Year-End Review: Dreamcatcher's Members Shift To New Horizons, Keeping The Group Close To Their Hearts

In last year's year-end review for Dreamcatcher, I closed the piece by talking about the things Dreamcatcher has achieved, and that in the space of a 7-year period, they'd done so much and stamped their legacy as one of 3rd generation's best K-Pop girl groups. In that last paragraph, I said that no matter what the future holds, what they've done has made them mighty, borrowing shamelessly from a short-lived TV show, Firefly, whose recurring theme was one of underdog success despite the odds and resources.

The inclusion was intentional, as I'd believed that 2025 would bring potential for contract status updates. After a full member early renewal back in 2022, and having beaten the "7 year curse" of K-Pop groups, I felt 2025 might have a chance to bring with it a re-evaluation. If that didn't happen, that was totally fine by me, but I was prepared for if it did.

Sure enough, on March 10th, 2025, the news dropped that Handong, Dami, and Gahyun would end contract exclusivity, pursuing new projects as the rest of Dreamcatcher would continue with new activities - JiU, SuA, and Yoohyeon as a subunit and Siyeon in a band.

Predictably, this brought with it a storm of emotion from fans who had been looking forward to a full eighth year of group activities. Even though all seven members committed to being part of Dreamcatcher and to participate in any future group activities, understandable skepticism persisted regarding the likelihood of these events based on history with other K-Pop groups in similar situations.

That said, what we have gotten in 2025 is new from Dreamcatcher, even if it was not in the form that people expected prior to the contract renewal news. Far from fading away from the spotlight, everyone on Dreamcatcher had some time to shine and show things they were doing or achieving in new and exciting ways for their respective careers. Here's what I've seen in 2025 in Dreamcatcher's new era.

Dreamcatcher's consistency of content, even in separate projects, ensured fans were never long in waiting for something new.

One of the reasons why I have appreciated following Dreamcatcher as long as I have is that they've always produced lots of content for the group, whether it was through variety, shows, or in-house videos such as Special Clip covers, behind-the-scenes vlogs, and more. We've always had something to chew on as fans of Dreamcatcher over the past eight years.

That didn't stop just because group activities were put on hold. The charge was led by new Dreamcatcher subunit UAU, with JiU, SuA, and Yoohyeon dropping in just over two months after the March announcement with debut album "Playlist".

A full set of promotions followed, but UAU also played around with new and interesting bits of content as well, from ASMR and casual content to new collaborations, such as with a brewery for a listening party and exclusive UAU beer, and more.

And of course, carrying forward the Dreamcatcher touring legacy, UAU rolled through North and Latin America in the summer along with a few isolated dates in Southeast Asia. It was a solid four months of content, and UAU shouldered the load admirably.

But it's not like the rest of Dreamcatcher was idle, either. When UAU tagged out, Dami tagged in, independently producing and releasing her own debut single "Chequered Flag", and doing her own part to keep the Dreamcatcher content train going.

Gahyun made her presence felt during the summer through taking advantage of her friend network built up through her time with the group, appearing in a couple videos with fellow idols Moon Sua from Billlie and Yoojung from Weki Meki, as well as with friends she met at fashion events. And her upcoming photobook, Love Letter, serves as her first official bit of content as she works towards getting into the acting business.

Delays that apparently couldn't be helped kept Siyeon and her new band, revealed to be named "Chrocktikal" (a portmanteau of Chrome, Rock, the T in MBTI and the hangul for Sword), from having content released, with only randomly fun image teasers from an informal Instagram account serving as teasers. But Siyeon and her new band appear are gearing up for a confirmed January 15th, 2026 release, ensuring we'll be starting the year with Dreamcatcher member content.

But the arguable anchor for Dreamcatcher content in the late part of 2025 has undoubtedly been Handong. Dreamcatcher's Chinese-born member signed with Modern Sky, one of the largest promoters for independent artists in China, and the resources that brought to Handong establishing herself as a solo artist have been massive. A debut album, "AtsnstA" (A Time-Sensitive Network Star), filled with a variety of new songs, numerous livestreams and appearances (the latest at an end-of-year music festival), and a full slate of behind-the-scenes promotions, dance videos, and more have given Dreamcatcher fans a lot to follow. The release of single "Fairy" just before the summer appeared to just be the tip of the iceberg, and things don't seem to be slowing down any time soon.

All of this points to the fact that despite no group activity in 2025, everyone in Dreamcatcher continued to offer something to fans to keep them assured of continuing content and careers in 2025, alleviating at least some of fans' worries about the members' futures.

Dreamcatcher's new projects established a unique and different flavor from the main group's core concepts and music.

One thing that I noticed with Dreamcatcher members' new projects this year is that each seemed to try to put a flag in the ground and declare that they were doing something different than what fans were familiar with them for as a group. I don't see this as particularly a bad thing, especially in terms of wanting to do something fresh and new in the next stage of their careers.

