[TRANS] 170727 Interview – Why Girl Group Dreamcatcher Sing “Nightmares”

Dreamcatcher (Ji-U, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, Dami, Handong, Gahyeon) are a differentiated girl group. They’re unique.
To summarize this girl group that debuted in January of this year, they’re ‘synchronized’, ‘rock’, and ‘dark’. Different from any other girl group promoting youthfulness, the dances are dynamic and the songs are intense. And since debut, they hold a ‘nightmare’ concept and maintain a ‘dark’ concept at all times.
Dreamcatcher sets out for their third promotions this year starting the 27th. It’s their first mini album of their debut. The title song is ‘Fly High’. The album name is ‘Prequel’. It goes back to the story line before ‘Chase Me’ and ‘Good Night’. The question of ‘why did they become nightmares?’ is expected to be answered through this album. The album includes sons like ‘Fly High’, ‘Wake Up’, ‘Sleep-walking’, ‘Trust Me’, etc. in which you can feel the various charms of Dreamcatcher.

<Warning: this interview contains spoilers about the music video’s plot>

-It’s your first mini album.

▶(Ji-U) We’ve only ever released singles, but this time we can meet fans with a mini album with multiple songs, so we’re happy.

(SuA) This is our third promotions following ‘Chase Me’ and ‘Good Night’ and when we tried with storytelling, we’re going back to the beginning again. I’m glad we can let people hear the story of why we became nightmares. The song is also brighter than the two we’ve done before.

-The prequel format is unique.

▶(Ji-U) It’s storytelling similar to a movie. The Prequel album was planning from the beginning.  While we only ever showed an intense nightmare, we’re giving you a lump in your throat and showing why we became nightmares.

(Siyeon) In the storytelling, we were originally ordinary girls. We’re 7 ordinary girls living in a boarding school.

<Spoiler directly below>

(SuA) When you watch the music video, you will understand. Ji-U catches a spider. Yoohyeon kills it with fire. We kill the spider, so we receive that spider’s curse and become nightmares.

-You debuted as Minx in 2015 and redebuted as Dreamcatcher this year. The difference between youthful Minx and dark Dreamcatcher is big.

▶(SuA) Our two new members joined and made a difference. At that time, when I heard about Dreamcatcher, I didn’t think there would be storytelling. I thought vaguely that we would do a variety of genres, but it was a new, profound, dark concept. It was a really unexpected progression.

-Even so, you’re a girl group. Why did you risk taking a ‘nightmare’ concept?

▶(SuA) Dreamcatchers are American Indian magical tools to chase away nightmares. It’s a hopeful name. We wanted to show that unchanging concept to the public. Rather than hope, we chose a nightmare for dreamcatchers to chase.

(Ji-U)

This time we prepared two version, Before and After. Before is a girl feeling, After is a dark feeling after we’ve become nightmares.

(SuA) The song even starts brightly and changes to a dark feeling. You will receive a neutral/balanced feeling.

-Dreamcatcher’s synchronization has caught eyes. It’s not easy.

▶(SuA) It’s shared among 7 people, so it lessens the burden a little. I think it could be difficult for members who sing high notes. Because we must perform live in sync.

(Siyeon) We’ve gotten the hang of it. Honestly I never grasped the sense at first. So I grabbed my upper body and tried singing. Since doing that, I think I’ve gotten the hang of it.

(Yoohyeon) Um, I think I haven’t gotten the hang of it at all (laughs). Each time a new song comes out, the choreography gets stronger.

(Ji-U) So each stage is thrilling. It’s always new.

– This time that novelty has been added.

▶(SuA) Rather than in ‘Chase Me’ or ‘Good Night’, the synchronization line is pretty this time. There are a lot of turns. If you listen to the lyrics with your ears and watch the dance with your eyes, you will think that the dance matches the lyrics. For example, when we sing ‘thorny roses’ we express that. We practiced for 6~8 hours a day. We completed the choreography 7 days before filming the music video. And even then, we continued to modify it.

– The costumes are a bit different from the ones seen in the teaser images.

▶(SuA) For the costumes this time, the concept goes back to being girls. We’re wearing school uniforms, so there are people who say they don’t want it to be the same as other girl groups. So they’re not just school uniforms, they’re uniforms belonging only to Dreamcatcher. If you look at the shape and fit, it’s a uniform that would be found in a fairy tale.

(Siyeon)  When we talked about wearing school uniforms at the company, I was worried. As you know, school uniforms are a common item for girl groups. But this time our school uniforms are an uncommon style belonging only to Dreamcatcher. It adds a feeling of lighting a fire.

-The reason for ‘Fly High’ as the title song?

▶(Ji-U) We thought a lot about using putting ‘Fly High” and “Wake Up” as title songs. Finally we chose ‘Fly High’. This time, the singer wants to rise according to the song, so we chose ‘Fly High’ (laughs).

-Out of the track list, ‘Trust Me’ makes you feel the members’ emotion well.

▶(SuA) It’s not rock, so it was much easier to sing. We could add more sincerity. Haha. Honestly other songs in the rock genre are fast, so while recording, it’s really hard to breathe. I almost fainted. But we didn’t record a lot, finished it perfectly in a relatively fast time (laughs).

