Dreamcatcher - our opinion

Our opinion and basic descriptions of some of Dreamcatcher's videos. For those not familiar with their music.

We are not experts on the group, and have not watched or listened to everything this group has done. In fact, only discovering their music a few days ago. (and K-pop only a few weeks ago — yes, we basically live in a cave 😉)

Listening to their songs, many people may not expect the lyrics to be dark. Some people would expect scary songs to be sang in a scary way (think Black Metal or Death Metal). Not with pleasantly pretty voices, from equally pretty singers smiling with a wink while they sing about invading your dreams and giving you nightmares 😳. —— Well, that is basically what you get with this group. 😁

For those of you who may not know. Dreamcatcher is a seven member Korean (K-pop\K-rock) group, consisting of seven women, six Korean (Ji U, Su A, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, Dami, Gahyun) and one Chinese (Handong). Five of which previously made up the K-pop group called Minx (Ji U, Su A, Siyeon, Yoohyeon and Dami).

The group has been around for a while (over seven years), and we are sure there have been numerous other article written (many far better than this), but we decided to write one anyway.

To start, we will say, do not listen to the bs about this group. They are extremely talented, and have excellent musicians backing them. We would guess that there is at least one brilliant mastermind (or evil genius) somewhere behind the scenes.

We will not say the videos are not spooky, because many of them are, but we tend to like that.

There are some darker elements in some of their videos, so if you do not like that, you probably will not like some of the videos (especially ‘Scream’ and ‘Good Night’). However, most are no worse than a good horror movie.

Just to point out, we grew up listening to Heavy Metal, and there are other K-pop groups with similarly dark elements (some even moreso, albeit perhaps more subtle).

We never thought rapping would seriously work in Rock songs, but this group proves us wrong.

And yes, most of the lyrics are in Korean, but that really does not seem to matter, — and you can read the captions (although depending on where you read them, them may not be entirely accurate).

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[Warning. If you like this group, you may find yourself liking them more each time you listen to their songs. Eventually realizing that the bar on your standards for music has risen much higher than you ever expected, —— especially after watching a few of their live performances. 🙂]

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We found ‘BEcause’ listed as one of the spookiest K-pop videos. Maybe? We do like the song and video (and is the first one we watched). A deranged love song, with a mix of pitzecatto strings, orchestration, electric guitar and Rock beat. So, we will delve a bit into it now.

The video is obviously intended to unnerve the viewer, using a myriad of clever tricks and techniques, combined with the obsessive love theme of the lyrics. Dare we say, bordering on schizophrenic (and vaguely homicidal). Using the various singers abilities to increase the intensity, then dropping it back to a soft lullaby (common in many of their songs). Some might compare it to a softer variation of Black Sabbath's ‘NIB’, but we really would not, — but it is possible. ???

The video is fun to watch, — if you can overlook a few rather creepy smiles. 😳

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Another video we really like is for the song ‘Odd Eye', which is about a futile search for a seemingly non-existent Utopia.

The song is more heavily Rock than ‘BEcause’, but the singers again deliver fantastically. Trading off as the music increases to an intense, driving climax.

Visually it is quite enjoyable, with the melting, swirling, flashing, flaming colored computer generated effects — and dancing, of course.

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Later we watched ‘Vision’. Which is probably our favorite.

The video has a post-apocalyptic theme, with the members dressed throughout most of the video in differing red or black military uniforms. With crumbling buildings and lightning bolts (again relying heavily on CGI). As they ramp up the intensity of their vocals matching the driving Rock rhythm (bordering on Heavy Metal). (there are some very good live performances of this song --- and of course some other songs as well)

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Then we decided to watch ‘Chase Me'. What can we say, this video is spooky. And we like it! This is a fairly standard Rock song and the groups first video (as Dreamcatcher).

