Handong Carries Dreamcatcher's Legacy Forward In Ambitious 1st Solo Album Release "AtsnstA"

I'll always have respect for artists in K-Pop who are members of a group that take the courageous step to step out on their own and release music for themselves. For as much confidence as one can have in one's own abilities and talents, the highly competitive world of K-Pop can make any kind of idea that you can make it without the safety net of a group intimidating and daunting.

I think this is doubly so in the industry if you're not from Korea, and on top of that have to do it back in your native country, which makes what Dreamcatcher's Handong doing all the more impressive for me, just for the effort and decision to do so. In Dreamcatcher's post-exclusive contract era, reading the discourse and reactions, Handong's rather coy letter sidestepped what plans she had, creating some level of nervousness about what would be next for Dreamcatcher's Chinese-born member.

Yet what Handong has done since then - the release of digital single "Fairy", the announcement of her official Weibo "Studio" account, the small teases that showcased that she was apparently working with a large label (Modern Sky) with some backing, and more showed that Handong has been hard at work on a new journey to establish herself. During my Five Years of Dreamcatcher series, I wrote about Handong as someone on a journey to find herself as an artist and how far she'd come as a result. And with the release of her 1st Solo Album "AtsnstA" (short for "A Time-Sensitive Network Star"), she's taken the next bold step in doing that.

Let's take a look at what her and the rest of Dreamcatcher have had to offer their fans lately!

Dreamcatcher UAU has been more behind-the-scenes lately working on what's coming up next, but they did take time to wish fans who were taking them good luck on the College Scholastic Ability Tests (CSAT) in South Korea. Such encouragement messages are common from idol groups, but it was nice to see UAU take time out to encourage their continuing loyal and local fans.

And for those that are not local in Macau, UAU appears to be heading out to continue their 1st FanCon world tour for a December show. Last summer's shows from the trio have all turned out to be highly entertaining affairs, so as UAU chooses to close out the year with one more show we'll hope to see some nice fan support and attendance for what's been a celebration of the subunit's new musical branching from the main group.

Speaking of branching out, Dami continued her independent promotion of her 1st Single release "Chequered Flag" with a written interview with S.L.R. Magazine as well as a nice, extended video interview with local YouTube entertainment channel "demure".

For folks who haven't yet watched this, I'd highly recommend it. At 35 minutes, it's one of the longer Dreamcatcher member interviews out there, and the questions go further than the surface stuff that you might expect from a variety appearance (you can tell the interview is either a great researcher or a current Dreamcatcher fan from the questions asked). And for those who want a little bit of reassurance of the possibility of group activity at some point in the future, you'll want to be sure to check it out. If someone as practical and logical as Dami is helping soothe worries about Dreamcatcher coming back together as a full group one day, that should hopefully tell fans something about those prospects.

If we got logical and calm Dami in one bit of content, it's only fair that we get funny and slightly crazy Dami in another, and that's what we got with some posted YouTube shorts for her single in conjunction with Handong. These appear to be from Handong's visit back in September, and even though the interaction is only for a few seconds, it's a reminder that "DaDong" is one of Dreamcatcher's most chaotic duos.

Those shorts seemed well-timed from Dami to feature Handong, because it was in the midst of Handong going all-in on promoting her 1st Solo Album release. After months of small comments, short videos, and a few pictures here and there, Handong went into a full-court press with pre-release promotion, with multiple teaser photos, posters, and more.

The scheduling announcement for the album seemed to extend beyond the release of the album itself, to include behind and performance videos, a showcase for local fans, a documentary, and of course, the album release itself. I'm not personally familiar with the Chinese pop way of doing releases, but seeing some of the K-Pop style of teasers and the types of content to be expected in a release of that nature was nice to see here. Given that all of this dropped in a week's period of time, the content blitz was highly aggressive but honestly welcome on the part of Dreamcatcher fans who've been highly anticipating this album for quite some time.

Insofar as the music, the album's highlight medley seemed to promise a wide variety of genres, and the welcome news that Dreamcatcher Dami would feature on the bright and peppy "Peekaboo" further delighted fans who've come to appreciate other Dreamcatcher members appear in each other's content in the post-exclusive contract era. The MV teaser revealed that the title track was the bass-heavy, deep-voiced "Gray Zone", and everything about this song in particular seemed to point to Handong carrying forward the legacy of the Dreamcatcher style of complex world-building content coupled with a dark concept and sound, all of which have been the core of what drew many Dreamcatcher fans, including myself, to the group as a whole.

Both the album and the MV dropped around 12:00pm Beijing time on the 17th, and fans finally got a chance to watch what Handong had cooked up insofar as songs and music video. The album, titled "AtsnstA", short for "A Time-Sensitive Networking Star" was themed, according to the album release's official Weibo post, towards finding and encountering countless mirrors of oneself through one's journey, whether through music (in Handong's case), or through the exploration of one's self/ego, both of which are constantly evolving. It's an intriguing way of presenting a multi-genre album and a bit of a darker exploration of the theme through the title track's MV.

The MV for "Gray Zone" was primed to dive into that theme, with multiple versions of Handong seen through a mirror, along with shades of something mysterious and occult going on to facilitate that exploration (in perhaps another nod to Dreamcatcher's legacy of dark concepts). For her own part, Handong highlighted all sorts of range from a vocal and musical standpoint, integrating rap, her signature deeper register voice, and singing ability through a bridge that seemed to float over the instrumental. Combine that with the heavy bass in other parts and the sharp and sinister choreography that reminded me of her small stint as a villain in, well Dreamcatcher's "VillainS" release as well as in her guest appearance in 2020's MV by Oner and you get a song that pay homage to her past work with Dreamcatcher as well as establishes herself as a striking, solo presence. I'm not typically a fan of genre-mixing songs like "Gray Zone" was, but the combination of song and MV changed my mind.

As for the b-sides on this album, all were pretty different from one another, with good reason. "Peekaboo", featuring Dami, felt a bit like an alternate reality where Handong was a part of the cheery, bright group that most of Dreamcatcher was in MINX. "The Best Thing" was a fun dance pop song that featured a mix of spoken words, sung lyrics, and confident swagger. And "Dreamer" rounded out the album with an emotional ballad that, until I hear otherwise, seemed to be at least in part dedicated to those fans that have stuck with her all these years as a part of Dreamcatcher.

It's unclear how far-ranging Handong's popularity or perception as an artist in China will get. Though apparently signed to one of, if not the biggest recording label for independent artists in the country, that's no guarantee of success, specially with how hyper-competitive things are and when Handong returning to her home country after so many years abroad. But one thing that can't be denied is that Handong has been working hard and is all-in with establishing herself as a solid solo artist.

With an upcoming local showcase, an album release livestream in which she talked about more to come as far as promotions, and all of the rest of the content to come, I'm hopeful that fans will come out and support Handong in as many ways as they can, even with regional restrictions. It can only help support someone who's come a long way since being in Dreamcatcher, and help to increase her stock in an already-talented K-Pop group that's likely still seeking a way to do things together in the future. Don't forget that for all the latest news about Handong and the rest of Dreamcatcher, you can subscribe here, so for all that any more, I'll see you here next time!