DPR IAN - Don’t Go Insane | Patreon Request | Live Reaction Replay

[@squirrel7304]

In case you do want to know more about the story I made this (lengthy) summary 😂 I watched your other reactions for his MVs and it seems that you already know some of the basis of the storyline so if I'm repeating what you already know you can jump those parts. About his career: He's korean-australian and as a teen he was part of heavy metal band while he was in Australia, which remains one of his favourite genres. He moved to Korea alone after just 1 year of university to pursue bboying. Suddenly was streetcasted and entered the Kpop group C-Clown as the main rapper/main dancer/leader back in 2012 (yes, wild ride...). They sadly went through a lot of physical and verbal abuse as he revealed later, didn't get much success, and disbanded after just 3 years. After that he decided to work as a video director and shot videos for a lot of other korean artists. He then co-founded the record label DPR (Dream Perfect Regime) where he works as the chief editor and visual director, and they launched their first artist called DPR Live, Ian's close friend. For many years he was behind the cameras and had a lot of success as a director. It was only 2020 that he decided to start his solo career in which he produces and writes the songs plus directs and edits the videos himself. He also plays the drums, keyboard and bass. About Don't Go Insane/Background: He based his artistry on his bipolar disorder type I and DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). DID stems from severe and/or repeated early childhood trauma (particularly before 5 to 9 years old) that prevents the mind of the child from fully integrating into one singular identity. The mind grows as different alters (different people/identities) that develop separately and each one has a different role. One of these alters can be the 'protector alter' or there can be more than one. The protector alter is there to be the person who takes all of the trauma for the child and remembers them just so the others will forget (dissociative amnesia). That person was Mito. Ian is the prominent identity, the one who stays the longest in control (called the "host", as someone pointed out in your chat). In very stressful situations Ian blacks out and Mito takes control of the mind in order to protect him (he's the one "fronting" ps. there's also cofronting meaning more than one alter in control at the same time.) Ian then will come back hours, days, weeks later (the longest that it has been was a month) not remembering anything that was said or done. Basically his life has been lived and he doesn't know how. Mr Insanity is when he's manic due to his bipolar disorder. Ian personally calls this state his "manic high" and by that he could mean pure mania (without depressive symptoms). Although formally the "high" specifier is not needed and more like a personal choice since mania is by definition already a high state. Mania is when the person reaches a state of high euphoria and/or irritability. The person is in full speed, the ideas just flow, can't sleep, has high energy and rapid speech, makes irresponsible decisions and if severe it can turn into psychosis, when they start to have delusions (believes something that can't be true) and hallucinations (sees or hears something that doesn't exist). Whistles are often incorporated into many of his songs, present in both So Beautiful and Don't Go Insane. This is because he usually has auditory hallucinations of whistles when he’s manic. But he also treats Insanity as another alter, talking as if he has a mind of his own, as he does to Mito. It's complicated since he has two diagnosis so they can interact in a different way compared to a person with just one or the other. For example when he dives into severe mania and suddenly experiences trauma or stress resembling a trauma while in this state, it's when his switches to another alter mostly are triggered. This association is an unique aspect to people with both disorders. He has said that he only blacked out into Insanity a few times (supposedly a DID switch, Insanity fully fronting/in control) but most of the times he's aware, even if when he comes back to himself he can't believe he had that thought process and was capable of such things (could mean co-fronting, Ian and Insanity both in control or an exclusively bipolar episode). Because of this Mito has also repeated to Ian how he despises Insanity, not accepting that he is another alter and being positive that Insanity is just Ian himself, with Mito being his only true alter. This feud will inspire all of the story behind Insanity's journey (his 2nd EP) that will be described later. ‘Butterflies’ are Insanity's symbol (shown several times in Don't Go Insane) because of a test used to assess mental stability, probably referring to the Rorschach Test which consists of showing a person inkblots and asking them what each of them could be, some resembling butterflies. Sanity for him can be represented by butterflies, the more you see them the more you are clinically insane. No one in this world sees the butterflies except for Mr Insanity. Before he revealed that he has DID at the end of 2023, he was open only about his bipolar disorder since according to him he was embarassed of his DID. Back then he always used to call Mito his "manic low", when he's manic but also empty, as he said 'flat line'. Although "manic low" is also not an expression formally recognized by that he could mean mania with mixed features (mania with only a few symptoms of depression) but never clarified this. Now he mostly refers to Mito as his protector/guardian alter so both definitions are valid. The protagonist of this EP is Mr Insanity. It's about lan's journey as a character into a world called “The Other Side” which represents his consciousness. It's a journey into his own mind, where these alters exist. There the Ian in the story will reach mania and switch into Mr Insanity, representing what actually happens in real life. In the story, there's a door that Mr Insanity's chaotic self is trying to open which represents the traumas. Mito, being the protector alter, the one who holds the traumatic memories and hides them from the host (Ian), won't let this happen since Ian isn't supposed to know anything about it. Ian since childhood usually lucid dreams (when you know that you are dreaming and can manipulate the dream to your desire) and in these dreams there are a lot of doors. Going through the wrong door could turn the dream into a nightmare and that's what inspired the "door" analogy At the beginning of the video, while Ian is sitting at the desk, there's a howl and he mentions 'wolves' in the lyrics: ("Oh, bless my heart / When the wolves take me away"). “Wolves” are a huge symbolism for him because of the werewolf transformation aspect that ties on with his DID switches. It's also why he uses the moon indicator on his Instagram to indicate who's fronting at the moment. Here we see Mr Insanity develop. We see Ian/Mr Insanity’s journey venturing into "The Other Side" as he slowly goes further into madness and pursues the key that unlocks another door/memory. During this journey, Mr Insanity is met by pink villagers which are essentially Mito's minions trying to stop him and Mito is represented by the black smoke. He says to himself "I'm sane", and even so, still loses grip on reality. “Don't Go Insane” is about trying to not go insane while simultaneously, still losing your mind. In the story, the most advanced version of Mr Insanity (the character with claws and silver hair), when he succumbs to his madness, is completely blind because he no longer needs to see. He holds the entire universe within himself. This is probably why at the end of this song, right before the bridge, he said "Can't see...". Anyway, it's amazing how far Ian has come since his early days and it's impressive how he manages his mental health struggles. He's an artist of all trades. Hopefully you'll react to even more of his stuff! Take notice that the genres are really vast because each one of these alters has prefered music genres. Though his songs are usually a mix of genres in good way because often an alter will start a song and another will finish it. There's The Hybrid storyline too which isn't technically an alter but it's complicated and I've written too much already. You can react to Limbo and Saint to know more about this part. He's also going to release the Hybrid album but we don't know the genre or the release date. The Ian-album will also come soon, he previewed one of the songs called "I am nobody" during tour recently. Also I really recommend Skins Demo. It's a relatively short video that was made entirely by Mito while Ian had a 2 day black out. Ian came back found the video and decided to release as it was. The 'you' in the lyrics is Ian. It's a letter from Mito to Ian. It contains Mito's feelings about holding their traumas for so long. Thank you and hopefully this wall of text was worth it! 😂 Sources: Say What Reacts interview Zach Sang Interview Inside The Mind of DPR Ian Part 1 & 2 and Q&A 230916 DPR Ian IG Live 231128 DPR Ian IG Live 231129 DPR Ian IG Live 241116 DPR Ian IG Live

[@ginxreacts]

Oh my…lol, thank you so much. I am pinning this for future reference as well!

[@Fataleur]

Great reaction, you have so much more to discover from DPR Ian, enjoy the journey :)