Who wouldn't be inspired by the possibility of playing tennis in the sky, towering skyscrapers and a giant sail-shaped structure with eyes over looking the ocean?
These are the things which prompted Adam Young of Owl City to splash a picture of Dubai's Burj Al Arab Hotel on the cover of the album which shot him to fame.
And although his overnight success saw him leave America's Midwest for the first time in his 23 years, it might be a good idea to keep a close eye on him if he ever makes it to the UAE.
"My ultimate dream is to grasp a fistful of balloon strings tightly in one hand," he said via e-mail.
"Each of them would be attached to a different coloured balloon in a floating bouquet above me. I'd take a deep breath and leap off the roof top of a seaside hotel or skyscraper and let the breeze carry me wherever it chooses to go."
Right. Slightly perturbed that his ultimate dream wasn't to achieve worldwide musical success or to pick up the odd Grammy Award (or at least a nomination), I realised Young is one guy fame is very unlikely to change.
Last summer, he was living with his parents in Owatonna, Minnesota, and had never left the Midwest. Last month, he played packed dates in China and completed a sell-out North American tour.
"I still can't even believe what's going on," he said.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my music taking off or connecting with people in ways that it seems to be doing. Knowing that there are people all around the world listening and appreciating my art is the most priceless feeling imaginable and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Needless to say, I'm completely thrilled and speechless at what's happening."
Life's simpler things
An electronic synthpop one-man project, Young gained mainstream popularity with Owl City late last year when his single Fireflies, from his third album, Ocean Eyes, hit the top of the charts in both the US and the UK.
But no matter how quickly the fame keeps coming he says he will still live for the simple things in life."I have a ridiculously-intense passion for powdered donuts," he said, as if to prove his point.
"At the end of the day, I'm still the same shy boy I've always been and I truly hope that no amount of success will change that or turn me into anything other than who I am. I'm endlessly grateful to be allowed to do what I do and I'm tremendously grateful to have the opportunity to reach my dreams and do what I love."
Troubled by insomnia, Young began spending his evenings in the basement of the house he grew up in, locked away with his computer and instruments. Often unable to sleep, the things around him provided a welcome diversion from nights just looking at the ceiling — something which also nurtured a wildly active imagination. "When I closed my eyes at night, I saw all sorts of things," he said.
"Now it depends on where I am, I suppose. If I'm lying awake at home, the last thing I see is my house and little town from a bird's eye view. If I'm in my bunk on the tour bus, I see the city I was just in, all the faces in the audience and usually whatever I had to eat that evening."
Young eventually combined his diversions and turned his frustration into positive energy to produce a blend of electronica using the modest equipment he had around him to record as best he could.
Forced to turn off the heating system in the house because of the noise the immersion heater created in his makeshift studio, his parents were left cold above the floorboards.
"We would yell down and tell him to put the heating back on," his mother said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "He didn't ever play his music for us because he said it was private, but I have to admit to trying to listen through the door a few times."
The singer and producer's single Fireflies appeared to come from nowhere to reach number one in the US in November. He says he was inspired by the boredom of his hometown as well as the clicks and beats from his laptop.
"The lights would sparkle and my mind would see big cities, bright lights and dreams."
Now signed to Universal, Young's is another MySpace success story. He uploaded his song onto the social networking site and began attracting a surprising amount of attention.
It was a song called Hello Seattle — another city Young had never visited but dreamt about — which caught the attention of the bosses at the label.
Ocean Eyes, his debut release for the recording giant, arrived last year with a picture of the Burj Al Arab on the cover — surprising, as Young had never even seen the ocean before.
"When I first laid eyes on that particular photo of the Burj Al Arab, it was one of those moments where I stood up and said, ‘That's it!'
"I'd been looking high and low for an album cover image that truly encompassed the heart and soul of the music itself, and when I saw that photo, I knew I'd found the perfect one. To me, it just looked like the two words — Ocean Eyes."
His innocent vocals evoke faraway fantasies and innocent daydreams throughout the album and it's clear Young wishes he could escape himself through the lyrics alone. "I'd absolutely love to escape to Dubai.
"I've never visited, and though I don't know much about the region, it seems an incredibly intriguing place to me and I'm fascinated by it. It looks very dreamy and surreal. It looks too good to be true. I'd drop everything in a heartbeat and board a plane bound for Dubai."
But it was the moment tennis was introduced into the conversation that the reality of laptop living really became apparent. "The thing I'd most likely look forward to the most, is that tennis court at the top of the Burj Al Arab. I saw a YouTube clip of people up there and the view looks INCREDIBLE. I can't get over how cool the concept is. Tennis in the sky."
A world away from the basement where he penned his early work, he added Dubai is on his wish list as a "must visit" destination. It's baby steps, but things are slowly changing. Young has just snapped up his own home (with the basement obviously being the biggest selling point) but says he is struggling with the concept of space.
"It's a big house and there is a bit more space than I have things to fill it with, but I'm somewhat of a hermit and I prefer a lot of space to spread out and do my own thing in," he said. "It does indeed have a good basement and that's probably my favourite part of the house, because it's the room I spend the most time in. Except for maybe the kitchen."
Young's influences are disco and European electronic music and after two independent releases and Ocean Eyes through Universal, he says work will soon start on his next offering.
Questions of fame, fortune, touring, Dubai and his basement aside, Young still manages to keep it real.
"I wish the media would ask me on a scale of one to 10 how painful the average kidney stone is," he said.
"I would promptly reply 10, and that is real life."
