Collab, Concert Prep, And Chicken Dinner All Highlight Dreamcatcher’s Mid-September Activities

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

K-Pop’s Dreamcatcher continues its busy September in 2021 with activities both small and large.

NOTE: This article was written prior to the news of Gahyeon testing positive for COVID-19 and Dreamcatcher entering self-quarantine, canceling all activities temporarily. Like many other fans, I wish Gahyeon a speedy recovery and well wishes. The health and safety of Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company staff (not to mention everyone else) is top priority and I hope everyone will be well both mentally and physically through what will no doubt be challenging to deal with.

For those seeking information about Gahyeon’s COVID-19 diagnosis and how it affects Dreamcatcher, please note the following:

Current Info (as of 09/21/21 08:00AM KST):
Dreamcatcher Gahyeon’s Positive COVID-19 Diagnosis

Official Announcement (Fancafe) | 7 Dreamers Translation
Official Update — Dreamcatcher Test Results (Fancafe) | 2Moori Translation

• Dreamcatcher’s Gahyeon tested positive for COVID-19 after not feeling well on 09/19/21 earlier in the day and deciding to take a pre-emptive PCR test.
• The rest of Dreamcatcher and their staff have tested negative for COVID-19 as of 09/20/21.
• Dreamcatcher has canceled all activities including their KCON:TACT HI 5 appearance/NEOGEN promotions and will immediately self-quarantine for two weeks. The quarantine period likely also affects SuA’s regular SBS Wendy’s Youngstreet appearances and potentially Chuseok holiday and Siyeon’s birthday activities, though these are not confirmed at the time of this writing.
• Gahyeon is likely (though not confirmed) to have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot between 08/15/21 and 09/19/21, per fan account 2Moori’s translation of a fansign video of Gahyeon confirming she successfully had booked her first vaccine shot in mid-August. As South Korea has recently reported that they have delayed vaccine second doses to six weeks between doses, it is highly likely (though not confirmed) that Gahyeon has only one shot at most.
• For further information about COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness (as I’m sure fans may be curious given the above), please refer to this article about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy from the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage.

—

Below is the original article prior to the above news.

Dreamcatcher might be off the comeback trail, but if September has been any indication, they have been just as busy as if they were on it. Fans have never been left wanting for content from this K-Pop group, but this is, perhaps, the busiest we’ve seen them on a non-comeback schedule in quite some time. Between their first major Collab/CF (Commercial Film) with global beauty brand NEOGEN and prep for KCON:TACT HI 5, not to mention some other fun content, Dreamcatcher has been working hard, so let’s take a peek at what we saw from the group over the last week!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8_lE5oz5M[/embed]

Dreamcatcher’s collaboration with global beauty brand NEOGEN formally kicked off this week, with the custom-chosen hand creams and body mists finally going live on multiple storefronts. To celebrate the launch, Dreamcatcher livestreamed for nearly an hour from their official YouTube channel, talking about each scent in turn as well as running an exclusive discount for people watching. With this being their very first major collaboration and the fact that there were extra incentives such as including photocards with purchases, many fans were highly motivated to get in on the action and support the group. Pre-orders will ship near or at the end of September, so while it will be some time before InSomnias get their hands on Dreamcatcher’s new skincare/beauty products, the wait will likely be very much worth it.

For those seeking information about Dreamcatcher’s new hand cream/body mist collaboration with NEOGEN, here’s all the updated info below:

Price (not including VAT for relevant countries)

• Approx. 47,200 KRW (each set of 7)
• Approx. 10,400 KRW (individual)

Where to Buy (more stores including Shopee MY/Shopee SG (confirmed in stock 09/25) to stock in the future)

• Neogenlab.us
• Neogen Naver — Sets | Individual
• Cokodive
• Yesasia
• Yesstyle — Set — Body Mist | Set — Hand Cream | Individual — Body Mist | Individual — Hand Cream

Scent Info

• JiU — Passion Neroli — Citrus/Lavender Scent with Petitgrain Oil
• SuA — Motion Suede — Floral/Peony Scent with Orange Oil
• Siyeon — Moonlight Musk — Musk/White Rose Scent with Thyme Oil
• Handong — Rose Love — Floral/Citrus Scent with Rose Oil
• Yoohyeon — Freedom Iris — Floral/Iris Scent with Sandalwood Oil
• Dami — Self Bergamot — Fruity/Sweet Scent with Bergamot Oil
• Gahyeon — Daydream Sweety -Fruity/Vanilla Scent with Orange Oil

Miscellaneous Info

• Polaroid Event -Pre-orders on select stores entered into a chance to win a random signed Polaroid by a Dreamcatcher member (check product/store pages to ensure participation)
• Photocards -1 of 7 random “slim” photocard with each individual item, 3 of 7 random regular-sized photocards with each set
• Pre-order Codes -”NEW CUSTOMER” at checkout for 20% discount (Neogen official sites only)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T1HlOVZRN8[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjqu4jk7v80[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOrMctd3toY[/embed]

