Dreamcatcher Takes Well-Deserved Vacation as Late Summer 2023 Plans Unfold
The seven member K-Pop group seemed to take time for themselves after a busy first half of the year, but news of late summer plans show they don't plan on being idle for long.
It’s been a busy 2023 so far for Dreamcatcher, but if you’ve been a fan of the group for any length of time, you’d know that this isn’t unusual for K-Pop’s resident rock/pop girl group. Since debut year, when they did three comebacks in a year, two of which came within a week of each other’s promotion activities, Dreamcatcher has chosen to work hard in order to both be sustainable and also promote their own unique concept and musical style. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the group spent the first half of the year releasing a new fan song (“REASON”), heading out on a multi-city tour of the US, and of course, having a fully-scheduled comeback with all the promotions surrounding it for their 8th mini album. That’s not even counting all the individual activities involving some of the members.
But even with this, every group needs a bit of a break, and that’s exactly what Dreamcatcher appeared to do this past week, splitting up to spend time with family, recharge, and generally not have to worry too much about work. Dreamcatcher Company’s CEO has always seemed to look out for them in this regard, ensuring they aren’t too terribly overworked - something I’ve always respected in the sometimes grueling K-Pop industry.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t get news or content this past week, however - especially as it relates to the group’s late summer plans. Let’s take a look!
Given how well-received it was at the 8th Mini Album comeback showcase, it seemed inevitable that we’d likely see official video of Dreamcatcher’s performance of B-side “Propose”. It’s only been just over a month, but I still remember how fun this was to watch - not just for the fact that it’s always a treat to see B-side performances but also because this one had choreography. At the time, speculation ran that we may see extended promotions as that is what happened for 2021’s “Road to Utopia” B-side “Wind Blows” when it was performed with choreography at the showcase. While it seems like that isn’t going to pan out this time around, the delighted surprise from the crowd as Dreamcatcher came out from behind their mics to do their choreography is still fun to re-live, and if anything, is a preview of yet another song in a concert setlist they can add to upcoming gigs.
We also got a double helping of Dreamcatcher’s Notes this past week, with a peek behind the scenes of SuA’s recent appearance to throw out the first pitch at a Kiwoom Heroes baseball game (with friend and ex-CLC member Seungyeon) and a jumbo-sized Dreamcatcher’s Note for the second part of “BONVOYAGE” promotions. It was cool to see SuA apply her work ethic to throwing a perfect pitch (which ended up landing excellently in the catcher’s mitt for a strike) and for the group to deal with their music show downtime by messing around playing “professional masseuse”. Both were equally entertaining, though given the timeline of the footage, it seems that the next Note on “BONVOYAGE” promotions will cover the group’s two music show wins, which I’m sure will be a joy to watch as always.
I did mention that Dreamcatcher was apparently on vacation, and has been, for the past couple of weeks. Most of this seemed to be known from communications on the members’ personal Instagrams or from correspondence on paid messaging app Fromm. Handong appeared to be hosting and entertaining her mom who was visiting from China, Gahyeon took in a baseball game or two for the Doosan Bears, JiU was home spending time with her family and dog Cherry, and more. These small peeks into the members’ day-to-day while on break are always nice to see, even if they shouldn’t be obligated to do so.
Even though the group is on vacation, though, that doesn’t mean we aren’t seeing some potential buzz around them. The group was nominated for Female Idol of the Year by the Winner Brand of the Year 2023 awards. With this, along with voting for the 2023 K-Global Heart Dream Awards, and the KM Chart’s Best Hot Choice award ongoing, there are chances for the group to garner a couple more accolades for themselves. Interested fans should check out this voting guide for the Winner Brand of the Year award, this guide for the Heart Dream awards, and this one for the KM Chart’s Best Hot Choice award if they wish to participate.
It probably won’t be long before Dreamcatcher returns to work, however. Part of this seems to be the beginnings of the group’s late summer plans taking form. Fans already know of Dreamcatcher’s long-awaited return to Southeast Asia in late August with Dreamcatcher: Under the Moonlight in Manila, Philippines, and the news of additional fan benefits is an interesting potential bonus for lucky attendees. But we also learned of KPOP We Stand, a new festival celebrating the 70th year of South Korea and the US working together in alliance. The festival, which will be in early August, confirmed ticket packages and sales opening for both Houston and New Jersey, where the group will be sharing the stage with boy groups CIX and ONEUS (the latter only for the NJ show). A fair bit of skepticism surfaced about the legitimacy of this event due to some initial fumbling of social media communications, but it does seem as if the fledgling event will be happening, especially after Dreamcatcher dropped in a greeting video for their upcoming performances. We’ll see if the organization holds up, but for now, this is another opportunity for Dreamcatcher fans to see the group live.
On the more established event front, we’re also seeing that Dreamcatcher will be returning to the annual Jeon-ju Ultimate Music Festival (JUMF) in August, on the event’s first day. The festival has been historically kind to Dreamcatcher, giving them one of their first extended concert sets way back in 2017 and also giving youngest member Gahyeon her first MC gig for the event in 2021, so I’m looking forward to seeing them once again. While no livestreaming news has come out just yet, history shows that they’ll be offered to fans, so we’ll likely get to see Dreamcatcher live, as well as potentially get an opportunity at interactions with fellow K-Pop groups Oh My Girl, Billlie, and Rolling Quartz.
With confirmed work in the US, South Korea, and the Philippines in August coming up, it’s looking like Dreamcatcher isn’t content to rest on their laurels for too long. And as always, you can count on this weekly report to keep you up-to-date with all of their plans, so for all that, and more, I’ll see you here next week!
