[PREMIERE] Roos Meijer - I Dream Of A World


August 05, 2021

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The word “sonder” refers to the realization that everybody around you, even strangers, are living a life just as complex as yours. This one word from the lyrics of Roos Meijer’s new Single “I Dream of a World” released today (August 6th) is a poignant summation of its premise. This song tells the story of Zaïre Krieger; an inspiring woman who is a spoken word artist, law graduate, and activist. 

I recently wrote about another amazing single by Roos called “In My Name”, so I was thrilled to learn about her new release and couldn’t wait to talk with her about it. Her songs are often etherial. This song is more rhythmic and vibrant. In asking about her process Roos states, “I always start with music first, and in this case I started with a drum-loop in Logic, because I wanted something a bit more fierce and energetic than my more slow and melancholic songs. From there I came up with the guitar part, and just started improvising with vocal lines. That’s how most of this song was created… The bridge wasn’t added until later. Until that part I only speak of 'I' and 'the world', and I wanted to address the listener in the bridge.” You’ll notice that although Roos plays guitar, keys, bass synth and of course vocals, there are so many elements that add energy and variety.

Roos states “Once the song was done, I invited a few musicians to be part of the song. The drums were played by Lisa Ann Jonker and the piano by Anne Lieke Heusinkveld. I asked the one and only Ghaeth Almaghoot to play a clarinet part, which really added another dimension to the song. He improvised the whole thing! And I wanted to give the chorus an extra boost with some extra people singing/screaming the ‘I won’t’ parts. Since it is an activist song I decided to ask a few activists: Zaïre Krieger herself is singing on it, and Julia Jouwe, who was the inspiration for ‘In My Name’, and her brother Robinson Jouwe. This ‘call and response’ is also a metaphor: society keeps telling people ‘take it as it is’ and the activists keep shouting ‘I won’t’.”  

The symbolism in her lyrics for “I Dream of a World” reflect the philosophy that you have to “change to stay the same”, a quote from Willem de Kooning that Zaïre mentioned in their conversations together. “The idea that she had with this was that if society changes, and you don’t change along with it, then you are changing as well since you are getting a different position in society. That is why I wanted to repeat this line a lot. It’s basically a symbol for the meaning behind it; though it’s repeated it feels different because the context is slowly changing”. All the lyrics are derived from her conversations with Zaïre, and lend meaning to her story. “If society changes, and you don't change along with it, then you also change because you get a different position in society.

Roos’ album in progress reflects the stories of “change-makers” like Krieger and gives them a voice through her music. Her debut album scheduled to release in November 2021 is a reflection of those conversations with eight such societal changemakers representing causes related to climate, anti-racism, feminism, human rights, orphans, LGBTQ+ youth, and homelessness. 

I honestly can’t get enough of her music and think you will feel the same as long as you have blood that courses your veins. The video below, “Made For Loving You” is another wonderful example of why that is true.

If you haven’t already done so, please follow her by clicking the green button above and listen to her many wonderful songs on Spotify.

This gem has been added to our "Fresh Indie" and our "Artist Pick" Spotify playlists, make sure you follow the playlists below to discover incredible new music every day.

Written by Joe.

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Lyrics

I dream of a world

With no idle words left

For anyone to speak

Our deeds our expressions

Coming from our heart 

As the fruit of a tree

Coming from our heart 

As the fruit of a tree

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I dream of a world

Where we all feel sonder

And live by this belief

No need to display

Cause there will be room for 

Everyone

There will be room for 

Everyone

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

I won't take it as it is

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

You have to change to stay the same

So don’t take it as it is

No don’t take it as it is

So don’t take it as it is

No don’t take it as it is

So don’t take it as it is

No don’t take it as it is

So don’t take it as it is

No don’t take it as it is

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