We recently connected with Tino Aka LUCIDFRVR and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tino, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

So far my most meaningful project is my first EP “LUCIDFRVR”. It represents the moment I finally stepped into myself as an artist and allowed my creativity and vulnerability to exist without restraint.

It was the year 2020, deep within the pandemic, and I had chosen to stay alone in a city far away from my family and friends. Looking back, I realize that a big part of that decision came from me not wanting to be around people whilst going through my first heartbreak. I feel things very intensely, very passionately, and this was the most overwhelming feeling that I had ever experienced in my life… But it also became transformative.

I’ve always wanted to be a recording artist. At that point I had been teaching myself how to record music and produce in my bedroom for the past three years from scratch. The emotions, the solitude, the dream… It all culminated into this story about a character named LUCIDFRVR, a lucid dreamer who could control the realm of “Surreality”. But after losing Amani (Swahili for “peace”) he loses control and begins to turn the realm into his own nightmare. He decides that the only way to regain full control of his power is to follow Amani into the realm of “Reality”, where he has no power.

Creating this project was the first time I felt truly aligned with my calling as an artist. I wasn’t chasing validation, I was expressing my truth. It was raw, surreal, and honest. I still revisit it often because that chapter feels like the genesis of my artistic identity. It taught me how powerful it is to create from a place of openness rather than perfection.

The response genuinely surprised me. I didn’t expect so many people to resonate with the music and the emotion behind it. That connection made me feel like I was living my dream for the first time.

“LUCIDFRVR” became the first in a trilogy exploring that character’s journey, a series I’m now continuing with a new trilogy. I’m grateful for how far the story has carried me, but even more grateful for where it has taken me internally. That project is where I found my voice, my confidence, and my purpose. I’m currently working on the next trilogy in the series, and I’m really excited about what’s to come.

Tino, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m an artist, producer, and storyteller who builds worlds through sound. My work exists where R&B, Rap, and Alternative music intersect, but more than genres, I’m drawn to emotion. I call what I make Lucid R&B, a genre without boundaries, shaped by my life, influences, and the dreamlike world that surrounds them.

I didn’t grow up in a place where music was a normal thing to get into, but I’ve always known this is what I was meant to do. Everything changed when I discovered Tinashe on YouTube. She had released three EPs from a makeshift bedroom studio, and it was the first time I realized that I didn’t have to wait for permission, I could start creating now. I spoke to my mom about it, and even though she didn’t fully believe in it at the time, she bought me my first recording equipment. That moment changed my life. She’s since become my biggest supporter, and someone I’ve been grateful to have on this journey.

Since getting into music, I’ve built a trilogy of projects “LUCIDFRVR”, “HRTBRKGHOST”, and “DRMSTATE” (as well as a handful of other singles and mixtapes) that trace my transformation, from heartbreak and loss to self-awareness and rebirth.

LUCIDFRVR also became part of my identity, a reflection of my higher self. Through him, I tell stories that blend reality and surrealism, using music as a medium for metaphorical worldbuilding. I always try to pull people into this world. It’s big, and is always expanding with new stories and characters as my life evolves.

What sets me apart is that I don’t just make songs, I build worlds. My art exists across music, visuals, and storytelling. Every release is a chapter in a larger mythology where emotions are transformed into sound, color, and movement.

As someone who feels deeply, I want that to come across in my music. I want people to walk away from it with something, to understand emotions they’ve never felt before or to feel seen in emotions they thought they felt alone in.

I’m proud of staying authentic to that vision. Building something meaningful from the ground up, even when the path wasn’t clear. Staying true to my God given blueprint and always trying to align my vision to Him. My brand, LUCIDFRVR, is about moving through the world with intention and understanding who you truly are. Life is a dream, and we are all lucid dreamers.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A major thing I’ve had to unlearn in my life as a creative is being overly cautious. Growing up I didn’t have many examples of risk takers around me. I myself was always advised to take the safest path in all my endeavors. But to live a life without risk is a kind of death sentence for artists. It’s through risk that we stretch the limits of what we can express, and it’s through risk that we stumble into the opportunities that change our lives.

The journey of an artist tends to be the road less travelled, and that is something that became painfully clear the deeper I got into my craft. It’s something that affected not just my art, but my life in general. But time and time again, as I continued to move towards my dreams, I started realizing that every meaningful moment in my journey came from taking a leap of faith, not a step of certainty. And when I don’t take it, it often leads to a very low point in my life where I have no choice but to do so anyways. A big example of this was the 2020 lockdown. At my lowest point, I was forced to stop trying to hide my real life stories behind songs that tried to match what I was hearing on the radio. I had to let go and become vulnerable for the world to see. It was the first time I had done anything like that in my life.

Since then, the leaps have only gotten bigger. But so have the rewards, the faith, and the understanding that everything meaningful lives just beyond comfort.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is the process. Pulling something that once only existed in my imagination out here into the world. There’s something powerful about turning a feeling, a dream, or a painful moment into something tangible that can move other people. I’m a conduit for something bigger than myself. And going beyond that, the constant evolution. The fact that I get to grow in real time, and my art grows with me. Each project becomes a timestamp of who I was, what I was learning, and how I was changing. I think that’s the gift of being an artist, we get to document our becoming.

Music has also always been a form of therapy for me. The writing, singing, producing. It’s reflection, and creation all at once. So when someone reaches out and tells me that a song helped them through something, or that they connected with what I did, it reminds me why I do this. Those moments make every doubt, every late night, and every risk worth it.

At the core of it, I see my art as service. To God, and to humanity. If even one person feels more understood or inspired to chase their own dream because of something I created, then I’ve done what I was sent here to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lucidfrvr.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinotheluciddreamer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tinotheluciddreamer/
• Twitter: https://x.com/LUCIDFRVR
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSrNn5WEL9ri0t3QAHXv77w
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/tinotheluciddreamer

Image Credits

Tamia Ngema
WL Tebogo
Takudzwa Mugombi