Dreamcatcher Solo Work And ChRocktikal Activities Surface As August Arrives

An interesting thing I've noticed ever since the members of Dreamcatcher entered their post-exclusive contract era is that the content presented to fans feels like a bit of a relay race, even with everyone in subunits or other projects. Though I'm sure a lot of this is unintentional given the different places that everyone is at, it's still funny to see a figurative baton being passed from one project to the next.

We saw this last year, as fans were still getting used to seeing Dreamcatcher embark on these new projects, when UAU debuted and toured, followed by a Dami single release, followed by Handong's debut solo album, then into ChRocktikal debut, Gahyun/Seoyul's YouTube channel opening along with SuA's, more Handong activities, and then back around to UAU.

Don't get me wrong - nothing will likely ever replace the prolific group activity that Dreamcatcher was known for during their time together under contract, but even though we've seen some lulls here and there, the result has been a mostly consistent set of content that has for the most part kept fans somewhat engaged. There's always talk of how long it can go or whether or not we will see the group together again sometime soon, but as I said in my last update, it's better to be more present and support Dreamcatcher in the things they're doing, for however long they're doing them. It's certainly relieved any existential stress felt about things that I have limited agency over.

As we head into August, here's the latest in baton-passing for Dreamcatcher members!

We're seeing UAU's "GENE" promotions shift from music show promotions to fansigns, behind-the-scenes content, and short video, but Yoohyeon seems to be helming some of the appearance work this comeback. Following up on her appearance on Ashley and Nancy's show, Yoohyeon also hit up old friend and partner Arirang Radio to appear on "The Curation/Archive" to talk about music, herself, and of course, UAU's latest album. Since this was a mostly English-language show, it made sense to send the subunit's most capable speaker, but I think this is one of the first times I've seen her be in an extended setting with her as the primary guest speaking in mostly English. It's a testament to how far she's come with her language studies, and a continuation of how that has made things more accessible to fans not versed in the Korean language. It'd be great to see her score a radio gig in the future, as she seemed quite comfortable in this format.

And speaking of future gigs, Yoohyeon seems to be following in the footsteps of her fellow Dreamcatcher/UAU member JiU, by holding a fanmeeting of her own in Guangzhou. JiU's seemed to go fairly well, and so giving it another whirl with another member seemed logical to do. Will we also see SuA try her hand at this as well? Time will tell, but I haven't seen this kind of individual fanmeeting stuff since the birthday fanmeetings of old held by Dreamcatcher members, and they've always been fun to watch.

The official channel has put up the UAU-style mini-documentaries (the equivalent of the old Dreamcatcher's Notes) for the group's latest effort, and it's nice to see that they continued the trend of more detailed behind-the-scenes insights and looks at production and choreography. This content is usually the reason why I hold off on impressions and ideas about all the pieces that go into the album work, as these are reminders that there's a mammoth amount of effort, money, and dedication that goes into this stuff.

For a bit more of the fun stuff, however, folks can look no further than SuA's YouTube channel, which has seemingly taken on the role of augmenting all the behind-the-scenes content with candid and informal vlogs about the lead-up to release and the promotion period. Besides SuA continuing to be unafraid to put in some comedic and trolling/moments (like SuA getting a literal barbell as part of a phone case exchange with Yoohyeon and having said phone fall down tragically during filming), we also got a partial ChRocktikal cameo, with Siyeon and Junyoung showing up to help support UAU on their workday. Between this and her recent first YouTube livestream, we're seeing a lot more content from SuA even in the midst of her busy schedule.

But SuA isn't the only one on YouTube lately. Dreamcatcher leader and UAU member JiU took the dive into solo content on the platform as well, and not surprisingly to Dreamcatcher fans, her first video is about food, and making a simple dish for herself to enjoy.

Part of the fun of seeing these individual efforts is the fact that each channel seems to have a distinct feel and style to it, and what we saw with JiU's was a meticulously produced, ASMR-ish comfort video that had her sharing what might become an ongoing thing with cooking. It struck me as pretty relaxing, and also relatable at the same time (who doesn't like sitting down after work to enjoy a nice meal with a refreshing drink of choice to cap off the day), and I'll be intrigued to see if we view some of the more foodie restaurant vlogging content she produced move over here, or if she'll be doing other aesthetically pleasing filmed videos.

For their part, ChRocktikal is essentially getting most of that next baton pass from UAU, as an announcement for a late summer tour through Europe hit the band's official social media recently. I know European fans have waited a long time for anything related to Dreamcatcher members heading back to the region, and the band utilizing the same promoter as fellow rock artists Rolling Quartz to head through for seven dates should be mostly good news. ChRocktikal and especially Siyeon have seemed to enjoy being on the road, and them getting to go to another region of the world so soon after coming back from North America shows that the touring life is working out for them.

Yet the band isn't the only one hitting the road at some point in the future. Handong, who has been pretty busy with short form video and vlogs on Chinese social media platforms (many of which have been re-uploaded for easy access on the Handong Cfans YouTube channel), is heading to Taipei for her second fan concert in her Mirror of a Mid-summer Night series. This isn't until October, but if there's anything that fans have been clamoring for over the years it's more notice prior to seeing performance dates. I'll be hopeful that this is as successful as the last concert, and between this, the ChRocktikal tour, and UAU's fan concert in Seoul in early August, it looks like we'll have more fancams to come to see Dreamcatcher members in their element on the stage.

Last but not least, we're not seeing Dami or Seoyul get left out of any Dreamcatcher content drip here in the summer, as Seoyul had a long livestream to talk about what she's been doing lately as well as sneak in a guest appearance by Yoohyeon. Recent news that she's worked with Life4cuts to put up her own set of frame pictures for fans to take with her also shows she's still working on picking up endorsements and collaborations. And Dami, after a bit of a pause in content, re-surfaced on her YouTube channel to post the second part of the friend slumber party vlog she had, as well as her visit to Lotte World. It's nice to see both of them working away both in the background and foreground for new content, and I'll look forward to more when I hear about it.

We had a full cycle of Dreamcatcher member content these past couple of weeks, and there's likely more to come as the summer rolls on. As always, you can count on me to keep up-to-date on the latest on all of Dreamcatcher's projects, so I'll see you here next time! Don't forget that you can encourage others who you know are Dreamcatcher fans (or even fans of K-pop as a whole) to sign up on The Low Key Geek main website - more people being informed and knowing what's up is never a bad thing!