Dreamcatcher (group)


Dreamcatcher is a South Korean girl group formed by Happy Face Entertainment. The group consists of seven members: Jiu, Sua, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon. They officially debuted on January 13, 2017, with the single album Nightmare.
Dreamcatcher was originally formed under the name MINX, consisting of five members: Jiu, Sua, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, Dami. They released their debut single "Why Did You Come to My Home?" on September 18, 2014. In December of the same year, they released the holiday single, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", with girl group Dal Shabet. They made a comeback in July 2015, with the EP Love Shake, which was to be their last release as MINX. In November 2016, they announced that they were to re-debut in 2017 under the new name Dreamcatcher with the addition of two new members, Handong and Gahyeon.

Career

2014–15: Debut as MINX

Then using the name Minx, the group held their first live performance at the Oak Valley Summertime Festival on August 9, 2014, where they performed two original songs: "Action" and "Why Did You Come To My Home". On September 15, Happy Face Entertainment announced their new girl group. Minx released their debut digital single "Why Did You Come to My Home" on September 18. The song was described as a "new take on the children's rhyme" of the same name.
Minx made their official debut on M Countdown on September 18 and ended promotions on October 26 with a final performance on Inkigayo.
In July 2015, Minx released their first EP, titled Love Shake with the same name for the lead single. The single was promoted as a "joyous song" that "goes well with summer", and is a remake of the song "Love Shake" from label mate Dal Shabet's Bang Bang album. On the same day, Minx held a press showcase at Ellui, a club in Seoul. They performed their first comeback stage on The Show on June 30 and Show Champion on July 1.

2017: Re-debut as Dreamcatcher, ''Nightmare'', ''Fall Asleep in the Mirror'' and ''Prequel''

In November 2016, Happy Face Entertainment revealed that Minx would re-debut under the name "Dreamcatcher" with Minx members JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Yoohyeon, and Dami, along with two new members Handong
and Gahyeon in 2017. The group re-debuted with the release of their first single album "Nightmare" and its title track "Chase Me", on January 13, 2017. On January 19, they made an official debut stage at M Countdown.
On April 5, Dreamcatcher released their second single album Fall Asleep in the Mirror
and its title track "Good Night".
Dreamcatcher released their first EP under their new name titled Prequel on July 27. The album contained six tracks, including the lead single "Fly High". The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and peaked at No. 1 on the US iTunes K-Pop Top 100 Chart.
On August 1, Happy Face Entertainment announced that Dreamcatcher will hold their first world tour after wrapping up their promotions for 'Prequel'.
On October 3, Happy Face Entertainment announced that Dreamcatcher will join Mix Nine of YG Entertainment to be televised in JTBC. Happy Face stated the purpose of Dream Catcher competing on 'Mix Nine' is to show viewers a new side of themselves as a group and as individual members. By December 10, 2017, Happy Face Entertainment announced that Jiu, Siyeon, Yoohyeon and Dami will be leaving the show due to schedule conflict with their tour in Brazil.
On December 8, Happy Face Entertainment announced that in collaboration with , Dreamcatcher will be touring 7 countries in Europe in February 2018 as part of their "Fly High" World Tour.
Towards the end of the year, Dreamcatcher received critical acclaim from music critics worldwide for their unique sound, which incorporates influences of rock and metal music. "Chase Me" was ranked No. 19 on Billboards Best K-Pop Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks. Subsequently, Dreamcatcher was listed No. 3 on Billboard's Best New K-Pop Acts in 2017.
Happy Face Entertainment announced on December 28 that Dreamcatcher would hold a fan meeting on January 13, 2018, to celebrate the first anniversary of their debut with fans. All 400 tickets to the fan meeting were sold out in under a minute after its release to public sales on January 2.

