Lisa’s “Dream” Lyrics, Explained

In the lead-up to Lisa’s debut solo album, the BLACKPINK rapper offered us a peek into the multitude of facets behind her artistry, from the flex-heavy “Rockstar,” to the ascendant dance-floor goddess on “Born Again.” And yet, when the highly anticipated project, appropriately titled Alter Ego, dropped Feb. 28, fans were delighted to discover the singer had even more personas to unveil.

Between its 12 tracks, Alter Ego is ambitious and sprawling with an astute use of trendy pop flourishes, hip-hop and trap swings, and A-list collaborators like Rosalía, Megan Thee Stallion, and Ryan Tedder. From name-checking The Incredibles’ Elastigirl, letting her hair down with Rapunzel, and going full-on “Badgrrrl,” it’s bop after bop with one notable exception: the final track “Dream.”

As the lone ballad, “Dream” was always going to stand out on the track list. But with candid lyrics, a soft vocal performance, and lullaby-esque production (courtesy of K-pop mainstays Shintaro Yasuda and her0ism), it feels less like an alter ego and more like a rare glimpse behind the facade.

Over a sparse but sparkling keyboard, Lisa trades in boastful bars for candid confessions to an ex she can’t be with, but can’t stop thinking about. In the first verse, she sings a series of questions: “Are you happy? Are you sad? / Are you always gonna hate me for that night in Tokyo?” It seems that when they split, she “hoped that it’d be open-ended,” but the book was firmly closed.

So how can you be with someone you can’t talk to? In a lush chorus filled with heavenly synths, Lisa finds a solution that isn’t “real, but it’s real enough,” and it starts by closing her eyes. “Been drowning in dreams lately / Like it’s 2019, baby,” its lyrics go, as she holds onto the memories and wistfully admits, “Don’t know where you sleep lately / But I’ll see you in my dreams, maybe.”

But the real kicker comes in the chorus’s final line, as she comes to terms with the reality of these imagined reunions: “If all that we were is all that we’ll ever be / It’s bittersweet / At least a girl can dream.”

In the second verse, a snapping beat drops in as her professions grow even more desperate. Lisa can’t glean anything new from her ex’s friends, and while the lyrics intimate the relationship’s end was her idea (“You got the harder side of the break”), she’s also the one struggling to move on.

That said, she’s not above taking some fault for the loss. In a pensive bridge, she accepts that everything — the dreamed reunion and a future together — is “only in my mind.” Still, she can’t help but pretend, putting her “makeup on just to fall asleep” and “playin’ three nights on the stereo.” (While its lyrics don’t confirm the context, fans speculate that it might be a callout to “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike, which she was spotted spotted dancing to at Coachella in 2023.)

Perhaps some things are better left in the past, only recalled through the glowing and forgiving colors of memories. By the final chorus, Lisa seems to understand she can’t live in her dreams and has to move on. So, instead of calling upon her imagination, she twists the final lyric into a heartbreaking question: “It’s bittersweet / Can we be friends at least?”