A Successful “Wind Blows” through Dreamcatcher’s Follow-up Promotions

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

Dreamcatcher returns from holiday break with more content and an intensely powerful B-Side promotion for InSomnias in February 2021.

The Lunar New Year holiday concluded, and as expected, Dreamcatcher hit the ground running, kicking off a week of extended promotions featuring cyberpunk rock-style B-Side “Wind Blows” from their latest album “Dystopia: Road to Utopia”. But of course, that wasn’t the only Dreamcatcher content and news we got this week.

This past week’s performances from M! Countdown, Arirang’s Simply K-Pop, Music Bank, and Show! Music Core were all solid stages, with Dreamcatcher showing off that they not only put together another choreography for this mini-album, but they were also able to do it mostly singing live (even if there were some minor mishaps, like Yoohyeon having her receiver come loose and Gahyeon nearly running into JiU). The above Dance Practice video shows just how aggressive and mobile the choreography is from a wide-angle perspective, and while it’s certainly challenging, you can tell the group really enjoys what they’re doing, right from when Yoohyeon gives the practice literally more “Pow!”. “Wind Blows” and “Poison Love” were basically neck-and-neck as far as my personal favorite B-Sides from this mini-album, but watching the performances and how much effort they put into them this week made “Wind Blows” inch ever-so-farther up my 6th mini-album favorites list.

To be honest though, part of what’s making these follow-up promotions so memorable so far is the styling. While we’ve come to expect good things from Dreamcatcher and Azurer, (the fashion/stylist group that has made some truly iconic Dreamcatcher looks over the past year or so, check the linked translated video from 7DreamSubs for just one example), “Wind Blows” has certainly taken it up a notch. There’s a bit of recency bias here — after all, some of the best looks from this past month, like the neon-pink-and-black that JiU is sporting above, are from the jacket filming. But cyberpunk, and by extension dystopia, is current and in vogue due to recent media entries in that vein, so taking advantage of that with a hard-hitting rock/electronica song like “Wind Blows” requires you to look the part as well.

Bright neon colors, fake piercings, metallic-looking accessories, and of course, Dreamcatcher themselves all contribute to an in-your-face image that drives the aggressiveness of every “Wind Blows” performance even harder. Dreamcatcher is looking every bit like that one badass gang of troubleshooters and experts that the protagonists make a questionable, yet mutually beneficial deal with halfway through a Dystopia-style film, and InSomnia are here for it. We’re going to see performances at least until Show Champion on the 24th, so I’m looking forward to even more in-your-face choreography and fresh new looks for Dreamcatcher.

On the variety front, this past week had Dreamcatcher’s more entertaining, and at times, softer, side showing. Idol Ground continued its slate of episodes with SuA and Siyeon taking a turn at the Idol Ground introduction game. For Siyeon in particular, who ended up losing out last year during the challenge, this was her chance at redemption, while SuA was trying to make it through her first time through (with signature SuA loudness, of course). Did they succeed? You’ll have to watch to find out, though it wasn’t without it’s challenges.

And speaking of challenges, Dreamcatcher continued their tour through TongTongTv’s smorgasbord of fun games, this time participating against one another with trivia questions and dancing challenges to become “Insider King”. There’s a distinct reason the title contains a reference to the group’s cute, yet ultimately difficult past as MINX, and the moment that sends the group back to their bubblegum-and-brightly-colored past from 2014–2016 is one to remember. While there’s clearly some remnants of some of the rough times that Dreamcatcher experienced in their previous incarnation, it probably helps that A)they’ve had some time to put some distance between then and now, allowing them to joke at least a little bit about it and B)that they’ve enjoyed a ton of success as Dreamcatcher relative to back then.

Other than this, the video is well worth watching just to see some truly fun K-Pop classics get a Dreamcatcher-style treatment and the eventual Insider King winner (even with a little assist) have their time in the sun that they so richly deserve.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXXZjX8RvV8[/embed]

Out of the blue on the variety front was JiU, SuA, and Yoohyeon playing the senior role in visiting with ClevrTV’s Vitamin, one of two young idol groups that serve as the backbone for this YouTube channel for kids. There’s some really nice interactions here as Vitamin’s clearly talented young performers teach Dreamcatcher some of their choreography for their song and in turn learn a bit about Dreamcatcher, too — certainly enough to end up covering “Odd Eye” with fellow young idol group Pierce. This was nice on a few levels — first, to see that Korean-based channels continue to begin to recognize Dreamcatcher’s unique place in the K-Pop industry, and second, to see Dreamcatcher themselves serving in a kind of mentorship role to young performers who clearly look up to them. It’s just another testament to how far Dreamcatcher has come as a group, and how even though it is slow and steady, that their popularity is growing domestically.

