Roadtrip (Dream Song)

Dream (real name Clay; born August 12, 1999) is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer who is known primarily for creating ''Minecraft'' content.

Dream has been active online since 2014, but did not gain substantial popularity until 2019 and 2020. He is well known for his YouTube series "Minecraft Manhunt" and was also well known for his ''Minecraft'' speedruns, in which he was accused of cheating in late 2020. Dream later admitted to using game modifications, but maintained that he used them unintentionally during his single-player speedruns, intending for them to only apply during his multiplayer "challenge videos". Content created in the Dream SMP, Dream's invite-only survival multiplayer (SMP) ''Minecraft'' server that stars content creators engaged in roleplay, has also attracted considerable attention and a popular fandom.

, his seven YouTube channels have collectively reached over million subscribers and over billion views, and his two Twitch channels have collectively gained million followers and million views. YouTube awarded Dream the Streamy Award for Gaming in both 2020 and 2021.

Dream revealed his face for the first time on October 2, 2022, after six years of staying hidden in his videos.

Career

YouTube

Dream created his YouTube account on February 8, 2014, and started to upload content regularly in July 2019. The oldest video on Dream's account that is still accessible involves him playing the game ''Minecraft'' poorly on purpose in order to "trigger" viewers. As of December 2022, the video has amassed 18 million views.

In July 2019, Dream figured out the seed of a ''Minecraft'' world YouTuber PewDiePie was playing on by using reverse engineering techniques that Dream learned from online forums. In November 2019, Dream uploaded a viral video titled "Minecraft, But Item Drops Are Random And Multiplied…" that has amassed 49 million views as of January 2021. In January 2020, Dream uploaded a video in which he and another YouTuber, GeorgeNotFound, connected an Arduino board to an electric dog collar, which emitted an electric shock whenever a player lost health in ''Minecraft''.

In December 2020, in place of their annual ''YouTube Rewind'' series, YouTube released a list of their top-trending videos and creators. On the U.S. list, YouTube ranked Dream's "Minecraft Speedrunner VS 3 Hunters GRAND FINALE" video as the number seven "Top Trending Video", and ranked Dream as the number two "Top Creator" and number one "Breakout Creator". A livestream by Dream on YouTube in November 2020 with about 700,000 peak viewers was the 6th highest viewed gaming stream of all time as of January 2021. A December 2020 ''Polygon'' article stated that "2020 has been a tremendous year for Dream", describing him as "YouTube's biggest gaming channel of the moment".

In a January 2021 article, Steven Asarch of ''Business Insider'' attributed Dream's growth during 2019 and 2020 "to his understanding of the YouTube algorithm", noting that " puts his keywords in the right places, capitalizes on trends, and makes thumbnails that fans want to click on."

Dream is a member of the "Dream Team", along with fellow YouTubers Sapnap and GeorgeNotFound. The group frequently collaborate to create new content. Dream also had a friendly rivalry with fellow ''Minecraft'' YouTuber Technoblade before his death, as they each had a contested recognition for the title of "best ''Minecraft'' player".

Minecraft Manhunt

Dream's most well-known and most-watched series is "Minecraft Manhunt". In Minecraft Manhunt, one player—usually Dream—attempts to finish the game as fast as possible without dying, while another player or team of players (the "Hunters") attempts to stop this player from beating the game by killing them. The hunters each possess a compass pointed towards the player's location and are allowed to respawn whenever they die. The hunters win the game if the player dies before beating the Ender Dragon.

On December 26, 2019, Dream uploaded the first video in this series, titled "Beating Minecraft But My Friend Tries to Stop Me". Dream subsequently repeated this style of video on many occasions, increasing the number of Hunters over time. On February 26, 2022, Dream uploaded the final Minecraft Manhunt'','' but he hinted at bringing back the series in the future. Dream also said that he and the hunters would do a real-life Minecraft Manhunt if the final video gets 2 million likes.

Many of the Minecraft Manhunt videos have received tens of millions of views, with one of them ranking sixth in YouTube's Top Trending Videos of 2020. As of February 2022, the most-viewed in Dream's Minecraft Manhunt series has 108 million views.

The series has received many positive reviews. Urian B. wrote in ''Tech Times'' that Minecraft Manhunt "requires not only mastery of the terrain but also the ability to think fast on your feet while different choices present themselves with only milliseconds of time for decision making. This is something that Dream is good at, split second decision making." Nicolas Perez from ''Paste'' described Minecraft Manhunt as "an experience that leaves me slack-jawed every time", stating that the format of Minecraft Manhunt "seems to guarantee the hunters come out on top. But more often than not, Dream pulls just enough aces out of his sleeve to narrowly beat the hunters, and eventually the game." Gonzalo Cardona, writing for Ginx TV, noted that Minecraft Manhunt had "inspired cult-like montages by fans". Nathan Grayson, writing for ''Kotaku'', said that Minecraft Manhunt had turned Dream "into a household name among ''Minecraft'' fans".

Dream SMP

In April 2020, shortly after the release of Minecraft snapshot 20w17a, Dream and George created the Dream SMP, a private Survival Multiplayer (SMP) ''Minecraft'' server. Over time, other prominent Minecraft content creators outside of the "Dream Team" have been invited to the server, including TommyInnit, Technoblade, and Wilbur Soot.

The Dream SMP has become very well-known. Its main draw, according to fans, is the roleplay, with major events being loosely scripted in advance and most other elements being improvisation, performed live on YouTube and Twitch. Cecilia D'Anastasio of ''Wired'' described the Dream SMP as a form of live theatre and as a "Machiavellian political drama". During January 2021, over 1 million people tuned into Dream SMP livestreams.

''Minecraft'' competitions

Throughout 2020, Dream was a prominent participant in "Minecraft Championship", a monthly ''Minecraft'' competition organized by Noxcrew. He won first in both the 8th and 11th Minecraft Championships. In September 2020, during the 10th Minecraft Championship, he played for charity and raised around $3,400.

Music

On February 4, 2021, Dream released his first song, entitled "Roadtrip", in collaboration with PmBata, which garnered over 25 million views on YouTube. On May 20, 2021, Dream released his second song, entitled "Mask", which garnered over 24.7 million views on YouTube. An animated music video for "Mask" was released in June of the same year, though it was later deleted. The song and music video received criticism about the lyrics and animation, as well as the negative depiction of prescription drugs, labelled as "normal pills". On August 19, 2021, Dream released his third song, entitled "Change My Clothes", in collaboration with American singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin, which garnered over 8.3 million views on YouTube.

Dream Burger

On April 26, 2021, as a collaboration with Dream, fellow YouTuber MrBeast's fast-food restaurant chain MrBeast Burger released the Dream Burger as a limited-time addition to its menu.

Public image and controversies

Dream is purported to be one of the most liked and disliked YouTubers on the platform, with a 2021 SurveyMonkey poll showing that 59.7% of respondents have a favorable view of him and 22.1% who have an unfavorable view. Dream and other members of the Dream SMP have inspired a popular fandom.

On January 1, 2021, Dream was doxed. On January 7, Dream addressed the doxing and denied accusations made against him by his ex-girlfriend