Thanks to too much free time and boredom at home a few years ago (for some reason) I stumbled on far and away my two current favorite groups - Dreamcatcher and Band-Maid. Always so much fun when I get to see someone else discover both. For Dreamcatcher it was the rock elements in their title tracks that drew me in and turned out to be their bsides (rock or no) that really sealed it for me. Seems my musical tastes were far more diverse than I thought or gave myself credit for.
Yeah this is basically their thing (kpop mix with rock/metal), for the tittle tracks at least. Not just a one off song. They also have songs that's straight hard rock /metal.
Welcome to the Dreamworld! The "I don't know what this is but I think I like it" is pretty similar to how I reacted when I first found Dreamcatcher and by the end of the first MV I saw, Scream, I was hooked. This rock/metal infused k-pop sound is their core sound. The genre literally is Dreamcatcher because no one else does it like they do. While all of their title tracks have this core sound their b-sides are extremely diverse and touch on dozens of genres & sub-genres. R&B, EDM, Trap, Trance, Funk, Reggae, Jazz, Rock, Metal, Pop, and more can all be found in their discography. They do perform with a live band occasionally, however, since they're a smaller artist they don't have the money to take a live band with them when they tour overseas so most of their concert performances are with a studio track. Their producers do play most of the real instruments used in their songs and occasionally they work with other artists like June One from the South Korean Indie band Glen Check, Pontus Norgren from Swedish Metal band Hammerfall, or Katsuma from the Japanese rock band Coldrain. If you're interested in checking out more from them you can go back to the beginning and check out their Nightmare series Chase Me Good Night Fly High - Prequel to Chase Me You & I What Piri Breaking Out - Their first Japanese release and the ending to the Nightmare Series. Of you could check out their Dystopia Trilogy which leans a little harder into the Electronic elements Scream Boca (Mouth in spanish) Odd Eye Or their Apocalypse trilogy which leans more into progressive rock Maison (home in french) Vision Bonvoyage They also have several other one off songs that I see someone else has listed out for you. Enjoy!
😂 😂 Hilarious seeing your reaction. That’s how I was hooked. First, ok I’ll be open minded and try something new based on recommendation. Song opening - ok girl group probably some slow melody (yawn). Then comes the chorus, what the… Then the finale, ok who are these girls and what are their other songs?
Dreamcatcher title track M/Vs tell a story. Even if Deja Vu is a game collaboration and not part of a story arc, the M/V has a pretty deep underlying story. Most DreamCatcher M/Vs have pretty deep lyrical and visual symbolization and many moves, items, colors have a meaning. To demo this, let me break down Deja Vu M/V: Deja Vu is a song about love, friendship and most importantly betrayal. It is a standalone title track, not part of a Dreamcatcher story arc, and the song itself is a collaboration with the game KING's RAID by Vespa. The M/V has the two main characters: JiU and Yoohyeon (members) and the same story is told from their different viewpoint where Deja Vu should more interpreted as distortion of perception triggered by a feeling, a past event or dream here. Pretty much how Yoohyeon's mind distorts the past how she has betrayed and killed JiU to get the throne while also got rid all the other members and now sitting on the throne all alone. Similar to other M/Vs like Scream, the color white represents innocence / purity while black is for the dark side. And the most important color is blue, that represents (distorted) memory while red is more for the bloody truth. Now for the story in nutshell: First we see Yoohyeon sitting on throne wearing white but the moment she sits on it she get corrupted by the black fog (power) 1:18 (note already the blue filter here). According to her (distorted) memory JiU was threatening her while she is innocent (1:44) - JiU in Black, Yoohyeon in White. The 7 of them were friends 1:51 , note the red drinks representing the actual past here but distortion kicks in at 9:53 that rewrites the past (flow of time changes). We see at 2:34 that according to the distorted memory they are now in conflict and the others are gone. Please note the blue drinks this time. At 4:25 we see the actual past of JiU wearing white but she forgives Yoohyeon 4:34 she drops the sword, only to get betrayed and stabbed in the back at 5:29. The table scene at 1:51 refers to the last supper by Leonardo da Vinci to emphasize the betrayal. Anyway Yoohyeon also gets rid of the others, already at the beginning we see Handong imprisoned 1:34, SuA banished 1:39, others probably dead. Just to get to the final scene where Yoohyeon is sitting on the throne all alone wearing black. 7:00. Almost all of their title track M/Vs have a pretty deep meaning and basically every frame is there for a purpose. Every scene is either there to highlight elements of the Choreography that follows the actual lyrics, or to tell the story. They have very few shots that "just look good"
Welcome to the Dreamworld! Dreamcatcher are very unique. They are the dark angels of Kpop and the only girl group who consistently incorporate Rock and Metal in their title tracks, fusing that with Kpop into something that basically is a new genre. They also are drenched in horror and social criticism, which again is special. Plus, they are massively talented, all of them. And while the girls look like they could rip out your spine when they are on stage, off stage they are adorable crackheads. 😉 Deja Vu is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is a beautiful, fragile ballad that kicks your teeth down your throat in the chorus. It is extra difficult to sort out, because it tells the story from two perspectives. You know how even evil people think they are the good guys? This is reflected here. One perspective is Yoohyeon's, who gets corrupted right in the beginning. She thinks JiU is bad (does not want to share power) and backstabs her and kills, imprisons or banishes the other members so that she can rule alone. The other perspective is reality, where we can see JiU be kind to Yoohyeon, but she gets killed for it. I believe this is a commentary on the different perspectives people can have about the same event. The lyrics seem to hint at an abusive relationship, where there are usually two perspectives as well, and the abuser finds excuses to justify their actions, while the abused find themselves in an endless Deja Vu.
