Past, Present, and Future Moments Cap Off Dreamcatcher’s June 2021 Activities

K-Pop — Dreamcatcher Recall

K-Pop’s well-known rock/pop girl group heads to the middle of summer with memories behind them and a potential upcoming comeback in front of them.

Dreamcatcher has always been fairly busy as far as K-Pop groups go, but the end of June saw a ramp-up in activity that seems to signal that they’re going to get even busier as the summer moves on. Between Dream Concert, their first in-person fansign in over a year, their ongoing reality show, and more, we’re seeing Dreamcatcher lose no momentum as they continue forward with their 2021 plans. Last week saw them run the gamut of past, present, and (potential) future in terms of the group and its members. Let’s take a look at what they did!

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWu1KVr229A[/embed]

We’re going to change things up and start right in on last week’s latest Dreamcatcher Mind episode. We had two of Dreamcatcher’s members go through past-life regression hypnosis, an activity used in both spiritual and therapeutic settings. The method carries with it a bit of baggage, and it can have a variety of outcomes on the subject. It’s also important to note that there are a ton of hypnosis myths out there as well. But that aside, in the context of the reality show the goal simply appeared to be to see what would happen if they went through it — and everyone, I think, got more than they expected.

Here’s the TL;DR of what happened on this pendulum-swinging reality show episode:

• SuA and Yoohyeon were chosen through an off-camera game to go through the hypnosis.
• In a humorous turn, SuA imagined herself in a past life as a loud, attractive male singer married to someone who looked like Gahyeon.
• The episode took a heavier emotional path as Yoohyeon, instead of imagining a past life, re-lived and talked about some of the emotional difficulties she experienced after tragically losing her father at an early age.
• Missions/Challenges Cleared: N/A

As someone who has been hypnotized before (and went digging pretty deep to ensure I knew a bunch about it after I went through it) a lot of this episode was interesting to me since we got both types of outcomes through the method that hypnotherapist Seol Ki-Moon employed. SuA had a bunch of funny moments and reactions from the members, mostly because she imagined herself in the past much the same as she is now — loud, energetic, self-assured, and more. We’ve come to experience a fair share of SuA over the past couple of months or so through her radio show appearances, so hearing that even at 37 in her apparent past life she is still killing it is no big surprise. Showing this reminded me that one outcome of hypnosis is to surface interesting, sometimes humorous, things produced by the subject.

Yoohyeon’s experience, on the other hand, was much heavier. Many InSomnia seemed to have just as much difficulty watching Yoohyeon become emotional and cry over remembering her father and his tragic death due to an accident when she was younger. Every member of Dreamcatcher, who no doubt know about this, reacted emotionally in much the same way fans did (when even stoic Dami is having trouble controlling herself emotionally, you know it’s hard).

For Yoohyeon herself, it was clear that this was, at least on a subconscious level, still a painful memory for her. Thankfully, Seol Ki-Moon, who is an accredited academic in psychology with experience in his hypnotherapy techniques, knew to pivot away from the past-life regression stuff and straight into therapy, gently guiding Yoohyeon through her emotional pain.

My respect went up for the reality show production staff after this episode. Yoohyeon and her family obviously gave their blessing to have this broadcast, including with pictures and the like, but still treated the subject with the care it deserved. And of course, I can’t express enough how much higher my opinion rose of Yoohyeon. I’ve already got a ton of respect for every member of Dreamcatcher, but it’s clear we only know the smallest bit of how hard it has been at times to succeed in such a volatile industry like K-Pop. For Yoohyeon to not only work through that pain but also to share it with others is a testament to her resiliency as a person.

But Dreamcatcher Mind wasn’t the only foray into the past for members. Dami released her originally composed song “Butterfly” on the official channel this past year, a dedication to her long-time pet dog Ddoddo who passed away last year. Dami talked about the loss of Ddoddo last year during the Between Dreamcatcher and Me series, but we hadn’t seen the full result of her dedicated song until now. For those who have owned pets and know their family, this was an emotional song for fans to listen to, and like Yoohyeon, it was nice of Dami to share some of her personal feelings through music.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gr96EgqP_M[/embed]

Dreamcatcher ended their latest reality show episode with a message that the past is the past, but focusing on what they have in the present is what’s important. They definitely lived that attitude this past Sunday, when they held their first in-person fansign since the pandemic took hold of the world last year (for Handong in particular, it’s been even longer since she was gone after “Deja Vu” promotions in September/October). Using plexiglass barriers and following current distancing and vaccination protocol, Dreamcatcher met up with 40–50 fans who were no doubt excited about meeting their favorite K-Pop group in person after so long.

You could definitely tell from Dreamcatcher’s expressions even during performing that they were just as happy if not more so than the fans. Being able to actually see and perform for fans is part of why idols get into the business, and being robbed of that for a year certainly must have been difficult. Thankfully, if recovery continues to go well, we’ll see more of these in the future, along with the content that goes with them (it had been so long I’d forgotten how much gets generated for in-person fansigns, from fancams to pictures, to fun video moments with the group, and more).

[embed]https://www.vlive.tv/video/253974[/embed]

A post-fansign vLive had Yoohyeon, Dami, and Handong chat with fans about holding their first in-person fansign in a long while, people’s impressions about Dream Concert (and subsequent denial of any comeback spoilers in the choreography), and a few funny moments, including Handong continuously rebuffing Yoohyeon’s playful flirting, Dami smacking Handong while she was leaning over to read comments and Handong being slightly embarrassed at a press photo showing off her muscles (especially after Dreamcatcher Mind episode 5). Of all the member combinations I feel like this one is an underrated one to have on vLive — they are constantly humorous and play off each other very well.

As for Dreamcatcher’s future, we got a potential peek at what might be coming when the official Dreamcatcher Instagram began posting “#Behind” photos from the last comeback. For those who aren’t aware, this is usually the first sign in a pattern that one is inbound, with mystery codes about the new album to come after that and a comeback schedule to follow. I’ve always enjoyed #Behind photos — all of them are high-quality and give us a look back at how great the styling has been for the previous comeback, all while teasing us that one is on the horizon for the future. Four sets have been posted so far, with 2 more jacket filming sets and 2 more MV filming sets to be put up. Could we see mystery codes shortly after all of that? Perhaps — but only Dreamcatcher and Dreamcatcher Company knows. With a new in-person concert commitment in the middle of July (Together Again 2021 K-Pop Concert) and the TBD video call fansign for the release of their first concert DVD, they are going to be busy regardless of when the comeback arrives.

Either way, you know I’ll be here to recap all of the Dreamcatcher happenings, so if we manage to formally get back on the comeback trail, you’ll hear about it here! As always, feel free to clap, follow and link the article to your fellow InSomnia, and I’ll see you back here next week as we kick off more of July’s Dreamcatcher content!