Everything is obviously intended to maximize the spooky factor. It is set in a hotel with some interesting residents (the group). Who seem to be mischievous ghosts. Who play tricks on a paranormal investigator (Jo Dong Hyuk) visiting the hotel. However, there is a sinister twist to the plot. Which we will not spoil, but should be easily realized.

‘Good Night' is the continuation of ‘Chase Me’, picking up where it left off, again featuring the paranormal investigator (Jo Dong Hyuk), with a similar but faster Rock song, and some darker elements.

Those two videos are like a mini horror movie crammed into two music videos. The thematic elements of which is obviously how the group got its reputation. 😁

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‘Piri' Is a horror themed video, somewhat nightmarish, which some may call spooky. The song heavily features a flute like instrument (apparently a piri) with fairly standard driving power Rock music.

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‘Red Sun’ looks a little spooky with the group dressed in black, obviously intended to look witchy, but is a reasonable good albeit slower song. Which the music relies heavily on glockenspiel/bells with a slow beat. This one features only six of the group (Handong is missing).

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‘You and I' is a bit heavier Rock tune, with some more cool lead guitar riffs. Not overly spooky, if you ignore the spider webs, giant spider shadow (and the lyrics).

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The group does have some less spooky videos as well:

‘Full Moon' another fairly standard, slightly power ballad Rock tune, similar to ‘Chase Me', but is a black and white dance video. We like it and if you are liking the group by now, it is worth watching. (as are their other dance videos — we especially like the spins)

‘Fly High' has a few odd scenes, but a much brighter feel, with music similar to anime theme Rock music.

‘Deja Vu' is a power Rock ballad, with a somewhat odd video (a thrones and swords sort of thing).

‘Eclipse' is another anime style Rock tune, featuring clips from ‘King's Raid : Successors of the will’, with only a few inserts of the group posing and recording in the studio. We think this song is another that really highlights the groups extraordinary ability to dramatize their vocals. (if not watching any other, we seriously recommend you at least listen to this song)

‘Endless Night' (another video missing Handong) Using Heavy Metal music. Surprisingly nothing spooky (except maybe the group — nah, just kidding 😉). The video features a lot of dancing, with the group dressed in red and black uniforms (and combat boots), interspersed with glamour shots, many amongst billowing clouds of colored smoke.

‘Justice’ another power Rock ballad

— amazingly powerful

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And some newer videos that seem to be moving away from their previous style:

‘OOTD' is a somewhat Hip-hop style song. We do like the look, but (... it is interesting how one line can mess up an entire song —— anyway).

‘Shatter' (the one we watched) is a live performance showcase video. We would describe it as a hypnotic ambient (slightly Hip-hop ?) mix, showing more of the groups obvious versatility.

‘2 Rings' another live performance showcase video. A Hip-hopy tune; think K-pop meets Destiny’s Child (sort of 🤔).

(Did you notice any other songs using the same melody that was playing on the music box on ‘Chase Me’ and ‘Good Night'?)

We know many fans have their favorite singer amongst the various groups, and probably with this group as well, but we do not (at least not with this group), — simply because we like them all. The arrangements of the different singers throughout the songs absolutely blows our minds.

    — To Be Continued ? —

You can find all of their official videos, as well as various live performances, by searching YouTube.

Their official YouTube channel is: @Dreamcatcherofficial and if you like them remember to subscribe to the channel.

For something a bit different, check out the #shorts on their YouTube channel. 🙂

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Some elements of various scenes in various videos could be broken down into all sorts of various speculation (which we think is intended); but we will not, at least not yet. We have some (albeit far fetched, and erroneous) ideas, but we suspect others have their own.

(do feel free to share your ideas and opinions here)

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author's note: We have a bad habit of posting articles, then editing and reediting them. 😔

--- and this is our first attempt at writing a music review

We thought about putting a Korean version of this post, but after trying to translate it (as an entire document) in Google Translate we changed our mind. (we did not want to look like total idiots — yeah, it really was that bad 😕😅)