Content Drops And New Gigs Accompany Dreamcatcher Into 2022’s Chuseok Holiday
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
The K-Pop group’s official channels stayed busy with vlogs, an unboxing, and more as Dreamcatcher enters into a brief holiday break in South Korea.
Chuseok, the annual multi-day fall harvest festival holiday that is celebrated every year by South Korea, offers a brief respite from what are usually packed schedules for many K-Pop groups. Dreamcatcher is no exception here, as the group’s summer tour and continuing activities and appearances throughout August mean taking time for themselves for the holiday is nice for the group. That said, leading up to the holiday this past week, we still saw quite a bit from the company and Dreamcatcher’s members as far as content goes. Let’s take a quick look at the latest from Dreamcatcher in early September 2022!
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/0-104620372[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi40_knDc8c[/embed]
JiU got a bit of limelight from fans and the press this past week, as a JiU fancam filmed by TV Daily KR made its way out onto the outlet’s YouTube page and she also took the time over Weverse live to check in with fans. In both instances, you can tell that the group’s leader was happy to interact with the fandom — the fancam, for example, catches her during the performance cracking a couple smiles when hearing the cheers from Dreamcatcher fans. During the Weverse live we got to hear a few small tidbits from JiU — that she’d like to release subunit songs on an album for fans, which songs she’s been enjoying lately, and most interestingly, that there’ve been “schedules” lately for the group. With Dreamcatcher’s comeback confirmed for October, that last bit should come as no surprise, as final preparations and things such as filming for all the various comeback bits we’ve come to expect, but it’s still exciting to hear things apparently coming together behind the scenes
[embed]https://twitter.com/heypop_official/status/1567431777458999299[/embed]
Variety shows are also showing Dreamcatcher’s “charismatic bunny leader” some love, as JTBC’s Hey News put out the call for relatives of fans of JiU to tell them their stories. The series put out by the entertainment channel, called “Hi There”, is a one-on-one interview show where Korean celebrities meet relatives of fans of the artist. Often, these interviews are deep and sometimes emotional, as they highlight stories from the relative as to why the fan appreciates the celebrity. An example is this story from the husband of a fan of DKZ’s Jaechan, who draws inspiration from Jaechan and the group’s viral rise to fame despite hardship. That inspiration helps the couple deal with the difficulties of a six-year-old child with a rare form of cancer. While I’m not sure if we’ll get something as deep for JiU’s session it will nevertheless be an interesting experience for Dreamcatcher’s eldest member.
Speaking of interesting experiences, Dreamcatcher’s Handong got to be a part of something new for her this past week — being a DJ on a radio show. TBS eFM, a Seoul-based radio network known for having foreign-focused programming, invited Handong to be the Special DJ for the show’s Chinese-language broadcast “Akdong Seoul”, which discusses the latest in K-Pop as well as takes listener questions. Handong’s been on the show before, along with K-Pop group Nature’s Aurora, to promote Dreamcatcher’s “Apocalypse: Save Us” album, and this time Aurora accompanied Handong on two of this week’s broadcasts before the show had Handong go it solo on the 8th of September. She’ll have one more Special DJ solo appearance on the 13th before the temporary gig is over.
I’m really happy for Handong getting and owning this opportunity. It’s just the latest in a number of achievements and recognitions of the Chinese-born member’s development and increase in confidence over the past year or so since she’s been back in the group. Handong joked, charmed, followed the radio format, and generally was great all around during last week’s appearances, so perhaps we may see more in the future for her to show off her emerging talents.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B58Qap5_DM[/embed]
As for the rest of Dreamcatcher, we got a double helping of North American tour content this week, as the third part of the Dreamcatcher’s Note series on the month’s travel plus a fun Part 1 of SuA’s personal vlog dropped onto the official YouTube page. SuA’s experiences were pretty fun to watch — even if she wasn’t my favorite member, seeing her day-to-day has always been entertaining because she’s always so open about what she films and her experiences. Having Handong along as a roommate has also made a normally chaotic solo vlog into one that involves at least a duo of fun exchanges about hotels, fans outside of the venues, and of course, food.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aLRXwKI26s[/embed]
The Note, as always, had plenty of group interactions and memorable moments, from JiU and the group’s stylists fixing a non-cooperative fashion piece so she could dance better to Yoohyeon doing a grand total of one pushup then claiming she did fifteen. With sometimes-longish downtime between styling and rehearsal/sound check time, the group’s choices to do practical things (such as eat and save energy) or fun things (like see who can take photos in the most over-the-top/funny way) have always been entertaining to watch on tour. We’re only really about halfway through the month’s stops, so I’m looking forward to much more.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIlgkXkGNQs[/embed]
As if that wasn’t enough, we had JiU and SuA crack open the new Dreamcatcher Mood Light Cradle and demonstrate how it works, especially with the lightstick, to create new items. This idea has always been one that could have possibly taken form with the lightstick’s removable head piece, so to see it work with another piece of merchandise is really cool, and increases the value of both items. Of course, we were treated to Dreamcatcher’s eldest members having as much fun opening the box as much as displaying the items, and we continued to get a curious potential spoiler with the “V” sign as they introduced themselves in two syllables. Could “V” mean two? Handong gave another “V” sign this week as a “spoiler” during her radio gig, so it seems there may be small hints of this being a gesture associated with the next title track. Time will tell.
[embed]https://twitter.com/ACL_studio/status/1567807454192275463[/embed]
As if on cue this week in response to Dreamcatcher’s subtle spoiler hinting, ACL Studio (the same place associated with filming Dreamcatcher’s Wonderwall collaboration earlier in the year) has put out calls for fan participation in their “Idolstein” series, where idol groups show up and demonstrate scientific concepts (here’s an example from boy group Treasure from recent content). This is interesting and cool for a few reasons — first, the continuation of an existing partnership for Dreamcatcher, second, the fact that five years later Yoohyeon will finally get to “do a science”, and third, the intriguing thought that these variety appearances don’t happen unless they are associated with a comeback and album promotion. We know Dreamcatcher is coming back in October, so if they’re lining up variety appearances already, we may see them back earlier in that month rather than later. We’ll have to see.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UA595GK2kc[/embed]
It seems that Dreamcatcher is gearing up for a prep month filled with spoilers and teasers for the upcoming comeback, but if last week was any indication, the content will continue to roll in. As always, I’ll be here next week to report on all the Dreamcatcher post-holiday news and updates, so be sure to come back then to read about the latest!
