Highlights, Mysteries, and Previews Build Hype For Dreamcatcher's Fashionable Villain Arc

Aside from when new music actually comes out, I’ve always been excited for the final lead-up of teasers and previews for a Dreamcatcher release. These mostly are comprised of our first audio snippets of what the album might sound like, along with some really neat imagery that sparks conversation and speculation. On top of that, there’s always a bunch of news about upcoming appearances and music show performances. For almost seven years, Dreamcatcher hasn’t disappointed in this area, and last week was no exception, so let’s take a look!

The Dreamcatcher non-comeback related content drip continued in the midst of all the teasers with the final SingCarLive. This time around, Siyeon gave a lift to Gerrit, a fan from Germany who had a really great story about getting into Dreamcatcher and having them be his inspiration on a variety of levels. Aside from Siyeon making Gerrit feel completely at home, we got some nice bonuses here, including a rendition of 2018’s “What” which Gerrit helped Siyeon out with.

I’ve really liked this series - it’s allowed Siyeon to break out of the self-proclaimed “homebody” she is in order to directly interact with fans in a unique way, and all the exchanges have been wholesome and unique. Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company appear to be messing around with individual content this year (more on that in my upcoming year retrospective a month from now) and I would call this experiment a success. Let’s hope for maybe a season 2!

We also got a Dreamcatcher’s Note about KCON Saudi Arabia, which I think was nice for a couple reasons - firstly, because it’s been a minute since KCON’s organizers have been able to have Dreamcatcher be a part of a lineup, and secondly, just for new audiences and memorable moments. Whether it was the dance challenge, the red carpet, or coming out to an arena full of fans who were so loud Dreamcatcher could hear them through their in-ears, this KCON appearance seemed to be great for the group. In their sixth year, it really does feel like Dreamcatcher has headed into “respected senior group” territory, but still has room to grow and gain more fans from those watching who may have not been familiar with a rock/pop-based girl group.

As for current work, we got a few bits and pieces of what’s to come during the comeback. The first was Dreamcatcher filming for Immortal Songs 2, with the episode in question set to air in early December. It’s been a while since we saw Dreamcatcher on this show, but they’ve been on it two times previously. The show features modern covers of older songs and while there are spoilers out there for what Dreamcatcher did, we’ll save that news for after the episode airs. Either way, yet another opportunity for the group.

Future appearances are also beginning to take shape on the variety and music show level. Dreamcatcher will return to both Weekly Idol and Idol Radio, and Arirang Simply K-Pop and Music Bank have already put out the news that Dreamcatcher will perform on their shows. There appears to be less music shows this time around due to the end of the year (M Countdown, The Show, and Show Champion all are either done for 2023 or have cancelled some broadcasts) but between these and the performances abroad Dreamcatcher will still no doubt be busy during this particular comeback period.

The main attraction, however, remained all the official channel pre-comeback hype, starting with the Lyrics Spoiler. This one, I feel, set the tone away from BONVOYAGE’s rather light and airy mood, as the instrumental went for dark and hard-charging from beginning to end. There were a lot of comparisons to rock band Muse, especially with the beat somewhat matching classic song “Hysteria”, and give that Muse is one of my favorite bands I like to come back to from a rock perspective on my playlists I couldn’t complain.

Highlight Medleys continue to be my favorite portion of the pre-comeback schedule, as we get a good appetizer for pretty much the whole album along with some bonus visual presentation to get an idea of concept. “OOTD” showcased a bright and stylishly-colored Dreamcatcher, but one that seemed to exude attitude and that sense of villainy that the album’s title seems to demand. It certainly left me intrigued, especially with the ongoing Alternate Reality Game arc from ymenechra99 that seemed to progress by means of an increasing tendency towards thievery, rebellious style, and obsessiveness with crowns.

As for B-sides, “Rising” sounded like OG Dreamcatcher pure rock, “Shatter” seemed to be the lightest, yet still catchy slow song, and “We Are Young”, instead of being a requisite ballad, sounded very much like a dance or eurobeat tune. Whether or not it pans out that way remains to be seen but the impression I got matched what members have been hinting at for the last month about this being a different and unique album.

Last, but not least, came the Dance Preview. These have always been short, but a recent trend they’ve embraced has also been to strip away part of the audio and mute vocals, which is what we saw here as well. A count by Gahyeon, brief spoken portion by SuA and a power vocal by Yoohyeon were the only bits we got, but the choreography and styling, rather than being aggressive, seemed to be coordinated sass. Fans seemed to match part of the mute lyrics up to the Intro distorted spoken portions of the Highlight Medley, and overall, the three parts of the title track leave some room for interpretation when it comes to the genre.

Regardless, we’ll know in a couple of days when we finally get Dreamcatcher’s 9th mini album and as always, I’ll be here with that plus potentially a full album review as a bonus! So for all that, and more, I’ll see you next Sunday!

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