In an interview with Vocalo Digital Media Producer Morgan Ciocca, the artist describes the storyline on which “Princess Forever” is based: a group of comrades live in a world ruled by idiots and leave to find a planet on which they can be free, before meeting and receiving guidance from the creator of the universe. 

Isioma finds solace in the idea that we can escape to a plane of existence beyond the one we exist in now. He clearly conveys his belief in his explanation to Ciocca and through his lyrics of “Fuck Tha World,” the fourth track on “Princess Forever”: “Fuck tha world / It’s all gonna blow up anyways / We’re all gonna float to outer space.” To me, this notion is inherently queer: Isioma has no problem living beyond the mainstream, and in fact takes pride in it. 

“Princess Forever” also contains the tracks “Saturn Ring,” “Venus Versus Mars” and “Starz,” again evoking images of life beyond Earth. In these songs, Isioma uses talk of interplanetary travel and astrology to describe how both love and rejection leave his head in the clouds, rendering him both confused and reflective.

The cover art for “Princess Forever” only builds on this theme — the scene depicts life beyond Earth, filled with mythical creatures, tall trees and vibrant colors. The air of childlike joy makes clear why Isioma tries to spend so much time there, and why he often dreams of leaving Earth for a life more like it. His previous album “Goodnight Dreamer” also features planets in its cover’s backdrop, as Isioma sits on a cloud, touching the tops of mountains. 

The singer’s willingness to exist outside of what’s possible, paired with his anti-establishment lyrics, bring a liberatory potential to his music. Isioma’s work tells listeners that radical imagination is the way to unlock the world in which we want to live. 

As a Nigerian trans artist, Isioma is outspoken about the fact that he wants his audience to be people like him, and his music reflects this hope. Isioma’s music succeeds in giving listeners like me hope that our experiences will soon peacefully exist on the planet we live on now, and that we won’t have to embark on an intergalactic journey to find acceptance. 

“Love and Rage,” the album’s eighth track, plays on the juxtaposition of love and rage, two feelings that seem mutually exclusive, but often exist at once — one must love something to be enraged enough to want to change it, and it’s clear that Isioma loves humankind enough to will its transformation forward. 

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.