About a unique girl group: Dreamcatcher
K-Pop Blog > Artists > Dreamcatcher
Every year, new girl and boy groups debut on the K-pop scene, and on average there are as many as there are weeks in a year, per gender. At the beginning, each of these groups defines a concept - for example, cute or sexy - to which they adhere. Especially at debut, the majority of girl groups opt for a sweet, innocent, and happy image, perhaps because the members are relatively young at the beginning. Quite a few groups keep this concept, as it is also very popular. This could be one reason why girlgroups like MINX - A group that consisted of five members of Dreamcatcher - quickly go under and have trouble standing out from the crowd.
MINX
The five-member girl group debuted in September 2014 with the digital single "Why Did You Come To My Home?" under Happyface Entertainment. In December, MINX recorded the holiday single "Rockin` Around The Christmas Tree" together with Dal Shabet, another girl group under Happyface. In July 2015, the first mini-album followed with the title track "Love Shake".
The first album was also the last.
After MINX had not released any new music for over a year, Happyface Entertainment announced in November 2016 that JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami would debut again, this time under the name Dreamcatcher, along with two new members: Handong and Gahyeon.
| Stage name | Real name | Birthday | Position | Former MINX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JiU | Kim Minji | 17.05.1994 | Leader, Visual | X |
| SuA | Kim Bora | 10.08.1994 | Main Dancer | X |
| Siyeon | Lee Siyeon | 01.10.1995 | Main Vocal | X |
| Yoohyeon | Kim Yoohyeon | 07.01.1997 | Lead Vocal | X |
| Dami | Lee Yubin | 07.03.1997 | Main Rapper | X |
| Handong | Han Dong | 26.03.1996 | Sub Vocal | |
| Gahyeon | Lee Gahyeon | 03.02.1999 | Lead Rapper, Maknae |
It is not entirely unique for several members of a group to debut together for a second time. For example, the agency of the ten-member girl group Good Day announced in 2019 that five of the ten members would debut in the new, seven-member group "Cignature". Four of the remaining members left the agency and debuted with another member as "Red Square". Four former members of Pristin debuted in the five-member group "Hinapia".
Dreamcatcher
MINX never officially disbanded before the group reformed. I guess you can say that the cute girl group redefined itself and adopted a new name. One of the reasons was that the CEO of Happyface Entertainment hoped that a new concept would help the group get attention. Moreover, the members themselves apparently didn't like Minx's music and cute concept too much and were happy to have the opportunity to try something different. The now seven-member group debuts on January 13, 2017 with the single album "Nightmare" and the title track "Chase Me". The members of MINX are no longer recognizable, because the concept and music of Dreamcatcher are miles away from the old image!
Dreamcatcher's music contains influences from rock and metal, making it almost unique compared to the sound of other idol groups. The unusual sound, which is well received by fans from the very beginning, runs through the entire discography of the group. Dreamcatcher also stands out visually, as the members show themselves very charismatically in often gloomy, sometimes even eerie music videos. If you have a spider phobia, watch out, because the music video for the debut single "Chase Me" and the videos for "Fly High" and "You and I" feature the animals. For this, dance videos and live performances of the songs can be viewed safely. ;)
In the four and a half years since their debut, Dreamcatcher has already released 11 Korean albums, two of them single albums and the rest mini albums, most of which contain six tracks, one of which is a one-minute intro and one of which is the instrumental version of the title song. They also have a Japanese album, whose 12-track list includes the Japanese version of some title songs such as "What" and "You and I". Most recently, "Summer Holiday" was released at the end of July with the title song "Because".
Achievements
Two single albums - Nightmare and Fall Asleep in the Mirror - were followed in July 2017 by the first extended play, "Prequel," which debuted at number five on the Billboard World Albums chart and reached number one on the "US iTunes K-pop Top 100 Chart." The three releases earned the group enough fans that tickets for a January 2018 fanmeeting celebrating Dreamcatcher's first anniversary sold in under a minute. The day before the fanmeeting, the single "Full Moon," dedicated to the fans, was released, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, and was performed for the first time at the fanmeeting.
In February 2018, the seven singers already went on a world tour. "Dreamcatcher 1st Tour `Fly High`" included eight concerts in European cities, including Berlin!
In March, Dreamcatcher announced the name of their fanbase: "InSomnia". Somnia is the plural of the Latin word for dream/fantasy.
The second mini-album, "Escape The Are," released in May, entered the Billboard World Album chart at #7. It was followed by a tour of Latin America, which ended in August. The third mini-album "Alone in the City" was released in September, and its title track "What" was also released in Japanese in November, marking Dreamcatcher's Japan debut.
On February 13, 2019 Dreamcatcher released their fourth mini album "The End of Nightmare" featuring the title track "PIRI". On the same day Happyface Entertainment announced that the agency has changed its name to "DreamCatcher Company". Dreamcatcher Company, as the name suggests, is only responsible for the management of Dreamcatcher. Other artists are managed by sub-labels: the boy group "D1CE" by "D1CE Company" and the trio "Classmate" and the solo singer "Lee Si Eun" by "HF Music Company".
After Dreamcatcher was on the road from March to May for the Asia Tour "Inivitation from Nightmare City", the first Japanese album "The Beginning of The End" was released on September 11, which contains Japanese versions of some of their title songs as well as two new Japanese songs.
On September 18th the group released their first special album "Raid of Dream" in collaboration with the mobile game "King`s Raid". The limited version came not only with a photo book of the seven members of Dreamcatcher, but also with a picture book of the mobile game.
From October to December, Dreamcatcher, as part of their second European tour, performed in five American cities, among others. Handong was not there because she participated in the Chinese survival show "Youth With You".
The album "Dystopia: The Tree of Language" was also released in February 2020 without Handong. Nevertheless, the choreo for the title track "Scream" was worked out for seven dancers and in the music video for "ScreamHandong's part is danced by a masked dancer. Among the 13 tracks on the album is "Paradise"; Siyeon's first solo song.
As part of the Millenasia Project, Dreamcatcher, boy group "In2it" and solo singer "AleXa" jointly released the song "Be The Future" in May in collaboration with UNESCO's Global Education Coalition to educate students about hygiene measures during the Corona pandemic.
Only after one year, in October 2020, Handong will join Dreamcatcher again. This is because after participating in Youth With You, she was unable to return to Korea due to the pandemic. Her hometown is Wuhan, the place where Corona was first detected and Dreamcatcher Company explained that she could not get a plane ticket for a long time with her Wuhan passport. Fans could really celebrate her return as Handong made her solo debut on October 19 with the Chinese single "First Light of Dawn".
In December, Dreamcatcher recorded the opening theme "Eclipse" for the anime adaptation of the mobile game "King`s Raid". In 2021, the group released two more albums, "Dystopia: Road to Utopia" in January and "Summer Holiday" in July.
"Youth With You" and "MixNine"
As mentioned earlier, Handong participated in the survival show "Youth With You - Idol Producer" in 2019/ 2020. She was eliminated in episode 16 and placed 56th among 109 contestants.
However, this was not Dreamcatcher's first participation in a survival show. JiU, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami joined YG Entertainment's "MixNine" back in October 2017. However, they left the show in December to go on tour in Brazil.
If you don't have a Dreamcatcher album in your collection yet and want to make up for it, feel free to check out our store . =)
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