Thanks for the Dreamcatcher reaction. Dreamcatcher is a girl group that has been continuously incorporating rock sounds into K-pop. I recommend their latest song Justice.
They've had live bands in their Korean concerts but since they're not huge they haven't been able to have a band travel with them overseas. The studio versions have their dedicated producers who have generally performed any of the live instruments (generally the guitars, keyboards and drums) used in the songs along with any programmed instrumentation along with occasional guest producers/artists on the production side.
dreamcatcher \:D/ check out more of their songs, they got a lot of good ones! dreamcatcher also likes to mix it up so none of their songs sound the same. they like to use music from all parts of the world and even from different time periods. it might sound jarring at first, but once you get it, there's no going back 😉 their latest title track release is 'justice'. for the studio track, it's produced but a lot of the instrumentation are real since their usual producers are also musicians. there are live versions where they use a band, but since they normally dance to choreo while performing, most of the time it's just the backing track for the instrumentals. if you like 'justice', there is also a band version you can check out from the 'it's live' series - just search dreamcatcher justice it's live. however if you react to some of the live stuff from broadcast networks, you should put a filter/watermark over the original video so it's only semi-transparent to avoid it from being blocked. reacting to music videos or anything from dreamcatcher's own channel is reaction safe.
Oh wow, welcome among InSomnia now. I have seen all your XG reactions as they are my 2nd favorite girl group and I am so happy you have discovered my ULT group of all time, Dreamcatcher! You got many responses already but I would also like to give my view on them as they are absolutely not your average Korean girl group. If you ask Google "who is the face of rock in K-Pop" it will tell you it is Dreamcatcher. They are 7 member Korean (with one Chinese member) girl group under their own company (Dreamcatcher company) that decided to incorporate Rock and Metal into ALL of their title tracks. This was a really unconventional choice for many reasons: Rock is not popular in Korea, so they instantly had to open outside just to stay alive in the competition as they come from a small company. They are a vocal group mixing in a genre (rock-metal) that is mainly about the instruments and less about the actual vocals so they do not blend naturally. Especially if you add rap sections. Having said that, many say that the genre of Dreamcatcher is Dreamcatcher. It makes their songs harder to digest and you will need multiple listen to fully accept their sound but it totally worth it IMHO as you get superb vocals with hard hitting instrumentals. Also since the instruments are sampled, contrary to a standard rock band they are not restricted in their soundscape and they can mix whatever instruments they want. As you will immerse in their discography you will see combinations that you have never even though could work, yet somehow they blend superbly. Their production team is absolute top (they share many producers with Ateez for example) Over the past years they have put out almost 100 songs, 10 mini albums, two full albums, japanese releases etc, yet I cannot name one song that I would skip. And they have evolved and learned so much over time... Few general remarks for your journey: While it is true that they ALWAYS incorporate rock and metal in their title tracks, their B-Sides do not have this restriction!! Since the production quality of their B-Sides is on the same level as their title tracks, Dreamcatcher is a group where you MUST dive into their B-Sides as they cover so many different genres so I guarantee that you will find many that instantly goes on whatever playlists you have. Their B-Side range from R&B, trap, jazz, reggae , EDM, all the way to Punk rock, Symphonic metal, J-Metal. This is the reason why for people who decide to dive deeper into their music it is not a bad idea to go by EPs / albums instead of just watching the title tracks.
Yeah. Dreamcatcher combines pop & rock/metal for most of their title tracks. They are very fun. When they debut, they decided to have a Nightmare arc. So their first 6 albums (7 if you count the alternate ending) were a bit on the horror side. And they have kept a bit of that sometimes. But they always have rock as a core to their music. They are a Korean group. Made up of 7 members. (When covid hit, one was stuck in China and was missing from 2 albums till she could travel again) Deja Vu was a collaboration with Kings Raid. They now have two other songs for the anime adaption. I will suggest either starting at the beginning of the Nightmare arc with their first two songs (they are very much linked in cinematic storytelling) Chase Me & Good Night. Or you can start with the Dystopia trilogy of Scream, BOCA, and Odd Eye. (this is the part that Handong was stuck in China for the first two songs.)
Another remark for Dreamcatcher: Most of their title tracks are organized into storylines and their M/Vs go along with the story. Up to now, they have 4 story lines: Nightmare series, Dystopia Trilogy, Apocalypse Trilogy and VersuS VillainS duology. Order of these stories: Nightmare Series: -Chase Me (their debut track) -Good Night -Fly High (Prequel of the story, released 3rd, but 1st in the story) -You and I -What -Piri + -Breaking Out (alternate ending of the story, Japanese release) Dystopia Trilogy: -Scream -Boca (mouth in Spanish) -Odd Eye Apocalypse trilogy: -Maison -Vision -Bonvoyage VersuS VillainS: -OOTD -Justice They have a few Title tracks that are not part of any story: Game Collaborations: -Deja Vu -R.O.S.E. Blue other releases: Eclipse : Japanese title track BEcause their version of a Summer song, based on a horror movie...
