“No More” Breaks From Dreamcatcher Music Content, “Social Good” Honors, And New Partners
K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall
Dreamcatcher stays busy in the latter part of November 2020 with new music, sponsorships, and achievements.
It’s no secret that Dreamcatcher stays constantly busy with the exception of a few small breaks throughout the year, generously feeding content to their fans through their many engagement channels, whether it’s through YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, V Live, Fan Cafe, and most recently, Weverse. But we hadn’t quite heard from them for a little bit on the music front. Certainly, promotions for “BOCA” had been hectic and busy, and it’s been referred to that Dreamcatcher is, even now, working on their next album (and the last of the Dystopia series).
That little break in music content ended this week with two releases — the first being Siyeon letting us know that she completed a recording for another OST track called “I’m Out Of My Mind” for a drama, “Get Revenge”, the story of influencer reporter Kang Hae Ra, whose career is ruined by a fake scandal, and who vows revenge against those who were responsible.
Those of us who’ve been Dreamcatcher fans for a while know how talented Siyeon is as the main vocal of the group (if you need a reminder, you can check out the birthday write-up I did for Siyeon’s recent breakout performances over the past year or so). Earlier in the year she sang a rock-based track for dramedy “Into the Ring”, called “Good Sera”, but from the early preview snippets I heard from the official Dreamcatcher Twitter post, this is a much different track, filled with a dramatic, even plaintive, undertone that we’ve only seen from Siyeon in her cover of “We All Lie”, from the “Sky Castle” drama OST. Siyeon’s more than capable of delivering a track that conveys the mood of the scene in singing “I’m Out Of My Mind” for “Get Revenge”, so I’m looking forward to seeing the official release of the full track.
But as great as that little appetizer from Siyeon’s OST track was, it was only just that for the main course that was Dreamcatcher’s 2nd Japanese Single, titled “No More”, and the 2nd released this year after March’s “Endless Night”. There was a lot of anticipation about this release, especially given that the teaser already showed that like some of Dreamcatcher’s Japanese releases, it would lean harder into the rock and heavy metal aspect of their identity. Fans who have ended up following Dreamcatcher because of their rock-based image and sound were not disappointed as the track was punctuated with a heavy, fast, and aggressive beat, as well as instruments to match, with even a classic metal guitar solo thrown in for good measure. On the lyrical front, the song hit hard with lyrics that, in contrast to the soft, yet direct nature of “BOCA”, simply crashed into listeners with their sheer attitude:
“Barking madly in a small world, stray dogs
Always in packs, you cowardly losers
As long as I maintain my identity
I’ll never run or hide”
Well ok, Dreamcatcher, tell us how you really feel.
The song itself is meant to address and fight back against toxic online commentary and fans, which is completely in line with their current message of social commentary against such behavior in the Dystopia series. I really liked the fact that even though “No More” and Scream/BOCA are appearing in two different markets with two different sounds, that thematically, everything still ties together into a message Dreamcatcher wants to convey through their music. “No More” is definitely on my playlist for the foreseeable future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaxg5HRe_Go
As if that wasn’t enough, we got a couple other interesting tidbits from the release of “No More”. The first is that (in case it wasn’t apparent from the music video above) we weren’t getting a traditional video where we would see Dreamcatcher. Instead, an anime-style depiction of a futuristic, light sword-wielding girl by artist Rie Ato was coupled with a lyric and art animation done by video creator Pokage. While reception to having this kind of music video come out for a Dreamcatcher single was a little bit mixed, everyone agreed that the music was, of course, the most important thing to take in — and regardless, this definitely fuels the idea that Dreamcatcher could one day record tracks for an anime series — the tracks fit too well not to be at least considered.
But fans missing actually seeing Dreamcatcher in these new styling, punk-ish outfits will at least get to hear from them in separate commentary videos, uploaded once per day for the next week, where each member talks about their experiences recording “No More” and takes the opportunity to give their Japanese (and global) fanbase a little bit of love and appreciation for their support. You’ll certainly want to keep an eye on the official Pony Canyon YouTube channel each day over the next few days for all the member videos!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZG3Mzkx-E[/embed]
The music news for Dreamcatcher didn’t stop with these two releases, however. Back in the summer, Dreamcatcher worked on a collaborative music video project with fellow K-Pop artists AleXa and IN2IT under Millenasia titled “Be The Future”. The video, aimed at the youth audience, encouraged COVID-19 health and safety practices including social distancing, online get-togethers, and frequent hand-washing, all set to a fun and catchy K-Pop style tune that probably gave long-time Dreamcatcher fans flashbacks to the group’s past as cute (but ultimately poorly selling) group MINX.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdyWKFh9PIk[/embed]
The Shorty Awards, an annual event that recognizes great people and organizations on social media, handed them Silver Honoree status for the Music and Dance category for Social Good. Given that they were in the company of campaigns and projects that raised a ton of money and certainly generated more views for social good causes, this was a nice nod of recognition to the collaboration. And it did its job, too, at least among Dreamcatcher fans. I still kind of occasionally hum the parts where Dreamcatcher is washing their hands when I’m doing just that. Hey, whatever it takes to get people to do the right things to get us through the current pandemic, right?
Getting recognized by a well-known awards event wasn’t the only way that Dreamcatcher was extending their reach this past week, however. We saw quite a few pictures from the group (with JiU’s post above appearing on an Instagram story) modeling winter coats from clothing/outerwear vendor Polham. As someone who resides in a place where the weather can get pretty damn cold, puffer-style jackets are a common sight when the temperature drops, and Dreamcatcher certainly looked warm modeling theirs.
Obviously, unlike them, I can’t make a claim to looking good at the same time as being warm in said jackets. Siyeon’s set of four pictures, posted to the official Dreamcatcher account, was just a snippet of what we saw from some of them this week.
The apparent sponsorship with Polham is just another step Dreamactcher is able to take as a more popular group being recognized for their music and their talent. The more companies notice and want to work with Dreamcatcher for such product collaborations, the better it is for the group as a whole.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTCQJybm0EQ[/embed]
Back on the Chinese front, Handong worked with audio community and interactive platform Lizhi to hold a nearly hour-long livestream with the Chinese fandom about her activities in Dreamcatcher and her time back home in China this past year. It’s nice to see that even though Handong is now back together with Dreamcatcher, that she’s still able to explore and collaborate with the Chinese market — a testament to her increasing following on Weibo and fans back in her homeland that support what she’s doing. This was definitely worth a listen, especially if you’re a Handong fan and want to hear more about things like what she likes to eat, what her favorite hair colors are, and her continuous (and artful) dodges about spoiling any upcoming comeback news. Take notes, Yoohyeon, you might learn something about not spoiling things from your fellow Dreamcatcher compatriot.
The latter half of Dreamcatcher’s activities for 2020 have contained so many new partnerships and work opportunities for the group, from LG’s IDOLLIVE channel, to skincare with WOOA, to collaborating with fellow K-Pop artists, and now with companies like Polham and Lizhi. It’s the kind of stuff that validates all the hard work the group has been working towards, and continues Dreamcatcher’s steady rise in popularity. There’s not much time left in 2020, but there’s certainly plenty of space for Dreamcatcher to achieve even more with the weeks left to them in the year. I’m sure I’ll be back next week with more to report on that front!
