Dreamcatcher Remains Busy In February, As Both Present And Future Plans Keep Them Visible To Fans
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
K-Pop’s resident rock/pop girl group continues a comeback-lite promotions schedule into the second month of 2023, even as they reveal more in store for the fandom.
If we know anything about Dreamcatcher, it’s that they like to keep up a busy schedule, even when they aren’t actively promoting a brand-new album and title track. Dreamcatcher fandom has frequently referred to itself as one of the “most spoiled” fandoms in terms of content, and the facts seem to bear out the assumptions. The Dreamcatcher Video Database, the currently-in-beta searchable resource for the group’s media that I put together, counts 3,540 videos as of this writing, 37 of them from this year alone, making it just about a video per day. Doing this even despite not currently being on a comeback schedule shows that the group likes to keep itself busy and visible to its fanbase, and given what we now know about a large part of their early 2023 plans, that’s going to continue for quite some time.
There were a lot of past, present, and future bits of news and media we were treated to this past week from Dreamcatcher, so let’s take a look at what we learned as we entered a very busy February for the group!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGuu_vDF8f4[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTLnv3MsAD4[/embed]
Past content got a nice little boost this past week with several content drops from the official Dreamcatcher YouTube channel and other places on the platform. The first of these was the long-awaited SuA and Siyeon Special Clip, the last of a series of clips that group members produced for fans prior to their one-month vacation from mid-December to just before mid-January. Suayeon, as the common subunit name has been known as amongst the fandom, anchored this Special Clip collection with a feel-good cover of Younha’s “Oort Cloud”, a whimsical song about journeying off and finding adventures and growth with those you care about. The video itself is set in the context of a mini holiday camping trip, with SuA and Siyeon enjoying all the fun activities of the great outdoors while still being able to retreat to a cabin for warmer climes and even more warm friendship vibes. Admittedly, I haven’t had a chance to check out more of Younha’s discography before this but I plan to now, especially after three Dreamcatcher members have done recent covers.
In case you missed the series, here’s the rest of the videos:
- Handong — Chinese version Dreamcatcher medley — “A Heart of Sunflower”, “Jazz Bar”, “Daydream”, “Polaris”
- Yoohyeon/Dami — “NDA” cover (orig. by Billie Eilish)
- Gahyeon — “White” cover (orig. by Fin K.L.)
- JiU — “Event Horizon” cover (orig. by Younha)
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZWA-CEWtE[/embed]
Dreamcatcher’s partnership with VENTA X continues as the channel dropped in a 3 minute preview in both English and Korean for their recent 3D VR concert “The Curse of the Spider” available on compatible Meta Oculus devices. The channel was also offering memberships on YouTube, but a sudden snag due to YouTube membership policies means they appear to have been suspended at the moment. We’ll hope that works out, as greater exposure of the video to a wider audience can only be a good thing for the group.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9GWJ5nkmMw[/embed]
Speaking of good things, the EU tour coverage continues as Yoohyeon had a mini-VLOG drop filled with a compilation of video from the tour filled with good food, fellow Dreamcatcher members, and nice scenery. After the extensive multi-part vlog we got for the NA tour, Yoohyeon having a nice, simpler medley of images seems like a nice break from the work of editing and cutting together a month’s worth of travel and content, and having “For” playing in the background adds to the simple, elegant nature of the footage. Definitely worth checking out.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPZLmqNtfs8[/embed]
In the here and now, Dreamcatcher continued activities this week, starting things off with Handong’s brand new regular gig as the DJ of Chinese-language broadcast Akdong Seoul on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Akdong Seoul website swapped over to show Handong in her MAISON-era suited fashion to mark the occasion, and her first broadcast seemed to go well. Handong’s lower-toned voice and comfort in both Korean and Chinese make this a great moment for her career, and as I said last week, it’s a big step for someone who has been on a gradual journey to establish her own identity. Radio is a place where Handong can only get better as she keeps doing it, and considering she has fellow member (and recent radio regular guest) SuA to draw on for experience, that’ll be even faster. If you want to catch Handong every Monday and Wednesday at 21:00 KST (with Mondays being video), be sure to tune in to the TBS eFM live stream on their YouTube channel and give her some support!
