28 Feb 2020 MediaSR Interview “Dreamcatcher’s world”
Reporter Han Hye-ri
Approved 2020.02.28 14:51
Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Group Dreamcatcher. Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
[Media SR Reporter Han Hye-ri]
Something every idol group covets the most. A clear identity. The group Dreamcatcher possesses a clear-cut identity that every group envies. “Dreamcatcher”‘s genre stands out, as does their world building. Their new album “Dystopia : The Tree of Language” is no different. Dreamcatcher’s clear identity is their strongest suit that allows them to carve out an audience for themselves in the vast world of K-pop.
Q. This is your first studio album. I’m sure all the members are emotional about it.
JIU: This is the first studio album that comes 3 years since we began promoting as “Dreamcatcher”. And it’s not just a studio album, it’s an extremely ‘satisfactory’ album. The tracks are good, as is the concept and our costume. The performance is also really cool. Not just us, but our company staff are also satisfied about it and are expecting a lot from it. I’m so glad that we can go on stage with such confidence. I feel so proud!
Sua: We are telling a story set in a new world with this album. The album comes in 4 versions, so it’s diverse. Each concept has different outfits, so the fans will have fun picking out the ones to look at. If I was to give our satisfaction a number, it’d be 100%. Haha.
Q. That makes us curious about the new world Dreamcatcher will depict.
Sua: In broad terms, the ‘Dystopia’, the antonym of Utopia, is our subject. The sub-title ‘The Tree of Language’ shows you that it tells a story about what happens due to words.
JIU: The album features a big tree. It bears white, appetizing fruits when people say good things. On the other hand, when people say bad things, it bears black fruits. So it contains a social message, too. It talks about the negative impact that words in the form of things like hate comments can have, as well as the happiness and sadness that can be conveyed by words.
Q. Do you each have a role in the new world like you had in the ‘Nightmare’ series?
JIU: No. You should think of us as serving one role this time. You could say we protect the tree to purify its black fruits. Haha.
Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Group Dreamcatcher. Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Q. Previously, you said that this album was filled with ‘satisfactory’ tracks. What was your first impression of the lead track ‘Scream’?
Siyeon: It felt different! It was cool that we could mix rock and electronica sounds together like this. It was touching because it felt like we were meeting yet another genre. I wanted people to hear the track quickly.
Gahyeon: As soon as I heard it, I thought the choreography would be really hard. And it was. (Everyone laughs) Honestly, it wasn’t that hard initially. It was more loose than I expected. But eventually we got it changed to be more intense to fit our color and music. Haha. It was hard, but I’m glad to see that the outcome was good.
JIU: We incorporated a lot of social messages throughout the whole album. The lead track Scream in particular, uses the witch hunt, conducted through words, as its motif.
Yoohyeon: Because we incorporated social messages, I think it’s a track that many people will relate to. ‘Scream’ and the other tracks, I especially recommend to people working at companies. ‘Tension’, for instance, has a hopeful message that says that even if you aren’t perfect, you’re all right the way you are now. All the tracks listed contain elements that people can relate to.
Q. As Gahyeon said, Dreamcatcher’s dance choreography is always intense and dramatic. What sets the new choreography apart?
Sua: It feels full? We have dancers for the first time. We tried to make it feel like a battlefield. So each time we go on stage, it feels like we’re about to break it to bits. Haha. The music boosts your morale, it makes you want to jump into a battlefield.
Q. Do you have any special memories from preparing for the album?
Yoohyeon: One day, while recording, the lights went out suddenly! We stopped working temporarily. But it felt like a ‘sign of success’. So nobody acted shocked when the lights went out, and actually felt somewhat glad. Haha.
JIU: I also remember filming the music video, since we filmed on sand. On-set, sand was flying everywhere. Siyeon got so much sand on her that her black hair looked ash grey. We laughed so hard. (Laugh)
Yoohyeon: We have lots of stories about Siyeon. When we were filming the music video, we had to pass in between while Siyeon lip-synced. So we were all waiting for our timing, and I could see all the members trying to figure out when to go. It was so funny then. Haha.
Q. When we hear you talk, we get the feeling that you put extra effort into this album. It’s probably because it is a studio album. We want to know what you concentrated on for the album.
JIU: Since there are a lot of tracks, we had to record for a lot. We had to get a lot of recording done within a set period of time. I’m happy that InSomnias will have lots of songs to listen to while they think of us. The members participated more in the production, too. They worked on the lyrics of ‘Jazz Bar’ and ‘Black or White’, and Sua created the choreography for our B-side track ‘Red Sun’. It’s an album we’re satisfied with all the elements – the costumes, the performance, and the music- and it’s an album that the members took an active role in the production of.
