Some childhood memories fade with time—but for Honolulu-based singer-songwriter Bryn Ryan-VanDyke, one recurring dream refused to let go. Now she’s turned that haunting vision into a reimagined single and music video, releasing “Strange Dream (Special Edition)” through HIP Video Promo.
Ryan-VanDyke, originally from Southern California, found herself returning night after night in her youth to the same surreal location: a mansion where every door opened into a different dream. That imagery now anchors her latest release, a re-recorded version of her earlier track “Strange Dream” that captures a more dramatic, live-energy sound.
Her path to music began with a pivotal moment of self-reckoning. On New Year’s Eve in Australia, standing beneath the Southern Cross, she made a promise to herself: live without regrets and refuse to let fear dictate her choices. Music, she realized, was what moved her most deeply. From that realization came a journey—she taught herself guitar, wrote songs at night and on weekends, and worked her way from coffeehouses and open mics to Hollywood’s Rainbow Room. Her influences span Alanis Morissette, Stevie Nicks, Amy Lee of Evanescence, Hayley Williams of Paramore, and Elton John’s ballads—artists who confront complicated emotions with a distinctive edge. She also cites Dolly Parton’s songwriting skill and her witty yet kind, unapologetic personality as inspirations. Rather than smoothing over life’s contradictions for the sake of a song, Ryan-VanDyke lets them stand as they are.
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The dream that sparked the song was vivid and unsettling. Hundreds of children climbed a hill toward a mansion. Inside, each child stood alone before a series of doors—and behind every door waited a dream. Some were pleasant, most were frightening, all were strange. The dread wasn’t just about what lay beyond each threshold; it was about the solitude of choosing, having climbed alongside a crowd only to face the decision alone.
That unease permeates the lyrics. The clock reads noon, though it’s early morning. The moon appears while the sun should shine. The narrator attempts to fly but falls, then somehow breathes underwater as fear closes in. “Am I awake? Am I asleep?” she asks, caught between dream state and waking life. Later, a voice calls through the waves, and she invites it to reach out a hand and be brave together. But the line “Such a sweet dream, I wish I believed” undercuts even that glimmer of comfort. The refrain repeats the same question—”What does it mean?”—leaving doubt unresolved rather than offering easy answers.
The “Special Edition” represents more than a simple remix. Ryan-VanDyke re-recorded the vocals after her live performances with her band revealed a more dramatic delivery that better captured the song’s emotional weight, shifting away from the gentler tone of the original. The unsettling imagery and unanswered questions remain intact, though the new version carries a heightened intensity. Live footage from the Composer Showcase Las Vegas on November 5, 2025, offers another perspective on the performance. Keith Thompson, Co-Founder and Musical Director, produced and directed the performance and composed charts for the showcase orchestra, with Michael Heart handling audio recording production. In revisiting “Strange Dream,” Ryan-VanDyke brings an old memory into her present work, preserving its mystery while continuing to write from the experiences that shaped her.
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Andrew Gesner
HIP Video Promo
+1 732-613-1779
info@hipvideopromo.com
Why it matters: Ryan-VanDyke’s reimagined single shows how an artist can revisit earlier work with fresh perspective, using live performance energy to deepen emotional resonance. For listeners, it’s a reminder that creative growth often comes from returning to old material—not to revise its meaning, but to let it evolve alongside the artist.
