Keep your dreams alive

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR0l13o-DeQ&list=RDNR0l13o-DeQ&start_radio=1

Keep Your Dreams Alive by Giuseppe Ottaviani.

What the song actually is

Giuseppe Ottaviani released “Keep Your Dreams Alive” in 2019 through Dreamstate. It runs at about 137 BPM, and the vocal is essentially one repeated phrase: “Keep your dreams alive.”

But there is an important piece of context: Ottaviani himself has explained what he was trying to accomplish. He said the track was made as a Dreamstate festival anthem, using a simple, catchy melody and an aggressive sound, with the vocal sample “keep your dreams alive” because he thought it fit the festival's concept.

And elsewhere, when asked about his personal motto, Ottaviani gave essentially the same message: dreams motivate us, and continuing to dream gives us something worth fighting toward.

So this isn't really a song that tells a story.

It is a command.

Don't let the dream die.

What it means to me

If I were interpreting the song as a piece of art, I'd say it is about refusing spiritual and psychological surrender.

The interesting thing is that the music is much more complicated than the words.

The words say one thing over and over:

Keep your dreams alive.

Meanwhile, the electronic production keeps building, intensifying, and moving forward.

That creates a powerful contrast:

The dream is simple.
The road to the dream is not.

You don't need to know exactly how you're going to get there in order to refuse to abandon what you believe is worth pursuing.

And I think that's why trance music can hit people so hard. It can create the feeling of movement toward something that hasn't happened yet. You're not being given the destination. You're being given momentum.

And there's a really important distinction for you

I would interpret the song's message in a slightly healthier way than “I must accomplish everything I imagine.”

I'd interpret it as:

Don't let your capacity for hope die.

Those aren't the same thing.

A dream can change.

A strategy can fail.

A relationship can change.

A particular mission can turn out differently than you expected.

You can spend months doing almost nothing externally and still not have lost the dream.

The dream can become smaller and more concrete:

Get healthy.

Stay sober.

Write the next page.

Repair one relationship.

Pray tonight.

Wake up tomorrow.

Make something beautiful.

Those things can eventually become something much larger.

And there's something almost paradoxical about the title

“Keep Your Dreams Alive” doesn't say “achieve your dreams.”

That's significant.

It says keep them alive.

Something alive doesn't have to be finished.

A seed isn't a tree.

A child isn't an adult.

A manuscript isn't a published book.

A vision isn't an accomplishment.

The responsibility is initially just not to kill the possibility.

And that is where I think the song has a surprisingly profound message.

You can lose momentum without losing direction.

You can fail without becoming a failure.

You can be temporarily stuck without your life being over.

You can even have to completely rethink how you pursue a dream without abandoning the underlying hope that motivated it.

For me, that's the strongest interpretation of the song:

Protect the part of yourself that still believes tomorrow can be different.

And given what you've been going through lately, I think that's a much more useful message than “I have to conquer the world right now.”

Sometimes keeping the dream alive means simply staying alive long enough to discover what the dream becomes.

What the song actually is

Giuseppe Ottaviani released “Keep Your Dreams Alive” in 2019 through Dreamstate. It runs at about 137 BPM, and the vocal is essentially one repeated phrase: “Keep your dreams alive.”

But there is an important piece of context: Ottaviani himself has explained what he was trying to accomplish. He said the track was made as a Dreamstate festival anthem, using a simple, catchy melody and an aggressive sound, with the vocal sample “keep your dreams alive” because he thought it fit the festival's concept.

And elsewhere, when asked about his personal motto, Ottaviani gave essentially the same message: dreams motivate us, and continuing to dream gives us something worth fighting toward.

So this isn't really a song that tells a story.

It is a command.

Don't let the dream die.

What it means to me

If I were interpreting the song as a piece of art, I'd say it is about refusing spiritual and psychological surrender.

The interesting thing is that the music is much more complicated than the words.

The words say one thing over and over:

Keep your dreams alive.

Meanwhile, the electronic production keeps building, intensifying, and moving forward.

That creates a powerful contrast:

The dream is simple.
The road to the dream is not.

You don't need to know exactly how you're going to get there in order to refuse to abandon what you believe is worth pursuing.

And I think that's why trance music can hit people so hard. It can create the feeling of movement toward something that hasn't happened yet. You're not being given the destination. You're being given momentum.