Sua: I feel like we’ve grown while preparing for the album. Participating in the production of the tracks gave us a better understanding of our music. Writing the story of the tracks ourselves, I began thinking that I could tell ‘my story’.
Q. Don’t you find your new world unfamiliar? Your ‘Nightmare’ world was a long-running story that you have continued since your debut.
JIU: Hm, our new world also has the tree and its fruits that filter the good and bad dream, so it’s not too far from our previous ‘Nightmare’ series as they share the ‘dream’ as the common element. You could say it’s a larger extension of it.
Dami: We talk a lot about the world we depict with the people who produce the settings. If there’re parts that are difficult to understand, we try to have them explained. We also actively give them ideas if we come up with good ones, and they take our ideas.
Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Group Dreamcatcher. Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Q. ‘Dreamcather’ cannot be separated from ‘rock’. Your new album is also filled with rock elements. In 2017, you even went on stage on JUMF 2017 (Jeonju Ultimate Music Festival, a rock festival held at Jeonju), which is peculiar for an idol group. Do you members also like rock music?
Yoohyeon: I wasn’t familiar with it at first. But I grew more interested as we did rock. Now it’s a genre that’s inseparable from us.
Sua: ‘Rock’ is the genre that allows us to show off the strong suits of our team the most, I feel. I’ve also changed because of it. As our team keeps going with and enjoying the genre, even my vocal style changed. It’s growing huskier and darker, growing closer to a ‘rock’ style vocalist. The rock festival is a very happy memory. After that experience, I really want to do a concert with a band accompanying us. It would be a real honor to do that. We’re also always ready to go on another rock festival if they give us a call.
Q. ‘Dreamcatcher’ is definitely a team that has a very well defined identity in terms of concept. Have you thought of your next concept from time to time?
Yoohyeon: During a past promotion, we covered Chakra’s ‘Han’ on a music show for a special stage. It was memorable because lots of people liked it. There are lots of music from the past that have clear concepts or were groundbreaking. Yang Joon-il’s music or Kim Wan-sun’s music, for instance. I think we could handle those concepts well, too.
Siyeon: Honestly, we cover lots of genres outside of rock in our concerts. We’ve covered Red Velvet and Twice. We’ve covered Taemin’s stage recently, too. If you want to see our more diverse side, I recommend you come to our shows. Haha.
JIU: There’s a love song called ‘Jazz Bar’ among the B-side tracks of this album. We give our fans different genres through ‘fan songs’ like this. But even with those, we do them our way. (Laugh) If you check out ‘Full Moon’ or ‘Over the Sky’ from previous albums, you’ll see how we handle love songs.
Q. We can see that each member feels proud of the group for its clear identity and genre. Is there something you want to show off more about Dreamcatcher?
JIU: The members work together so well. We’ve worked together since our debut, so it only took us 4 hours to learn the dance for our new lead track ‘Scream’. Each time we pull things like that off, we realize ‘not only do we get along well, we work well together too’. I think this is the true strength of our team. Our overseas fans also like that about us.
Siyeon: Hm, ‘Each member being proud of the group’ is the source of my pride. Haha. To put it simply, I have confidence.
Gahyeon: I also think our strongest suit is that Dreamcatcher has a unique story. We can show anything and have it feel definitely like us.
Q. Handong is sadly missing from the promotions for the new ‘Dystopia’ album in order to participate in QCYN2 in China. Does having a missing member pose any difficulties?
Yoohyeon: We can’t contact her often since she’s filming now, but we kept in touch until right before she went into filming. We told her to work hard and to stay confident. We are Dreamcatcher after all! Haha.
JIU: A dancer takes (Han)Dongie’s place in the choreography this time. She wears a mask and the costume that Handong would’ve worn. So we go on stage as 7. Even when we aren’t physically together, we wanted to show everyone that we stand as one.
Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Group Dreamcatcher. Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Q. Perhaps it is thanks to your close relationship with one another, but Dreamcatcher is also popular with overseas fans. You are often touring overseas as well. You probably experience the influence K-Pop has overseas first-hand.
Yoohyeon: Domestic fans definitely tend to want to film us performing whenever they can to keep the recording. They watch our performance over and over again. On the other hand, international fans tend to enjoy the performance with us. This is the biggest difference.
JIU: I do feel that K-pop has a larger influence overseas than before. We see overseas fans with Korean tattoos, and more and more fans can speak Korean fluently. You really feel their love for K-pop when you see them even singing along to our B-sides in Korean.