-It’s been 6 months since debut. It seems the past 6 months have been extraordinary.

▶(Ji-U) Now it will soon be 200 days since our debut. Since we debut, we’re doing our first fanmeeting (July 30). The fanmeeting tickets sold out in 1 minutes. We had said among the members that we hope they will sell out quickly, but that was the reality, so we’re really glad. ‘Our activities are doing well,’ so we’re proud.

(SuA) We debuted in winter, so winter, to spring, until summer, it’s good to let you hear different songs each season. The colors are all different for each song. We are proud that our fans can listen to richer songs.

(Dami) It’s already been 6 months. I didn’t even know what day or time it was. We really didn’t rest and worked to release cover songs in the middle. Because of that, there’s more time we saw fans than time we didn’t see fans. When I thought of this last night, I was proud, and I fell asleep happily.

(Handong) A lot of people have come to know Dreamcatcher, so I’m happy. I think we will be able to show more varieties of appearances, anticipating. Foreign fans also like our music, so I’m glad. We went to Japanese promotions and our fans increased a lot. I’m grateful every day.

(Yoohyeon) The goal this year was to release three albums in one year, and it’s going as planned, so I’m happy. I’m striving not to lose my original intention.

(Siyeon) When we promoted as Minx, I was sad that we couldn’t stand on stage more. With Dreamcatcher, we don’t rest and we are promoting, I’m glad my wish came true. And I’m glad we can show more variety of appearances. We are going to a rock festival on August 5th too.

(Gahyeon) It’’s praiseworthy to release our third album before our 200th day. The fans are increasing. I think we must do better. Someone released a fancam of our performance in Ulsan and people watched it and said it was great.

-Even so, it seems like promoting those 6 months without rest would not be easy.

▶(Ji-U)

After debuting as Dreamcatcher, a while ago we received our first 5 day vacation.

(Siyeon) They said we worked hard, so they gave us a vacation. The vacation ended, and as soon as we went back, we had a schedule (laughs).

(SuA) It was very healing to go home. My family also works, so got time off at the same time as me. I promised again that I must work hard for my parents.

– The concept is dark, but seeing the interview’s atmosphere, you seem to be usually very cheerful.

▶(Ji-U) Haha. We’re usually active. This time, even when we filmed the music video, in the time we rest we play outside.

-The music video was filmed in Paris, France.

▶(Ji-U) Originally it was Malaysia, but we switched it with Paris to match more with this album’s concept. An antique feeling.

(SuA) The music video had the feeling we hoped for. While on one hand the beautiful nature is magnificent, there’s an eerie feeling.

-Like a dreamcatcher, do you each have something like a lucky charm?

▶(Gahyeon) I can’t sleep without a doll. When we go overseas, I sleep after putting dolls on both sides of my head. Without that, I have the feeling I won’t sleep comfortably.

(Yoohyeon) A clear goal is my life’s dreamcatcher. I think having a clear goal is a big part of life. Even the taste of life comes out (laughs). My goal is to busk when I go abroad freely. But I can’t play guitar well (laughs). Now I must learn.

(Dami) I think having time alone is important. Time just by yourself. You must have your own time, I think it cleans up your thoughts and reorganizes the things you’ve forgotten.

(SuA) For me it’s curiosity. I have a lot of curiosity, and since writing in my journal a lot, I notice I don’t want to do anything on days without curiosity. Even though I’m getting older, my life that doesn’t lose its curiosity is my dreamcatcher.

(Siyeon) I think my life’s dreamcatcher is the members. I’m very shy, I’m a homebody. Daegu people go out to restaurants, so I think I can spend time alone like this because of the members.

(Ji-U) The dreamcatcher of my life is perfume. When I buy perfume, I have clarity. When I spray this perfume, I don’t make mistakes on stage. When I spray this perfume, I lose weight. When I think like that and spray it on, I’m stable. Ah, there’s another thing. The day before doing important things, I never pluck hairs on my face. Like trimming my eyebrows. So the day before a stage, I don’t pluck my eyebrows. I’ll trim them on the previous day instead.

(Handong) There is an actual dreamcatcher hung up in front of our dorm. Because of that, I don’t have nightmares. There’s an effect (laughs).

-Your plans this year?

▶(Ji-U) We’re promoting until the end of August, and we’re expecting to have Japanese activities in September.

(Siyeon) We’ve done Japanese promotions before and there are female fans that see us and cry a lot. I think they’re touched.

(Ji-U) Our fan base has a similar gender ratio. A while ago, we analyzed the the ticket ratio of our ‘Good Night’ showcase and it was half and half.

-Why do female fans like Dreamcatcher?

▶(SuA) They say that we are good-looking a lot (laughs). And they say we are a fun group.

-Dreamcatcher’s goals for this year?

▶(Ji-U) We have three big things. The first is realistic, it’s to enter into the music chart 100. Our second goal is to stand on the stages of the end of the year award ceremonies. Our third is to receive an end of the year ceremony award.

-Is there anything you want to say?

▶(Ji-U) This album has two version, Before and After. There are a lot of photos and it’s an album that was painstakingly created. I hope you can meet both albums. I think it will be pretty if everyone collected 4 albums. Your bookshelves will shine (laughs).

Source: Naver