"Dreamer" is a song by Italian house group Livin' Joy, written and recorded by Janice Robinson and produced by brothers Paolo and Gianni Visnadi.
When the group was unable to reach a deal with Robinson for a follow-up single she was replaced by American singer Tameko Star.
In 2018, Robinson auditioned for the fifteenth series of The X Factor, singing "Dreamer" as her performance song 24 years after its original release in 1994.
Robinson moved to Italy and through her boyfriend, she came in contact with DJ Gianluca Venturi who worked at a club called Joia.
A music video was shot and after "Dreamer" was re-released in 1995, Robinson performed at the Top of the Pops in the UK, wearing a Vivienne Westwood corset.
[8] Larry Flick from Billboard remarked that here, Livin' Joy "weaves an irresistible fabric of vibrant house rhythms, blippy electro synth sounds, and fluttering diva vocal loops.
"[10] In 1996, Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report said that though they enjoyed plenty of exposure on the Euro club scene, this track didn't quite get the support needed from American radio.
[13] Andy Beevers from Music Week gave "Dreamer" four out of five, stating that "this happy house tune from Italy is bound to be a big club hit and its catchy female vocal should help it to cross over".
The drip-drip luscious vocals are sweet enough to be a substitute for the granulated sugar stuff you put in your tea in the morning, while the rave-till-you're-completely-zonked throbbings have probably caused bonfire high mountains of handbags on dancefloors recently.
"[17] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update declared it as an "maddeningly jaunty Italo pop bounder".
"True dance music for crossover radio is no easy trick; Livin' Joy has a story being told in the clubs.
"[19] Toni Birghental from Sun-Sentinel felt "Dreamer" "has great lyrics, but there's almost a sadness to them: 'I never learned how to hold love and stay strong to me/Now I close my eyes now and I'm dreaming right where I belong'.
The song slinks and builds up to that point, its loping bass and keyboard figures giving Robinson space to stretch out a bit and approach lines like 'Love, life and laughter is all I believe' with the lived-in relish they deserve.
He added that "the jumbo-sized synth bloops and hyper, screeching organ" and "the rip-roaring chorus of 'Dreamer' was guaranteed to stick in heads and make fools of amateur lip-syncers.
Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger explained, "The bumping, cut-up rhythms and vocals that begin the remixed 'Dreamer' [that was a hit] feel like garage, for example, but as Janice Robinson takes the song into its urgently blissful chorus I want to call it house – or even go more specific and say handbag house, that showy, uplifting offshoot that strutted across superclub dancefloors in the mid-90s.
The first video, for the 1994 version, was directed by Tom Laurie[23] and had split-screen footage of sped up urban cityscapes with a silhouetted female dancer (unclear if this is Janice Robinson).
Alex Party was then scrapped and their focus was back on Livin' Joy with Tameko Star taking over as lead singer from Janice Robinson.
A cover version of the song by Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders was released on his Late Night Tales compilation in 2008.
[citation needed] Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner's spoken word story "A Choice Of Three" appears as a b-side.