Sua: Our fans overseas can’t see us very often. So whenever they do see us, they give us a large response. Even when we run into them passing by, their reactions are really big. Haha. They show us their love enthusiastically.
Q. You have gotten different responses from domestic and international audiences. Do you feel sad about the domestic response?
Siyeon: We do. Our songs are all really good, and it’s sad that people don’t see that. Haha. Even our B-sides are all really good. We’re a ‘B-side powerhouse’. (Laugh)
Sua: There aren’t a lot of Korean comments on our YouTube videos. That tells us that there’s still a long way to go. I want people to notice us through word-of-mouth, the most powerful medium. Haha.
Q. Do you have any goals for this promotion?
Gahyeon: I want us to gain some recognition. I want people to recognize us on the streets. When we perform, I want people to stop saying “who are they?”, and to come to see us saying “Dreamcatcher’s performing!”
Dami: We have dancers and do individual dances this time. There’s a lot to see in terms of performance in our new stage so I want to hear people say we ‘reached a peak’. I’d like this to grow into a good opportunity for us through word-of-mouth.
Q. These days, there’s a lot that idols can do. Is there a comedy show you want to appear on?
Sua: For comedy shows, I want to go on “Omniscient Interfering View”. Our manager is so nice to us. For instance, he makes seaweed soup for our birthdays, and if members can’t go home for a holiday, he brings them holiday foods. It would give us a chance to make good memories with our manager and to show off our carefree side that we haven’t shown people before.
Gahyeon: For me, it’s ‘Amazing Saturday – Doremi Market’! I can’t keep up with too many comedy shows but I keep up with ‘Amazing Saturday’ with short clips at the very least. It’d be great to go on there, and it’d be great to have our song featured.
Yoohyeon: Also if ‘Queendom’ gets a new season, I want us to appear on it. We could show off our unexpected charms, and I’m confident we could give people diverse stages since we have strong performance skills..
JIU: ‘Queendom’ featured lots of great girl groups, and I saw us getting mentioned often when it aired. I was thankful that people were mentioning us like that. It made me realize that we had found our footing now. We wanted to show people diverse performances as we watched the show, too. It’d be great to be given the chance.
Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Group Dreamcatcher. Photo courtesy of Dreamcatcher Company
Q. We can sense a drive towards ‘newness’ in you. Do you ever feel afraid about challenging yourselves?
Sua: I do feel resistant about changing our color. I want us to continue with our clear identity. I want the rock genre to be a part of that.
JIU: But we always welcome the chance to show off a different side of us on special stages. We’re confident, too.
Q. It’s already been 3 over years since you began running under the name ‘Dreamcatcher’. Do you feel that you have grown compared to the past?
JIU: We do when we’re on tour. Our first European tour was held with venues with 400 to 500 seats. Now our venues exceed 1000 seats. It made me realize that the InSomnia increased a lot during the past few years.
Gahyeon: Before our debut, we resolved to ‘create Dreamcatcher’s style, and to sing Dreamcatcher’s music’, and I’m happy that we made that a reality.
Sua: I’ve been feeling it slowly as other entertainers recognize us and tell us they want to see us perform. So I resolved not to get weak on stage, that I needed to ‘level up’ and get ‘upgraded’ compared to now.
JIU: On music shows, the staff often compliments us on our performances. Some people even buy our CDs and get them signed. Being recognized by the staff working with us in the same place gives us a clearer idea of our growth. I want our next album to be difficult, to be intense. I don’t want us to fall behind where we were.
Q. What is Dreamcatcher’s goal this year?
JIU: There’s a song I composed, and I want the members to sing it on our next album. It’s a song that suits our members very well.
Yoohyeon: Since we’re at the phase where we’re raising our recognition overseas, I want to go on talk shows in other countries. It’s best to dream big, right? It’d be a dream come true to go on the ‘Ellen Show’ which I watched since I was little.
Siyeon: Since this is a studio album, and an album with lots of good B-side tracks, I want us to do a follow-up promotion. There’s a song called ‘Black or White’ on the album, and I think it’d look amazing with a choreography.
Gahyeon: I want us to do a show in a large venue equipped with a lift. I want to communicate with more InSomnias. That would let us come up with more diverse stages, so it’d be much more fun.
Q. What do you talk about in terms of the far future between the members?
JIU: What we always say is “let’s keep Dreamcatcher going.” Without faltering.
Sua: I really want us to continue as a group. Even if we begin doing individual activities, I’d like ‘Dreamcatcher’ to make music as the 7-member team that it always has been. I don’t want Dreamcatcher’s story to end.
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