UK Artist Precious Pepala Releases New Single ‘Dream Cheater’

If you’ve been watching the rise of young British artists who refuse to play by pop’s rules, you’ve probably already felt the impact of Precious Pepala—maybe through a playlist, maybe through a festival stage, or maybe through a TikTok scream-sing moment you didn’t realise came from a 20-year-old Sheffield girl with Zambian roots and a voice built for drama. Her new single “Dream Cheater,” a dark, gritty pop-rock song is the latest sign that Precious is entering a new era, and she’s not shy about making it loud.

“Dream Cheater” is exactly what it sounds like: a song born from a dream that felt a little too real. Precious wakes up convinced her lover betrayed her, spiralling into the kind of jealousy and irrational rage anyone who’s ever loved too hard secretly understands. The track wraps all that chaos in electric guitars, pulsing drums, angry lyricism and the kind of fierce, sharp vocals that make you stop mid-scroll. It’s also her playful revenge on her own viral moment “Pls Cheat On Me,” turning the joke on its head and reminding us that sometimes the universe hears you a little too clearly.

The song comes with a video that deepens the storyline, letting us watch everything unfold from her partner’s perspective—confusion, tension, and all. And it’s only the beginning. “Dream Cheater” is a taste of what’s coming on her upcoming EP, ‘Rosey,’ a project that follows the toxic, spiralling arc of a relationship so intense that both lovers meet a fatal ending.

It’s messy, dramatic, emotional—very Precious. She says she didn’t want to make soft, dreamy love songs. She wanted to explore jealousy, internet-fueled tension, dating-app chaos, and all the bleak realities of modern romance that people pretend they’re too mature to relate to. “Some people might hear the songs and think I’m crazy or toxic, which maybe I am,” she jokes, “but if most people are honest, they’ve either been like Rosey or had a friend like Rosey before—just without the fatal ending, hopefully!”

Her storytelling is bold, but her year has been just as loud. Precious has been turning heads everywhere—from MTV UK to Rolling Stone, Ones To Watch, HUNGER, Lyrical Lemonade, NYLON, BBC Radio 1, and Spotify’s biggest playlists. On stage, she’s a different kind of force: small in height, huge in energy. This year alone she’s performed at The Great Escape, Sound City, Gathering Sounds, Rock N Roll Circus Festival, and supported Victor Ray on tour. There’s something irresistible about the contrast—this tiny figure with a voice, presence, and emotional weight that can swallow a room whole.

But the real core of Precious Pepala isn’t just her sound. It’s her honesty. Growing up as a pastor’s daughter, vulnerability wasn’t exactly a household activity. Hard conversations didn’t happen. Questions about religion weren’t welcomed. So she learned to hold everything in—until the pressure made music the only door she could run through. She talks openly about how songwriting became her way of finally saying things she couldn’t say at home, especially when she was dealing with guilt and confusion about faith.

“Music put it into words for me, It gave me a way to say to my parents, ‘I’m not like you.’ It opened the door for conversations that were impossible before.”

Precious laughs about being underestimated, almost amused by people’s assumptions when they see her for the first time. Barely five feet tall, soft-spoken offstage, then suddenly erupting with huge ideas, huge emotions, and huge vocals—she’s learned to wear that contrast proudly. “There are big things I want to talk about,” she says. “Big ideas I want to share with the world.”

And that’s exactly what she’s doing. With “Dream Cheater,” an explosive EP on the way, and a growing list of supporters co-signing her every move, Precious Pepala is walking in with a story and a sound that keeps evolving with every release. She’s bold, a little chaotic, deeply honest, and completely impossible to ignore.

If she’s this fearless at 20, the world should probably buckle up for what comes next.

Stream Precious Pepala’s New Song, Dream Cheater

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Watch Precious Pepala’s New Video for Dream Cheater