[embed]https://twitter.com/hf_dreamcatcher/status/1620012406008315905[/embed]
Handong wasn’t the only one on an individual schedule this past week, as maknae (youngest member) Gahyeon made a solo appearance on the season finale of long-time friend Kwon Eunbi’s Mubeat Live with DKZ’s Donghyun and Golden Child’s Kwangyoon. There was a lot of fun banter between the guests and especially between Eunbi and Gahyeon, with the former praising the latter’s recent Halloween concert that she attended and dancing together briefly to Eunbi’s recent song “Underwater”. And Dreamcatcher’s previous Mubeat Live appearance with its random and fun coordination games proved to be helpful to Gahyeon, as victories in song guessing and stacking plastic ice cream scoops netted her a victory of fancy Korean beef for her to take home to the group. Though admitting on the show that she was nervous about representing the whole group, Gahyeon nevertheless charmed the audience with her winning smiles and boisterous energy.
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-112231658[/embed]
That energy continued into Gahyeon’s celebration of her birthday, an early live stream that happened on the 2nd due to Dreamcatcher’s next-day schedule to record for TVING’s Webtoon Singer. Dreamcatcher birthday livestreams have turned into mostly chill affairs in the past year or so, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but Gahyeon still managed to be fun and bright as she read comments, ate plenty of strawberries off of one of her birthday cakes, and talked to fans about the group’s current and future plans.
[embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-112231658[/embed][embed]https://weverse.io/dreamcatcher/live/4-112231658[/embed]
Next up on the birthday list is Dami, who didn’t want to leave fans hanging due to a sudden end in one of the livestreams on Weverse that she did this past week. We got a double dose of Dreamcatcher’s Main Rapper as a result, and her talk about how the Webtoon Singer recording went as well as a couple other fun moments, such as her covering part of a MONSTA X rap, made for a pair of nice check-ins.
[embed]https://twitter.com/WeBridgeExpo/status/1620785110881820672?s=20[/embed]
Speaking of future plans on the road, a surprise announcement from the inaugural We Bridge Expo in April, meant to be a “multi-sensory live event” that bridges burgeoning Asian influences in fashion, art, and music into a multi-day gathering. On the K-Pop end of things, Dreamcatcher was announced as a Day 1 artist, part of a growing lineup of decently well-known names headlined by boy group ENHYPEN. Tickets are on sale now, and depending on what you purchase they can get quite a bit pricey. If you’re looking to see just Dreamcatcher, it may be better to save your cash for their dedicated North American tour instead, but multi-fans might want to think about making it a Vegas-style vacation. Regardless, it seems Dreamcatcher will be on the road at least one more time in early 2023 and has the potential to make even more cash for the coffers due to this appearance. It’ll also be interesting to see how this affects comeback plans at all (whether one gets squeezed into the gap between the end of the North American tour and this appearance or if they are delayed til May), but no matter how you slice it, Dreamcatcher’s going to be kept booked and busy, and that’s rarely a bad thing.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Y5nzPCiR4[/embed]
Closer to home and as soon as this week, however, two of Dreamcatcher’s members are participating in a great collaborative Weekly Idol episode with Kwon Eunbi and fromis_9’s Ha Young and Jiwon, a Valentine’s Day-driven broadcast that should be fun, loud, and chaotic all at the same time. The surprise announcement and brief livestream showed that oldest members JiU and SuA would be on the show, and if the previews are any indication, it’s going to be great to watch them and their interactions with the other guests. It’s just another testament to the fact that Dreamcatcher continues to invest time and effort to promote their upcoming tour as well as their recently released fan song “REASON” and 2nd fanclub recruitment period. With the tour coming up at the end of the month I have a feeling this won’t be the last we see of the group before they get on a plane to North America once again.
As always, you can count on me to keep up the current coverage on the group, so be sure to clap, subscribe, and signal boost on social media if you like what you’ve been reading! I’ll be back next week with all the details on Dreamcatcher’s Weekly Idol appearance and what will no doubt be a continuation of another busy month for all of the members.