New Looks, Behind Photos, And A Surprise Gig Begin Dreamcatcher's Comeback Road

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We're in the midst of a year in which Dreamcatcher has yet to make a comeback, and given the fact that by now, fans have usually had brand new Dreamcatcher music to listen to, the anticipation and curiosity for what the group has been up to has only gone up. In the K-Pop industry, where there are seemingly musical releases every single week and when groups are expected to put new things out every year, any kind of longer-than-normally-perceived layoff from that is seen as a concern.

For Dreamcatcher fans, who have been treated to the highly consistent pattern of at least two new albums in a year, the seven-month wait since the release of "VillainS" in late November 2023 might seem like a bit of a drought, even if the current time between releases has yet to exceed the wait for 2018's "Escape the Era" and 2022's "Apocalypse: Save Us". Yet as they always do, Dreamcatcher tends to deliver when needed, and last week was no exception. Here's what they did last week to set us on the road to comeback!

The most obvious sign came early in the week, in the form of Dreamcatcher's Behind photos on Instagram. Four sets of looks for Dreamcatcher during "OOTD" era reminded me that for the comeback's concept of narcissism through fashion, this was probably one of the most varied and striking sets of visuals for the group. The funny part was that even with all of these, this was only a fraction of what Dreamcatcher showed fans during music group stages, which varied from faux fur scarfs to reds and blacks that made everyone look appropriately nefarious, and more. As always, Behind photos are the best way to be reminded of and say goodbye to a previous era of music - and to herald the brand new music to come. The Mystery Code puzzle will be next, but as to when it'll appear, that's anyone's guess.

What pretty much nobody guessed at all was that Dreamcatcher would have brand new looks ready to go and on display. While hints have been posted to the group's Fromm accounts and during livestreams, this week saw an expected first look at what the next album's styling may look like. A fiery orange-red Yoohyeon, for example, was the most obvious example, and even though this was shown to us briefly in a greeting video for Dreamcatcher's upcoming Kaohsiung concert in Taiwan, we had yet to see updated photos. We'll get to the reason why in a second, but besides Yoohyeon, we saw Handong bring back a shade of silvery-blue that was last seen during "Odd Eye" era, JiU cut her hair short, Siyeon with purple highlights in dark hair, and more. It was just another sign that new looks for most everyone meant that new media was in progress or about to be filmed.

The reason these new looks made it to fans was because of an unexpected surprise gig that Dreamcatcher engaged in - an invitation to return to Manila to perform as part of the international artists entertaining folks attending the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers' Midyear Convention. This was a public, yet professionally closed event (you had to be a member of one of the chapters, per their registration page) and the convention's Fellowship Night featured musical entertainment both local and international. Dreamcatcher was a part of this and I've timestamped the greeting video they made for it above. It's been speculated that part of the factor for them being invited were several segments where Korean organizations highlighted cooperative civil engineering efforts with the Philippines, creating a connection through which Dreamcatcher may have been invited to perform.

The fact that Dreamcatcher was traveling to begin with was revealed when local fandom fansites began posting pictures from the group's arrival at Incheon International Airport the day prior. Siyeon's comments on Fromm that this was a "closed" schedule set off some concerns within the fandom, such as the group's private activities being unnecessarily exposed and the fansites' presence being inappropriate.

Given that I am not a domestic fan nor am I privy to the exact nature of the long-term relationship between Dreamcatcher Company, the group, and their fansites, my opinion is that I will follow theirs or the group's lead in this. The company has a current policy on private schedules and behavior during events that I expect, given their history, that they will update if they find an issue with what happened. Until then, especially given the fact that the group themselves behaved as if nothing was amiss, it's hard for me to pass judgment, especially based on two offhand comments from a group member that didn't seem to treat it as a big deal. While there is certainly problematic fansite behavior in the K-Pop industry, it seems to me that some parts of overall fansite-to-group interaction are either normalized, tolerated, or even encouraged by companies, including Dreamcatcher Company, and the fact that this turned out to be a public (albeit restricted by member registration) appearance lessens any concerns I would have. We'll have to wait and see if anything comes down from the company to provide guidance here.

Putting that aside, and despite the fact that this is probably not the first event you'd think a rock/pop girl group from South Korea would perform at, the group did their part during the convention's Fellowship Night to showcase their talent and represent K-Pop and the country. Fancams have surfaced from this event and it appears that Dreamcatcher performed at least five tracks ("BONVOYAGE", "Propose", "Scream", "Tension (English ver.)", and "Starlight").

Though seemingly random in nature, I can't really complain about things like this because they are an obvious payday for the group and a testament to the fact that last year's Under the Moonlight concert in the Philippines was noticeable enough for them to secure an invite to a convention. Between this, their upcoming Latin America tour and appearance in Türkiye, it seems Dreamcatcher will be busy on an international level after having been through Europe earlier in the year, and I can't see that as a bad thing for a group of their age and size. Either way, you can expect me to keep on covering the group as usual, so for all that and more, I'll see you here next Sunday!

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