Massive Minecraft, YouTube, and streaming star Dream has had quite a back-and-forth relationship with being a faceless creator. In an interview with popular YouTube duo Colin and Samir that aired on July 10, Dream finally revealed why he has gone from being masked to unmasked and back again while also delving deeper into what the mask means to him and how he’s focusing more on his music career.
Dream rose in fame as a faceless creator throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and amassed over 30 million subscribers on YouTube before dropping the mask and face revealing to the world on Oct. 2, 2022. On June 9, 2023, Dream then shocked fans worldwide by suddenly deleting his face reveal video and sharing a new video that revealed he would be returning to wearing the mask once again.
The back and forth has caused quite a bit of confusion, but in his interview with Colin and Samir, Dream cleared up the situation entirely. The Minecraft star doesn’t regret his face reveal—but he also doesn’t regret putting the mask back on.
Related: ‘He’s real!’ – Creators react to seeing Dream’s face for the first time
“I always planned on, you know, keeping the mask and wearing it, not wearing it all the time, but wearing it and making sure when I was Dream, I really kept that image and meaning behind it,” Dream said. “I feel like that’s such an inspiring message to kids and to anyone that watches Dream.”
The Minecraft star elaborated that the reason the mask is so important to him is that it allows anyone to look at everything he’s accomplished and believe they too are capable of achieving anything they set their mind to.
“I never wanted to lose that, because to me, the mask became the meaning behind, like, anyone can be Dream,” he said. “Anyone can succeed and do anything they want.”
Although Dream never originally planned on being faceless, he grew to view the faceless nature of his character as a key aspect of who he was. And he later found it even more important after hearing Marvel Comics writer, editor, producer, and publisher Stan Lee explain the meaning behind Spider-Man’s costume.
“It was inspiring that he said he wanted Spider-Man covered from head to toe because he wanted anyone, no matter their race or religion or wherever they’re from to be able to be like ‘I could be Spider-Man,'” Dream said. “I kind of related to that.”
Dream always planned on keeping the mask as a key aspect of his online persona, but the mask he originally used was fan made and difficult to see out of. He had a fancier one commissioned because of this, which was made by the same creators who crafted many famous superhero masks like Spider-Man and Batman, plus the masks for the DJ stars Daft Punk and Marshmello.
The construction of Dream’s new mask took much longer than anticipated, which is why he face revealed in the way he did and why he remained unmasked afterward for so long. The YouTube star didn’t know how to bring the mask branding back when the mask was finally ready, so he decided to delete the face reveal to create a reason.
“What’s kind of bigger news than deleting the face reveal and being like, ‘hey, I’m putting the mask back on?'” Dream said.
Even though the face reveal video is gone, Dream made it clear in this interview that he doesn’t regret doing it. To live his life the way he wanted, he felt like he “had to do the face reveal” and wouldn’t take it back, although he may have done things slightly differently if his mask had been ready sooner.
Dream also clarified that his “bye, from Dream” video is entirely satire and him choosing to bring the mask back has nothing to do with any hate he has gotten since face revealing.
Alongside all of the mask and unmask confusion, Dream also revealed that he signed with Republic Records shortly after his face reveal in October 2022, which is a record label home to many of the music industry’s most well-known stars like Taylor Swift, Drake, The Weeknd, and Ariana Grande.
The mask went back on right before Dream released his first single delving back into music, which is a song called “Until I End Up Dead” dedicated to and inspired by Technoblade, Dream’s close friend and competitive rival in the world of Minecraft who passed away from cancer in June 2022. Dream’s decision to bring back the mask is also partially related to his full-on commitment to music as the star prepares to embark on his first tour and release more music in the near future.
It’s been two years since Dream’s last song was released on Aug. 20, 2021, which was a collaboration with Alec Benjamin titled “Change My Clothes,” and the YouTube star has been devoted to learning about how to make music and the music industry overall since. Dream’s decision to bring the mask back isn’t directly tied to his decision to revitalize his music career, but the mask imagery is featured prominently throughout his first music video and throughout his official Republic Records artist photos.
Dream isn’t planning on wearing the mask all the time, but it’s certainly back for good as part of what he wants his brand to represent, so fans can expect to see him both with and without it moving forward.
