Dreamcatcher Says “Hellbye” With Start Of BONVOYAGE Comeback Promotions And Tornado of Content
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
The K-Pop group’s album release and first week of work were filled with a flurry of appearances, fun videos, and other media.
Exciting times are here once again for Dreamcatcher and their fans, as last week formally kicked off their first comeback in 2023 with 8th Mini Album “Apocalypse: From Us”. It was obvious the group was both nervous and excited to share their new music and what appears to be a fresh direction for them from a variety of standpoints. For my part, I feel the album hit on a lot of levels due to its sentimental and emotional nature, even as it preserved (and perhaps returned to) Dreamcatcher’s more rock-based early sound. You can check out my full detailed album review of “Apocalypse: From Us” when you have a chance, but I know readers are wondering just how much happened this past week as Dreamcatcher started promotions, so without further ado, let’s get into it!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc648AdKjWI[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20LBRkNkPo0[/embed]
The final lead-up to Dreamcatcher’s new album release was, for the most part, big on the tease and short on the details. While some spoilers for the title track, “BONVOYAGE”, were known through pre-recording for a variety appearance at the end of the week in JTBC’s K-909 show, aside from that small audience of fans nobody had actually seen anything posted that would visually show what might be in the music video. That ended with the posting of both the Dance Preview and MV Teaser, the last two pieces of the comeback puzzle. Different from other comebacks was the hiding of any additional detail — the Dance Preview purposefully muted Siyeon’s singing beyond the first couple of seconds while the MV Teaser revealed no other audio details that weren’t known before.
From a visual perspective, the MV teaser did show us some interesting details, such as the presence of an unidentified fuzzy creature that SuA called a cell (and which the fandom seemed to then dub as “Celly”), Gahyeon interacting with a strange crystal, and the group in some colorful wear tending to a garden. It was all enticing and definitely built up anticipation for the music video.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfmaC3zdHkE[/embed]
Release day say the usual sequence of events, starting off with embargoed videos for the group’s Press Showcase. There are a bunch of insights to be found in the video above, with one of the most interesting ones being how the point choreography is mean to be described. According to SuA, unlike the “HellBoy” dance, this is the “HellBye” dance, performed during the chorus and which is meant to evoke a greeting, goodbye, and a hopeful return from a long trip all at once. A lot of that fed into the overall message of the song, which appeared to be about an inevitable parting from a long-time connection and the hope to see them again someday. JiU mentioned the destroyed, yet set-to-recover, earth as one target for the song, but its personal lyrics seemed to echo to those remembering a relationship or connection held as precious. Along with a performance of “BONVOYAGE”, the group sang rock ballad “To. You” as well to show off their range and versatility.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPNaYj6etb8[/embed]
Of course, the music video for “BONVOYAGE” itself was a great ending to the Apocalypse trilogy, with some great imagery (like Siyeon defending SuA from danger with a magical shield or the group dancing while fireworks are going off in the night background) as well as a fresh but also old-school sounding style with a progressive rock based. It’s so far been received pretty well by the fans, including myself, and while different from the dark concepts of the past nevertheless is quintessentially Dreamcatcher.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXWt0pcgRDo[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu0F_OXqG6c[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgQJ0SaZXfE[/embed]
As always, the fan showcase followed the album release, and it was filled with both expected occurrences and fun surprises. We got to hear the album gone over track by track by the group as they explained their intent, saw the “HellBye” point choreography again, heard that Dami really struggled but ultimately was able to pull off her metal-scream work in “DEMIAN” and got the same performances from the press showcase. But Dreamcatcher wasn’t done. The stream closed out with a performance of another B-side, “Propose”, which seemed to be popular with the fans in attendance and a lot of folks online. Not only did they sing it but choreography appeared to have been planned for it, fueling speculation that this might end up on a special stage for one of the music shows this promotion. We’ll have to see how it pans out but the live performances left fans hopeful and excited about Dreamcatcher’s fresh new sound.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwu4l0fDjf0[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI_m9QnLokI[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2X4bmxzttk[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9n7abk8oWI[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W99Ii62UWpU[/embed]
That new sound was on full display at the week’s music show promotions, with each day bringing another performance and as always some really cool styling. The motif this time around appears to be a mix of casual clothes with some formal wear in the form of sailor outfits to evoke the “leaving on a journey” idea, along with some colorful outerwear that you might expect to see on the set of a “Fast and Furious” movie rather than a K-pop stage. Dreamcatcher Company also seems to have invited more fans to be able to join the shows as well, as loud fanchants and cheers came in all over for each live show. And speaking of music shows, unexpected developments from Dreamcatcher’s main competition appear to increase the potential for wins on both The Show and Show Champion, both of which have already awarded Dreamcatcher wins. The company has even gotten into the act by incentivizing streaming the title track with a giveaway of some serious prizes, including some nice headphones and a PS5. It’ll be an interesting 2nd week to find out if the group secures more music show trophies, but either way, we’ll be treated to a ton of great performances and member fancams.