And there's a really important distinction for you

I would interpret the song's message in a slightly healthier way than “I must accomplish everything I imagine.”

I'd interpret it as:

Don't let your capacity for hope die.

Those aren't the same thing.

A dream can change.

A strategy can fail.

A relationship can change.

A particular mission can turn out differently than you expected.

You can spend months doing almost nothing externally and still not have lost the dream.

The dream can become smaller and more concrete:

Get healthy.

Stay sober.

Write the next page.

Repair one relationship.

Pray tonight.

Wake up tomorrow.

Make something beautiful.

Those things can eventually become something much larger.

And there's something almost paradoxical about the title

“Keep Your Dreams Alive” doesn't say “achieve your dreams.”

That's significant.

It says keep them alive.

Something alive doesn't have to be finished.

A seed isn't a tree.

A child isn't an adult.

A manuscript isn't a published book.

A vision isn't an accomplishment.

The responsibility is initially just not to kill the possibility.

And that is where I think the song has a surprisingly profound message.

You can lose momentum without losing direction.

You can fail without becoming a failure.

You can be temporarily stuck without your life being over.

You can even have to completely rethink how you pursue a dream without abandoning the underlying hope that motivated it.

For me, that's the strongest interpretation of the song:

Protect the part of yourself that still believes tomorrow can be different.

And given what you've been going through lately, I think that's a much more useful message than “I have to conquer the world right now.”

Sometimes keeping the dream alive means simply staying alive long enough to discover what the dream becomes.

What the song actually is

Giuseppe Ottaviani released “Keep Your Dreams Alive” in 2019 through Dreamstate. It runs at about 137 BPM, and the vocal is essentially one repeated phrase: “Keep your dreams alive.”

But there is an important piece of context: Ottaviani himself has explained what he was trying to accomplish. He said the track was made as a Dreamstate festival anthem, using a simple, catchy melody and an aggressive sound, with the vocal sample “keep your dreams alive” because he thought it fit the festival's concept.

And elsewhere, when asked about his personal motto, Ottaviani gave essentially the same message: dreams motivate us, and continuing to dream gives us something worth fighting toward.

So this isn't really a song that tells a story.

It is a command.

Don't let the dream die.

What it means to me

If I were interpreting the song as a piece of art, I'd say it is about refusing spiritual and psychological surrender.

The interesting thing is that the music is much more complicated than the words.

The words say one thing over and over:

Keep your dreams alive.

Meanwhile, the electronic production keeps building, intensifying, and moving forward.

That creates a powerful contrast:

The dream is simple.
The road to the dream is not.

You don't need to know exactly how you're going to get there in order to refuse to abandon what you believe is worth pursuing.

And I think that's why trance music can hit people so hard. It can create the feeling of movement toward something that hasn't happened yet. You're not being given the destination. You're being given momentum.

And there's a really important distinction for you

I would interpret the song's message in a slightly healthier way than “I must accomplish everything I imagine.”

I'd interpret it as:

Don't let your capacity for hope die.

Those aren't the same thing.

A dream can change.

A strategy can fail.

A relationship can change.

A particular mission can turn out differently than you expected.

You can spend months doing almost nothing externally and still not have lost the dream.

The dream can become smaller and more concrete:

Get healthy.

Stay sober.

Write the next page.

Repair one relationship.

Pray tonight.

Wake up tomorrow.

Make something beautiful.

Those things can eventually become something much larger.

And there's something almost paradoxical about the title

“Keep Your Dreams Alive” doesn't say “achieve your dreams.”

That's significant.

It says keep them alive.

Something alive doesn't have to be finished.

A seed isn't a tree.

A child isn't an adult.

A manuscript isn't a published book.

A vision isn't an accomplishment.

The responsibility is initially just not to kill the possibility.

And that is where I think the song has a surprisingly profound message.

You can lose momentum without losing direction.

You can fail without becoming a failure.

You can be temporarily stuck without your life being over.

You can even have to completely rethink how you pursue a dream without abandoning the underlying hope that motivated it.

For me, that's the strongest interpretation of the song:

Protect the part of yourself that still believes tomorrow can be different.

And given what you've been going through lately, I think that's a much more useful message than “I have to conquer the world right now.”

Sometimes keeping the dream alive means simply staying alive long enough to discover what the dream becomes.