Ryan Christopher Morris (born 14 January 1983), known professionally as Dreamkid, is a South African musician and social media influencer based in London, United Kingdom.
Early life Ryan Christopher Morris was born on 14 January 1983 in Durban, South Africa. He grew up in the Ballito area of Durban spending his formative years skateboarding, surfing and playing the guitar. Morris has revealed that the first music cassette he owned was MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em and that he enjoyed listening to Blink 182, which inspired him to play in punk rock bands.
Career 2005–2018: Career beginnings and New Volume Morris relocated to the United Kingdom in 2005 and founded the South African pop punk band New Volume. In 2015, New Volume signed WithSumerian Records.
2019-2022: TikTok, Instagram and Dreamkid Morris rose to fame as Dreamkid through TikTok where, starting with the first lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, he began posting tropes with 80s music arrangements. Dreamkid’s reach on TikTok went from 1000 to 100,000 followers in five weeks, and as the self-proclaimed creator of blinkwave, he amassed a celebrity following with Zooey Deschanel, Freddie Prince Jr., Donnie Wahlberg, David Arquette and Zachary Levi.
He would go on to mirroring his success from TikTok to Instagram, hosting POV reels performing unlikely synthwave style covers of Nirvana, Metallica, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day, alongside takes of songs by pop performers like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.
Dreamkid's lead single for his debut self-titled album "Hearts Don't Beat The Same When They're Hurting" was released in September 2021. The album itself was released in May 2022 and had a notable bubblegum pop influence while also keeping the sounds varied and pacey.
2023-present: Daggers In May 2023, a music video was released for the single "Street Lights". Another single, "Take Me On Tonight", was released in September 2023, with Metro Station's Mason Musso featured on vocals.
"Chrissy", a single released in June 2023 off the album Daggers, is regarded as the artist’s de facto instrumental viral hit. With 3 million plays and 150,000 reel shares on Instagram along with over one million plays on TikTok, it also appeared in Premier League football team reels and syncs with independent Hollywood movies.
By the time his sophomore album Daggers was released on 31 May 2024, Music News wrote that Dreamkid was "...undoubtedly the first artist in the synthwave genre to go viral on TikTok and Instagram." The album peaked at 94 on the UK Official Album Downloads Chart.
In 2025, Dreamkid collaborated with American singer songwriter Bonnie McKee and a synth-heavy remix of her track "Easy" off the album Bombastic was released on 20 June that year.
Dreamkid was invited to create a synthesizer patch preset pack for Baby Audio, which was released as part of their BA-1 synth plugin update released on 5 November 2025.
Filmography Dreamkid provided music for The Invisible Raptor and Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World. His song "Chrissy" was featured in the independent Hollywood Blockbuster horror film Terrifier 3.
Musical Style & Influences While he has his roots in punk rock, Morris has described Dreamkid's sound as #blinkwave and he is known for his synth-heavy compositions that evoke nostalgia. Texx and the City described his music as a "refreshingly emo take on synthwave" with a high level of production quality.
Discography Studio albums Title Details Dreamkid Released: 13 May 2022 Label: Outland Recordings Formats: CD, digital download, Vinyl (LP) Dreamkid (Instrumental Edition) Released: 15 December 2023 Label: Outland Recordings Formats: digital download Daggers Released: 31 May 2024 Label: Outland Recordings Formats: CD, digital download, Vinyl (LP) Daggers (Instrumental Edition) Released: 28 February 2025 Label: Outland Recordings Formats: digital download
Extended plays Title Details Track listing All Thriller, No Filler Released: 18 October 2024 Label: blinkwave Format: digital download "Shit's About to Get Weird" "The Watcher" "Run Jennifer, Run!" Memories Of The Future (Vol.1) Released: 10 January 2025 Label: Outland Recordings Format: digital download "Good Tonight x Chrissy" "Oceanside Homicide x City Limits"
Singles As lead artist Title Year Album "Hearts Don't Beat the Same When They're Hurting" 2021 Dreamkid "Fatal Attraction" "Game Over" 2022 "America" "Street Lights" 2023 Daggers "Chrissy" "Take Me On Tonight" "The Highway" 2024 "Apocalyptic Love Song" 2026 "Innocent Runaway"
As featured artist Title Year Album "All I Need Is You" 2023 Flashback
Remixes Year Artist Song2025Bonnie McKee"Easy"
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