Inevitable Change Inbound To Dreamcatcher As New Horizons Beckon

Normally, in my way of structuring my articles and informing people about Dreamcatcher activities, I like to leave the main point of my articles about them til the end, so everyone gets to read about some fun little appetizers before the main course.

But I think this time around, it's best to start with the most impactful news, and that's the following:

• Dreamcatcher Handong, Dami, and Gahyun have elected not to renew their exclusive contracts with Dreamcatcher. Their exclusive contracts end on March 31st, 2025.
• Dreamcatcher is still a group and will continue onward with activities due to mutual trust and appreciation, even with the above.
• Dreamcatcher JiU, SuA, and Yoohyeon will engage in activities as a subunit, while Siyeon will be involved in band activities.

The news arrived last week via a post on X/Twitter leading to the Dreamcatcher fancafe post with the details.

Subsequently, Handong, Dami, and Gahyun submitted handwritten letters to express their feelings via Instagram and the Fancafe:

Handong thanked the fans, the group, and the company for making the past near-decade in Korea a wonderful one, finding a second family amidst having to spend so much time away from the one of her birth. She also indicated the many memories she had over the years and that she would take them with her in her future journey, with no specifics on what that might be.

Dami also thanked the company, members, and fans, and talked about how she had decided after 12 years with the same company, to set out on a new journey as a soloist, comparing it to setting off on a voyage away from solid land. She asked for everyone's continuing support as a singer and assured everyone she would always be with fans as Dreamcatcher Dami.

As for Gahyun, her thank yous also included reassurances that Dreamcatcher will always be around and excitement about being able to try acting, which she'd wanted to do since she was young.

There's no doubt that news of this nature hit the fanbase hard. The week's reactions have been filled with all kinds of emotions, from distress to hopefulness to worries to speculations and more. We even had a little bit of an oopsie from both the fans and the company when the soft launch reveal of a member of new Dreamcatcher Company band Thessyndrome, caused confusion about Siyeon's involvement that she herself had to clear up (TL;DR - Thessyndrome is not Siyeon's band project, and that is currently in progress). It's been a rollercoaster, to say the least.

While it does seem that Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company intend on, at some point, returning to group activities or scheduling them, the practical execution of such plans could prove to be more challenging. Going off of how other groups have handled "members doing various things on/off contract but still a part of the group", we have:

• MAMAMOO having Moonbyul and Solar do work together as the subunit MAMAMOO+ while both Wheein and Hwasa pursue solo endeavors.
• LOONA, after eventually all leaving Blockberry Creative, splitting into new groups (such as ARTMS and Loosemble) or pursuing solo endeavors (as is the case with Chuu and Yves)
• GFriend, whose sudden end from Source Music resulted in unit VIVIZ while Sowon pursued acting and Yerin and Yuju continued as soloists, and who most recently were able to reunite for their 10th anniversary.

The list goes on, but the point is that group activities appear to, at least in the short term, lessen as various members of a group pursue endeavors in units and solo. But before people feel too far down about this news, I think it's a good reminder that:

• Dreamcatcher should have been unlikely to succeed with a new concept, re-debut, and music outside of the K-Pop norm, but they did.
• Dreamcatcher shouldn't have been able to survive the COVID-19 pandemic without a core pillar of their revenue in touring, but they did.
• Dreamcatcher's relative popularity to bigger groups should have made it improbable to win on a music show against 2 or 3 of them at once, but they did.

Dreamcatcher has, at every turn, defied the odds against them, so why not believe that sometime down the line we'll be saying "Dreamcatcher's decision to pursue various new things meant they shouldn't have been able to do more group activities, but they did"?

Anyway, I'll have my own thoughts and feelings about this news constructed in a future post, as I need a couple weeks myself to process them, but until then, I can tell you that while my time working in and around musical acts has somewhat prepared me for news like this, that it's no doubt a big change and a shift, one that I, like Dreamcatcher, feel the impact of but ultimately feel hopeful for. Stay tuned for that!

The news, of course, put a new spin on all of the upcoming concerts, which many fans believe may be the last Dreamcatcher group concerts we may get for a while. As Dreamcatcher traveled to Melbourne, their first live show since the news, emotions ran high, with even normally stalwart Dami needing to take a moment for herself.

However, by today's Sydney show, Dreamcatcher appeared to marshal themselves and, in the midst of dealing with their own feelings about what's to come, reassured fans that this wasn't the end and not to be sad. Yoohyeon, in particular, who had a bit of a difficult moment in Melbourne processing her own fears about the future, seemed to pick herself back up in Sydney, buoyed in part by an outpouring of fan support on fancafe and in the group's secret mailboxes. JiU even made a promise that we would eventually see new music from Dreamcatcher.

I know there'll be people out there who might react in a way that might not take these things at face value, but I also want to remind people that entertainers and those in the public eye oftentimes have a complex way of dealing with how they present themselves. But given the history of Dreamcatcher, I'm more inclined to believe the genuine intent and reassurance being offered by the group, even given uncertainty in the days to come. Nobody knows what will happen, but the impression is that Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company will do their best to get everyone back together at some point in the future. Until then, the best way to go about dealing with things is to be happy for new horizons, new things, and new possibilities for everyone in Dreamcatcher, and to support them within your means in whichever way you can.

We're in for some interesting times in the coming days, weeks, and months, but as of right now, my intention is to keep reporting and writing about Dreamcatcher and all the things they get up to, whether separately or together. I'm hopeful you'll stick with me as Dreamcatcher begins their new chapter starting in April, so for all that and more, I'll see you here next Sunday!