Speaking of teaching and mentoring, how about some language learning from Dreamcatcher? That’s what most of the group did in working with Whosfan and DiCO to teach both Spanish-speakers and Mandarin-speakers how to say some Korean phrases. Idols in K-Pop are commonly tasked with being able to speak and understand more than just their native Korean, but Dreamcatcher in particular, with their focus on their international fanbase, is even more motivated to do so. Luckily, those of us who have been Dreamcatcher fans for a while know that the group is more than capable of working with multiple languages (Yoohyeon in particular has shown an amazing mastery of at least four or five that I can think of), so this was a nice little nod to international fans looking to learn a bit from their favorite idols. As someone currently looking to pick up languages, I’m always impressed at the discipline and impression Dreamcatcher gives in their language speaking, especially to native speakers, and I look forward to perhaps more of these in the future.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct0fmwqEPjg[/embed]

The crown jewel of this past week’s variety appearances, however, was most definitely Dreamcatcher’s return to Idol League in its new format (last appearance way back in 2018). The new format is more of a gauntlet of fun little mini-games and get-to-know-the-group challenges, with the reward being multiple courses of a full meal of tasty food, helmed by charismatic MCs Seo Eunkwang (leader of well-known boy group BTOB) and Sandara Park (one of legendary girl group 2NE1’s most well-known members), and Dreamcatcher was its latest (and certainly among its most enthusiastic) participants.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdpEOFhYYIs[/embed]

This appearance has been known and hyped up for over a month, and while the YouTube channel’s access to the full, English-subbed episode of Idol League with Dreamcatcher requires a nominal subscription fee (that you can cancel at any time), it is well worth it. Nearly 50 minutes of Dreamcatcher using their teamwork, their brains, and their swift dance moves to get themselves a delicious-looking slate of dishes was entertaining and exciting. Not every group succeeds at finishing all the challenges and getting the full meal, so Dreamcatcher had a tall order ahead of them. Again, I won’t be spoiling the outcome for you, but you’ll definitely want to watch if you’re able to because this was very much Dreamcatcher at their best.

Lastly, from a numbers perspective came more great news for album sales of “Dystopia: Road to Utopia”. Tracking Twitter account girlgroupsales reported that the Hanteo charts showed Dreamcatcher’s 6th mini-album sales cresting 80k with a total of 81,090 as of February 19th, 2021. If anything has cemented Dreamcatcher’s growth this time around, this was it, with fansigns carrying a five-digit sales week that rocketed them well beyond my expectations (70k was my guess for growth, 14k past last album “Dystopia: Lose Myself” and its 56k current sales). We’re not even a month into sales yet, and even if they slow down, Dreamcatcher is in very good shape from a growth and financial stability standpoint. You love to see it.

As if that wasn’t enough this past week, here’s a couple of other tidbits of Dreamcatcher news:

• Two more pre-recorded radio appearances — a two-hour return appearance for JiU and SuA for Hope Song at Noon and JiU, Dami, and Gahyeon appearing on Lee Joon’s Young Street.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwxTmbpbQI[/embed]

• The beginning of the release of “Odd Eye” promotions behind-the-scenes videos with Part 1 and Part 2 released in quick sequence. With abbreviated promotions for the 6th mini-album title track now over, going back to see some of the group’s thoughts on the comeback, still fresh in our heads, was nice to see.
• News of Dreamcatcher’s participation in ROLLING’s “The Challengers”, where fans submit their own original choreography takes on title tracks from idols to earn a signed CD prize. Dreamcatcher’s challenged fans to take on the pre-chorus of “Odd Eye” (0:42–1:08). We’ll more than likely be seeing another variety appearance from Dreamcatcher when they pick the winners.
• A couple of fun little vLives squeezed in between Dreamcatcher’s busy schedule and translated/edited by content creator insomnicsy, including SuA checking in with fans (with guest appearances by Dreamcatcher CEO Lee Joo Won, JiU, and Yoohyeon), anda voice-only vLive with Siyeon and Dami featuring some hilarious audio by Siyeon

The Wind’s still Blowing for Dreamcatcher promotions for at least one more week, and we’re sure to see and hear more about what everyone’s favorite rock/pop K-Pop girl group is up to. I’ll be here next week to summarize what will likely be the end of promotions for Dreamcatcher’s 6th mini-album and a look to what is most certainly beyond. See you then!