Dreamcatcher Begins Well-Deserved Break, Giving Thanks To Their Fans

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

After an aggressive start to 2021, Dreamcatcher takes a rest, but keeps in touch with their fandom.

It’s no secret that Dreamcatcher has been basically hard at work since the beginning of the year (and likely before that due to prep that was needed) and in that time we’ve gotten a mini album comeback, Japanese album release, at least four concerts and a bevy of variety, vLive, and official channel content that has kept InSomnias well-fed throughout the first four months of the year.

After completing their latest major event, a two-day concert-fest that included two different trips through Dreamcatcher’s discography, the group has begun a well-deserved break, and while that means these recaps might be a little thinner for a while, I can’t be happier. Aside from the fact that I also get a break since I’ve been doing some pretty intensive writing myself (check out the full opinion pieces from the “Crossroads” concert series for Day 1 — Utopia and Day 2 — Dystopia when you have time to spare), it’s important and nice to see that Dreamcatcher Company knows not to push their idols too hard. With aspirations of being very busy and potential for three comebacks this year, they’ve realized that tired and strung-out idols make for not-so-great results. Dreamcatcher’s next scheduled event right now is the 24th, a Japanese-only fansign event for recent release “Eclipse”, so the hope is that we’ll see Dreamcatcher take a full rest before returning to their next album’s preparation.

With that being said, it wasn’t like Dreamcatcher was completely silent this past week, so let’s get into some of what we heard from the group!

First, a tidbit from Dreamcatcher’s recent “Eclipse” Japanese release. The single debuted on the Oricon chart at number 17 while on the weekly rock single chart put “Eclipse” at number 2. A small number of sales (2,583) accompanied this release, which appears to be in-line with other Japanese releases (they’ve hovered between 3.5k and 8k sales or so) and certainly for one that can’t be promoted normally. We all know in the K-Pop industry that fansigns, physical events, and the presence of an MV help drive sales, and with the “Eclipse” album having only one of those, that’s not bad, numbers-wise. It’s also not terribly great, but with production cost likely low for this release I would still call this OK for Dreamcatcher.

As for the album itself, you’ll definitely want to check out not just the full version of “Eclipse”, which includes Handong’s part of the song along with a really cool bridge, but also B-side “Don’t Light My Fire”, which for me harkens back to the symphonic metal bands of the early 2000’s. Dreamcatcher’s Japanese releases have always leaned more into the rock portion of their rock/pop identity, so be sure to drop a listen (and perhaps buy an album if you are able) when you can.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ukqa3IogOk[/embed]

With all the album and concert stuff flying about, I know I’d forgotten that recently Dreamcatcher’s YouTube channel passed 1 million subscribers. The milestone meant the YouTube was due to send a Gold Play button and a letter from their CEO about the achievement, and that’s exactly what they did. The above unboxing video, though short, was filled with trademark Dreamcatcher chaos, some funny one-liners (Dami telling SuA to bite the button to ensure it was real is one such comment), and of course, thankfulness to the fans for helping them get this far. Certainly to other, larger groups backed by equally larger companies, 1 million subscribers is a more effortless achievement, but for Dreamcatcher, who re-debuted with a non-traditional concept, this has been a long time coming. They’ve been on a slow but inevitable rise lately, and this was the latest metric that proved it. Definitely check out the video, if for anything else to see the group so excited about meeting the milestone.

We also began seeing the usual trickle of concert photos to help out just a little bit with fans’ post-concert depression feelings. First up was the KCON official account, which dropped a number of high-quality pics from Dreamcatcher’s appearance on the 21st. I was definitely happy at seeing some shots from the 2PM “My House” cover appear on Twitter, as the performance as a whole was a pleasant surprise to fans for what could have easily been a “standard” appearance with title tracks and light fan interactions.

Obviously, the official Dreamcatcher Twitter account wasn’t about to be outdone and has been over the past week dropping some behind-the-scenes photos of some of the stylish looks we got from the group during the concert. From the “SuDongGa” sub-unit dropping pictures of their brightly colored “Twinkle” outfits to Siyeon acting the part of an ancient scholar while holding a very modern umbrella in the rain, these were nice visual reminders of some of the memorable outfits we saw over the course of the “Crossroads” concert series. Sub-unit and special stage stuff is among some of my favorite content for the K-Pop groups I follow, as you get a different look into group members that you may not have been expecting to see, and this was no exception.

Handong also got to collect her birthday presents after being obviously occupied with more important concert items during her birthday weekend, and as always, the company, her fellow members, and fansites didn’t disappoint here. Gift hauls are always nice to see, especially as the increasing progression of them over the years shows both a growing fandom and appreciation for the members’ hard work (and, of course, making it another year around the sun). Aside from this, we also saw Handong post a quick little TikTok with some fun camera-snapping looks, showing that she’s probably learning a little bit from TikTok director Yoohyeon.

And of course, even though they’re on a break right now, Dreamcatcher took to official platforms this past week to express their appreciation, let the fans know they miss them, and generally let people know they’re having a restful start to their break. Gahyeon in particular seems to be once again gunning for that social media posting title that she’d last held when doing a bunch of vlogs, posting plenty of pictures and comments to Dreamcatcher’s Weverse platform and talking about everything from what to eat to life advice about having to deal with inevitable stress. We certainly heard from most everyone else as well, from everything about how Yoohyeon’s dog Pie was doing to some food and comfortable fashion posts from JiU and more, but Gahyeon’s definitely been out there a bit more keeping in touch with InSomnias.

[embed]https://www.vlive.tv/video/243432[/embed]

One of Dreamcatcher’s most chaotically fun duo’s, however, wasn’t about to be outdone on the keeping in touch front. SuA and Siyeon, aside from having the latest video in the Dreamcatcher “Catch Chinese” language series featuring them posted, took to vLive for a little over an hour to talk about how they were relaxing, watching TV, and having some tasty food, which Siyeon dropped onto Weverse. These kinds of casual vLives are always fun just to get a sense of Dreamcatcher’s ways of unwinding between events or comebacks, and even though Siyeon may have apparently dropped something at some point (reassuring us that she was OK) we can safely assume things are going well during break-time.

While I’m sure we’d all like more Dreamcatcher content, I would hope that everyone agrees that having the group get a good rest means better performances and appearances from them in the coming weeks and months, and as this past week showed, they’re not above checking in with fans every so often as they recharge batteries for more work. I’ll certainly be here waiting for what they have next in store, and hope you’ll all join me in wishing them a full and restful break.