Even as Dreamcatcher proceeded with their new collaboration with NEOGEN this past week, Dreamcatcher set out with a (by now) tried-and-true partner in KCON to help promote their upcoming appearance at KCON:TACT HI 5. A trio of videos both public and membership-only appeared on the KCON official channel, and included a Dance Practice for “BEcause”, a HI 5 challenge to literally give each other high fives when certain lyrics from “BEcause” played, and a fun, extended pajama party Live Premiere that featured Dreamcatcher playing a fun game of Q&A Jenga, engaging in some loud and energetic karaoke, and coming up with some original art to give away to fans. The ramp-up to KCON:TACT has always been fun for Dreamcatcher to participate in, and this set of activities was no exception for the group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgqBLkwPZgkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIBX09XzP6shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-smi5mcOl0[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwoVVJr2Ksc[/embed]

Content from “BEcause” promotions continued to trickle out this week in the K-Pop world at large, with Arirang posting several shorts from Dreamcatcher’s August After School Club appearance, a short video interview with a Malaysian YouTube channel, and an appearance with other artists to dance to popular song “Dynamite” from BTS. All of these go to show that during comeback time, Dreamcatcher pumps out a ton of content and participates in lots of activities for partners (such as MMT Shop’s upcoming Dreamcatcher fan cafe pop-up store) and interviewers to put up.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWHffvQer-c[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuxAp42VyfI[/embed]

On the official channel, we got treated to several fun and satisfying videos, including the last of the behind-the-scenes promotions for “BEcause”, highlighted by Yoohyeon getting to be the most successful Sunmi fan to date by A)getting a signed Sunmi album, B)getting to do dance challenges with Sunmi, C)getting affectionate selfies with Sunmi and D)actually exchanging numbers with Sunmi so they could stay in touch and talk. Yoohyeon’s been a big fan of the veteran K-Pop soloist for years, and finally working hard enough to be able to meet and establish a potential professional connection with her had to have been one of the happiest days of her life. Aside from this, we got plenty of the usual Dreamcatcher hijinx, including a fun relay-style ending where everyone got to talk about their feelings about promotions and thank the fans. Promotions-related Notes are always nice to watch, and even though they seemed shorter this time around, they were no less filled with candid Dreamcatcher content.

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

Speaking of candid and fun, one of the best of the official YouTube channel’s content this past week was Gahyeon’s gaming live stream, where she engaged in over two hours of fun times in battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). After seeing a couple of Yoohyeon’s gaming live streams I was curious at how someone else would take the video game helm, Gahyeon proved to be an entertaining host. There were a ton of funny moments including Gahyeon accidentally driving into everything, being ambushed by a sudden grenade shot, and several shooting sequences that reminded me of the spraying tactics she used during Dreamcatcher’s Airsoft reality show episode.

But the real fun came when Gahyeon was bold enough to create a room for InSomnias to join and play a couple rounds of PUBG with her. Laughing as she drove, shot, and looted her way to a winning performance with fans, Gahyeon’s face seemed to light up even when mishaps like shooting the people trying to help her and accidentally falling off a cliff happened. The fact that A)Gahyeon was courageous enough (and the company accommodating enough) to allow not only games with fans but voice chat and B)that she thoroughly enjoyed herself to the point that she hoped a future weekend stream would draw more people is a testament to how much the fans mean to her. The practice of encouraging parasocial relationships in the K-Pop industry aside, I’ve never gotten the impression that Dreamcatcher doesn’t appreciate their fans or only sees them as a means to an end for a successful career as an idol. Until we see evidence to the contrary, they definitely seem to treasure time with them, and considering a livestream employing fan participation could have gone poorly in a huge number of ways and caused staff to intervene, it was big and kind of Gahyeon to take that leap and try to connect more with the fans, even if it was over the internet in a “for fun” battle royale game session. Whether or not this can continue to go well for future streams as the fandom grows remains to be seen, but for now, in an almost two-and-a-half hour session, Gahyeon seemed to confirm for herself and her fans one benefit of working so hard in this business as an artist. It was wholesome and entertaining, and one can hope we’ll get more of it in the future.

—

Even though we’re going to see a pause on Dreamcatcher activities for a bit, as Gahyeon recovers and the rest of the group’s/staff’s health and safety is a priority, we’ll likely still see and hear more news. I’ll also be filling the quarantine weeks with some additional content, which I hope readers can look forward to. Here’s to hoping Gahyeon gets well soon, and for the rest of the group and staff associated with Dreamcatcher to get/stay healthy. See you here next week!