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Enter a Futuristic Utopia in D∆WN’s New 360° Video

D∆WN and VR artist Sander Sneek envision a digital domain where people move beyond color, gender or creed.
Image courtesy the artists

A neon purple alien planet comes to life the 360-degree album teaser for D∆WN's REDEMPTION. Created in collaboration with VR artist and creative coder Sander Sneek, it's a warm welcome into a futuristic new utopia that is a home for all souls no matter their color, gender, or creed.

Earlier this year D∆WN, a.k.a., Dawn Richard, became the first artist to perform live in 360 degrees on YouTube, and followed this with a virtual reality deep space experience for her track “Not Above That.” For her new album, out today on Local Action and Our Dawn Entertainment, she returns to the virtual world, and the results are mind-bending.

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The video later shifts into the story of two best friends with big dreams of making it in Hollywood—an idea becomes lost in the streets as the world closes in. "By using a specific color scheme and abstracting the characters, I visualizes a place for all souls no matter color, gender or creed,” Sneek tells The Creators Project. “By playing with the concept of a bendable world I tried to give the user this enclosed feeling." The 360-degree REDEMPTION video is in line with Sneek’s recent work on Life in 360: A Tribute to Ludovico Einaudi, which also features dancing robots.

“At the end of the video, I call out to others out there looking for something better,” D∆WN tells The Creators Project. “A huge pyramid stands for the place where there are open dreams—where rebels are the ‘majority’ and a different skin color isn't ‘minority.’”

“I love that VR becomes the narrator in this visual story. Redemption speaks to self-discovery,” she adds. “I thinks this visual draws that reference and takes you into the journey of self-appreciation and awareness.”

REDEMPTION is out today on Local Action and Our Dawn Entertainment. Click here to grab the new album, and here to see more of Sander Sneek’s work.

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