KCON:TACT 3, an AMA, and More Have Dreamcatcher Saying Come To “My House” Ahead of Crossroads

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

Dreamcatcher makes KCON:TACT Season 3 a fun and memorable stop on the way to other activities in a busy late March 2021.

Dreamcatcher has quite the busy end of March ahead of them this week with a Japanese album release (“Eclipse”) just around the corner and a two-day online concert extravaganza (“Crossroads”) in conjunction with MyMusicTaste right on its heels. But that didn’t mean that Dreamcatcher was sitting on their heels when they weren’t prepping for either of those important events, either. Before “Eclipse” and “Crossroads” come to the waiting arms of InSomnia everywhere, Dreamcatcher’s invitation to the latest KCON online event (now dubbed “KCON:TACT”) had to play out. True to their increasing popularity, MNet/KCON management had no issues with re-inviting Dreamcatcher after a successful appearance at KCON:TACT 2 back in October, and to many fans, the event served as a great little appetizer for what’s to come later in the month.

Before we get to all the KCON:TACT 3 recap news, however, there was plenty more that Dreamcatcher sent over to us this past week from a content perspective to both wrap up some of the last of “Road to Utopia” promotions and drop a few little tidbits and surprises.

The first of these was Dreamcatcher’s very first “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit, arranged by subreddit /r/kpop’s staff in conjunction with MyMusicTaste. Ask Me Anything’s, or AMAs as they are more popularly known on Reddit, are opportunities for Redditors to ask interesting/famous individuals about whatever they might be curious about. They’ve tended to be, at their best, interesting insights into the person or persons being asked.

Dreamcatcher has typically stuck with light personal questions and general inquiries about them, and this AMA was not much different in this regard. They appeared in part to help promote “Crossroads”, but even with this knowledge, the AMA drew over 1400 comments and a ton of interested InSomnia. Here’s a few highlights of what we found out from the AMA:

• Gahyeon would play the bass, SuA the piano, and both Yoohyeon and JiU would play the guitar if they played the instruments backing their songs.
• Yoohyeon would call Gahyeon “Lily” if she was allowed to come up with a stage name for her, while Gahyeon would call Yoohyeon “Yeppi”.
• Dreamcatcher would love to collaborate with recently debuted K-Rock girl group Rolling Quartz, and Siyeon would love collaborating with senior group MAMAMOO.
• Handong believes Dami would be most likely to survive a zombie apocalypse.
• JiU and SuA would love to release a live album, since it would feel more real with the fans’ cheering/screaming.
• JiU enjoyed their self-made “Curse of the Spider” MV, as it inspired all the others that have come out.
• Dami is interested in reading books about the economy currently.
• Siyeon has several contact nicknames for the members in her phone, including “Dreamcatcher Manager” (SuA), “Forky” (Yoohyeon), and “Alcoholic Rabbit” (JiU).

There were quite a few more questions answered, and if you want to see them and don’t mind using Google Translate to try to make sense of them, you can see them in the Overview of the /u/dreamcatcher_dcc user on Reddit or check the AMA itself which I’ve already linked above.

As if that wasn’t enough, on the same day Dreamcatcher dropped a Special Clip on the channel, featuring Siyeon covering Lee Seung Gi’s “Return”. Randomly uploaded content out of the blue occasionally has become Dreamcatcher’s calling card, and this was a nice surprise to have happen, especially given the challenges of filming outdoors in the midst of a continuing pandemic. True to her talent and stage presence, however, Siyeon really did justice to what has been a personal favorite of mine from a ballad perspective. Filming in a large park expanse with a bunch of forested trees gave off a “nature” feel to the cover and really helped set the emotional mood of the song. Definitely worth checking out.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Jn_zYSmqc[/embed]

On the official front, we got what will likely be the last of behind-the-scenes footage for “Road to Utopia” content, the first being a behind-the-scenes for the 20 million view version of “Odd Eye”, featuring a Dystopia version that incorporated all three title track’s stylings and a bunch of creative editing. It’s always nice to see these because it makes you appreciate just how much work goes into making them (like having to film the same performance three times with three different costumes, and ensuring you got some new elements like SuA’s use of the “BOCA” banners just right for editing). Also of note here were Handong’s thoughts on getting to participate in non-live produced content that called back to the prior songs she wasn’t able to participate in.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1QjAGwtF9g[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tr5T849OJw[/embed]

We also got the other parts of Dreamcatcher’s “Wind Blows” promotions Behind-The-Scenes, where we got to see Dreamcatcher make their Wind Blows motions into a week-long “orange game” that had the group pushing one giant imaginary orange towards the camera by the end, Siyeon and Yoohyeon showing how they’d film a coffee commercial, Dami cringing at her own cuteness, and more. You always get a bunch of fun moments that you remember for the next comeback and beyond in these videos, and it was nice to see that even in a promotion period that lasted only a week, Dreamcatcher was able to squeeze out so many film-worthy memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJ9yKBH1FSI