[embed]https://twitter.com/hf_dreamcatcher/status/1661605508095283200[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/SpotifyKpop/status/1661643266268491776[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/amazonmusicjp/status/1661625702612099073[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39MroQ3V-J0[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JPlYCngB1YU[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JPlYCngB1YU[/embed]
Marketing with other business entities and orgs also flooded social media feeds this week for Dreamcatcher’s new album, with Spotify Korea, Amazon Music, Ktown4u and more getting into the mix with special videos and events (in Ktown4u’s case, a pop-up store in COEX will be present for Dreamcatcher fan purchases for a limited time). The start of a few “BONVOYAGE” challenges also made their way online with fellow idols and even baseball mascots doing their best to emulate the best of the group’s choreography for the song.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNU-PMRcVjs[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Bx9TkEaokI[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7z9bxfcKis[/embed]
But it was on the variety and non-music show content that Dreamcatcher relied on to really kickstart their promotions. The group went through 9 different outlets or places, with another episode of Weekly Idol (now with new hosts ex-Lovelyz Mijoo and BtoB’s Eunkwang) starting things off, and places such as Studio SS, M2, 1theK, and more lining up to give Dreamcatcher opportunities to do activities or drop in “BONVOYAGE” performances.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQDZdUDY0D0[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X11k1HRa4o0[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moNg-0mp3DU[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUxnULj1eM4[/embed]
The radio and hosted MC front saw two appearances for Dreamcatcher, including one on JTBC K-909, spiritual successor to the interview and performance show that Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook once was. Helmed by SM artist and long-time K-Pop and J-Pop veteran BoA, Dreamcatcher was invited to share a stage with fellow artists KARD as part of a presentation of groups with huge global presence. The interactions here were nice, with Jiwoo from KARD already knowing several Dreamcatcher members, and for Yoohyeon to get a rare opportunity to dance the song she first learned as a trainee with BoA, “My Name”.
The group also got to perform and talk on GOT7 Youngjae’s “Best Friend Radio” once more, and while Youngjae did manage a bit better than last time to deal with the wild energy and chaos that Dreamcatcher sometimes brings to radio, he did have to laugh at their antics with complimenting each other and even to prepare to perform live.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrK5OAL67oc[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXP6REWeOTM[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxoNe_QJ3E8[/embed]
Perhaps one of the busiest days on Dreamcatcher’s schedule was at the end of the week, where not only weekend pre-recorded variety content dropped but Dreamcatcher did MBC Show! Music Core and the 2023 Dream Concert all in a day, taking the bullet train to Busan to make it in time. All in all, the number of videos in the Dreamcatcher Video Database I maintain ballooned up to over 3,774 videos as of this writing, with over 50 of those videos showing up this week alone. It’s been wild even by their standards.
With at least three or four appearances outside of music shows confirmed for the upcoming week and their usual slate of fansigns, things don’t have a chance of slowing down for Dreamcatcher as they have already kicked it into overdrive for this set of promotions. As always, I’ll be here to report on the latest from the group as they continue to show off their fresh new music and concept. See you next week at this time for tons more Dreamcatcher content!