UAU, for example, highlighted a more mature concept and style that JiU, SuA, and Yoohyeon seemed to relish trying out, and B-sides like "Sacrifice" as well as dual title tracks "2 Months" and "Attitude" departed from the pop/rock style of Dreamcatcher to do something new. I was particularly thankful for the 3 part documentary they put out for Playlist, which finally peeled back the curtain on production and recording and talked at length about the new direction and vibe the subunit was going for. Even their fancon shows seemed to offer something of a more casual, smaller-scale event that directly engaged fans.

Fans also knew that Dami was capable of more than just rapping, but her shifting gears to a dubstep, racing-inspired track was also different from some of the other work she's done before in her song credits with the group. The photoshoots and teasers reflected this new mood, and the result is something far different (though no less charismatic) from a Dreamcatcher member known for rapping some of the group's most iconic lyrics.

The sheer variety of songs on Handong's debut album, with most if not all of them not Dreamcatcher-esque is a funciton of her desire to show off what she can do on her own. It was also intriguing, as someone completely unfamiliar with the way Chinese music companies promote artists, to see the full press push and filming style of content for all of these tracks.

And of course, fans including myself are really curious about how Siyeon's new band will have to offer other than an easier shorthand (CRTK) to refer to the new group. Bands are promoted differently than idol groups, especially those that might have a unique style from the pop-friendly stuff fans are used to, but with twelve (!) tracks on a debut release we're sure to get a good idea of what CRTK has to offer. The group interview revealed a few small nuggets, but it's at least clear that by virtue of this being a more rock-ish band rather than a rock-influenced pop group, that we're in for something different.

All of this tells me that the members of Dreamcatcher each recognize the uniqueness of their work together as the group, and want to keep that its own creation that is specific to the seven of them working together. It points to a sort of reverence for that eight years' worth of music, and a way to show how everyone has evolved separately from it - not a bad thing, in my opinion.

No matter what, Dreamcatcher's members have kept the group and their time together in mind as they move forward.

One of the big fears that fans have when groups like Dreamcatcher enter a time when they aren't all exclusively contracted is that it's a "soft disband" or that the members of the group will drift as they do new and different things. If 2025 is any indication, this doesn't appear to be the case with Dreamcatcher.

One of the regular examples of this are images posted on the 13th of each month by various Dreamcatcher members show a regular remembrance and thought towards the group's work as a whole (and curiously enough, Siyeon's posts are spelling the word "Dreamcatcher", pointing to speculation that we may see something with the group as soon as early 2026). We've also seen lots of evidence of occasional get-togethers and even trips for Dreamcatcher members to see one another, like this set of photos from Siyeon's visit to Beijing to catch up with Handong.

But if images aren't enough for you, the fact that Dreamcatcher members have been in each other's content this year might tip the balance a bit. Handong visited the UAU filming set prior to release, and Siyeon and Dami served as MCs for their debut showcase. Handong returned to South Korea to film content with Dami, which turned out in part to help promote Dami's "Chequered Flag" release and which even resulted in an old school Handong and Dami livestream.

Music-wise, Dreamcatcher members have even gone so far as to feature on each others' releases. "Peekaboo" has Dami supplementing her voice to Handong's bright and happy B-side while Yoohyeon features on Dami's "Chequered Flag". And I wouldn't be surprised if we maybe got a Dreamcatcher member cameo on one of Siyeon's brand new Chrocktikal tracks.

But funnily enough, one of the best and most unexpected surprises came late in the year when the former art director of one of Dreamcatcher's erstwhile partners in Vespa (who collaborated with them to promote mobile game King's Raid in 2019 with the now-iconic title track "Deja Vu") put out abandoned assets for the doomed King's Raid 2 project. Buried in the art videos was a snippet of an unreleased group Dreamcatcher track, "The Destiny", that was to be the game's official theme song. Whether it was through coincidence or not, fans even got a small taste of the old group sound, even without the group or the company doing anything - a fortunate discovery and a testament to how wonderfully unique the group's work has been.

Regardless, it's clear the members still feel a bond with one another both professionally and personally, and there has been a ton of support back and forth, which should hopefully reassure fans that despite new horizons and individual/subunit work, that the group is still close to the heart for all of them. In some ways, that's almost to be expected given what the group has achieved together.

There's a saying that "all good things must come to an end", and that's true of pretty much everything. But that doesn't mean the memories of those good things have to fade away or disappear, no matter what happens in the future. I'm optimistic that we'll see Dreamcatcher back together soon for something like the group's original content (in fact I'm so bullish on this that I think we may see something even before the group's 10th anniversary in 2027 - we'll see if I'm right a year from now), but the ultimate outcome doesn't matter. What does matter is that Dreamcatcher's members seem to be taking what they've learned as part of the group, treasuring it, and then making themselves better, leveling up in ways we haven't seen yet (or may ever, depending). That's a part of life, too, and it's why Dreamcatcher's 2025 shouldn't be seen as an ending, but a new beginning.

Want to read my other year-end reviews for Dreamcatcher? You can check them out here:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020