All of this other content, however, was an undercurrent to Dreamcatcher’s obligations towards KCON:TACT 3, and they definitely didn’t disappoint. The Live Premiere, which was essentially an hour-long teaser meant to highlight guest artists, was yet another entertaining Dreamcatcher appearance. We got to see Dreamcatcher successfully work with their fans to play a Pictionary-like guessing game to get terms like “InSomnia”, “Dream of us, we are Dreamcatcher”, “No More Utopia”, and more in order to get the right to use staff credit cards to order a meal. Then we got to check out Dreamcatcher reacting to video of their “BOCA” performance from last KCON:TACT as well as witty comments the fans made as part of a promotion. Seeing the group laugh at some of the “killer” moments created on stage (especially Siyeon’s) just contributed to the fact that we know Dreamcatcher has great stage presence but is not above clowning it when being themselves off of “performance mode”. Lastly, we got to see Dreamcatcher create banners with signed Polaroid pictures, which will be given away at a later date to 7 lucky fans.

The actual performance day had both expected and unexpected content from the group. Starting out earlier in the day’s programming, Dreamcatcher performed “Odd Eye”, “Scream”, and “Wind Blows” for both the KCON:TACT live audience that displayed on the screen as well as for everyone who’d purchased a ticket at home, all of which had Dreamcatcher’s usual pedigree of power behind it. During the commentary interlude we got to see Dreamcatcher talk about how thankful they were to their fans, as well as play a little game where each member had to look and act happier and cuter than the one before. Once again, we saw normally calm and stoic Dami showing just how happy and smiley she could act, with an ending gesture that called back to her 10-second ending fairy from the last of the “Wind Blows” performances on shows. With no “Meet & Greet” scheduled for the day and only a variety appearance on another KCON x DIA TV feature on the books, it seemed that performance-wise, Dreamcatcher was going to make a short, excellent, yet very much standard appearance for the group. Understandable, considering that they had a very busy week ahead of them.

But Dreamcatcher, true to both their desire to stay busy, and also provide content for their fans, pulled a rabbit out of their hat that was teased by the official KCON Twitter account earlier in the day — they would perform a special stage near the end of the event’s programming, and it would be in different costuming.

It’s not like we haven’t seen Dreamcatcher rocking the suit look before (I’ll be linking the videos at the end of the article). Early 2018’s Full Moon busking series (and later live performance on Music Bank), 2019’s Over The Sky, 2020’s Scream, and more featured Dreamcatcher in their suit-and-tie dapper best. And it’s also not like we haven’t seen what Dreamcatcher teased as the cover performance they’d be doing either — Dami and JiU had performed 2PM’s iconic hit “My House” before in front of delighted audiences. Personally, I was expecting a 7-member version with a little bit of movement and Dreamcatcher being stylish on stage.

What we got, to me, was something that far exceeded my expectations. Yes, the song was indeed 2PM’s “My House”. And yes, Dreamcatcher was very much looking like the fashionable performers that they were with their business suit look. But the similarities to what they did before end there. What we got was a fully choreographed, rock remixed version of the 2015 classic, complete with all the stage presence and performance bluster Dreamcatcher has been known to bring to their special stages and covers. It was honestly extremely impressive, and a real treat for even fans like me who have seen all that Dreamcatcher has to offer to date, performance-wise. The best part of this performance was that like the other songs they’ve covered, Dreamcatcher made this one their own, specifically:

• The rock-backed guitars and drums provided ample background for a powerful girl group version of the song
• All 7 members got to shine in their vocal talent and variation (JiU and Siyeon carrying the dual vocals at the end were excellent, for example, and expected mainstays like Dami’s low voice delivering the English lyrics were also great)
• An aggressively in-your-face dance break occurred that featured Handong doing not just a spin like in “Odd Eye” but a full-on running start barrel roll spin focused on her that you normally only see in boy groups (once again, as I said in my retrospective, this is pretty much Handong’s era)

If you have yourself a KCON:TACT 3 ticket with VOD-level privileges, it is absolutely worth a watch. Honestly, these kinds of surprises are why I appreciate Dreamcatcher a ton — their extensive cover catalog was part of why I got into them at the start, after all. But seeing them be versatile and put together yet another cover when they could have just settled for their normal performances is just a testament to their work ethic and dedication to their fans.

With KCON:TACT 3 almost done and dusted, Dreamcatcher is likely to turn eyes to their “Eclipse” Japanese release — one that I’ve been anticipating since we’ve wanted to hear the full version of their very first anime opening since Christmas — and then to Crossroads, where we will likely be treated to more new and interesting takes on their discography as well as more surprises that they’ve never done before. Stay tuned here for a special version of the Dreamcatcher Recall next week, where I talk about everything Crossroads and put my thoughts out about what will no doubt be another Dreamcatcher master performance. See you then!

PS: Can’t get enough of Dreamcatcher in suits? Feel free to peruse the videos below that I referred to earlier in the article!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZEdPjOM5pU[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mupW9bCPRAg[/embed][embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LUuoaSfETw[/embed]