2018: Commercial success and breakthrough

On January 4, 2018, Happy Face Entertainment revealed that Dreamcatcher would release a new digital single dedicated to fans in celebration of their first anniversary on January 12. Composed by Ollounder and Leez, who also composed Dreamcatcher's previous title tracks "Chase Me" and "Good Night", the single will be of the metal/rock genre and "in commemoration of the memories forged between Dreamcatcher and fans". This was followed up by individual teaser photos released everyday at 1313 hrs KST until 12 January, releasing clues of the title and lyrics of the track.
On January 12, Dreamcatcher released their first anniversary digital single "Full Moon", alongside a promotional video.
The video continued the story of Dreamcatcher's 'Nightmare' trilogy, and it was revealed at the end of the video that a comeback is planned in March 2018. The single immediately charted highly on the iTunes Top 100 K-Pop charts in many countries worldwide, and ranked No. 16 on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
On January 13, Dreamcatcher held their first anniversary fan meeting at the Mary Hall Grand Theatre at Sogang University, where they performed "Full Moon" for the first time in the presence of over 400 fans.
In February 2018, Dreamcatcher became the first K-pop girl group to complete a tour of major European cities to perform their music and interact with international fans. Cities visited on the 'Fly High' World Tour were London, Lisbon, Madrid, Amsterdam, Berlin, Warsaw, and Paris.
In March 2018, the group announced their official fandom name to be "InSomnia".
On April 28, Dreamcatcher were appointed public relations ambassador for copyright protection for Microsoft's latest Blockchain Security Technology commercialization and copyright protection campaign.
On May 10, Dreamcatcher released their second EP Escape the Era. Their second EP has six tunes, including the lead single "You and I" and its instrumental counterpart.
Their second EP Escape the ERAs Outside and Inside versions ranked numbers 1 and 3 respectively on Hanteo's album chart, and peaked at number 3 on Gaon and number 1 on China's Yinyuetai. It made its debut on the Billboard World Albums chart at No. 7.
The group announced on May 17 via Twitter that they will be greeting their fans in the Latin America region in July and August 2018. The tour, 'Welcome to the Dream World in Latin America', kicked off on July 27 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and wrapped up on August 5 in Panama City, Panama. On July 15, Dreamcatcher signed with Pony Canyon to make their Japanese debut in the fall.
Their third EP Alone in the City was released on September 20, 2018. On October 5, it was announced that Dreamcatcher would be debut in Japan in November with a Japanese version of their single “What”. Their debut Japanese single is scheduled for release on November 21.

2019: Touring, first japanese full-length album and breakthrough success

On February 13, Dreamcatcher released their fourth EP, The End of Nightmare. As with the title, the album heralds the end of the 'Nightmare' concept. This overarching theme the group has been promoting in their past title songs since their debut single 'Chase Me' has finally ended and culminated in their new single - 'PIRI', a song showcasing Dreamcatcher's signature rock acoustics and incorporation of music from its namesake musical instrument. On the same day, Dreamcatcher's agency, HappyFace Entertainment, also announced that they will henceforth be renamed as DreamCatcher Company.
After promotions of the new song 'PIRI', Dreamcatcher went on their Asia Tour 'Invitation from Nightmare City', which was announced to be held in several cities - Jakarta, Manila, Singapore, Seoul itself, as well as Japanese cities Tokyo and Kobe - from March to May 2019. However, due to undisclosed reasons, the concert stop in Jakarta was later canceled - instead, Dreamcatcher only stopped by in the city for a short fan-meeting.
Subsequently, in July, 3 more stops were announced as part of the 'Invitation From Nightmare City' tour - Australian cities Melbourne and Sydney, together with Kuala Lumpur city in Malaysia. Concerts at these 3 locations took place from late August to early September. Unfortunately, due to a fire occurring at 170 Russell theater on August 31, Dreamcatcher was forced to cancel their Melbourne stop one day before the concert was to be held.
On August 31, Dreamcatcher announced the official 1st generation membership for their fanclub 'INSOMNIA', which will confer fans various benefits and limited edition goods. Both Korean and Japanese fanclub applications started on September 2, and lasted for a month.
On September 2, a series of pictures titled 'Mystery Code #01' were posted onto Instagram, possibly teasing a new release. The next day, a new 'Mystery Code #02' was posted onto their Instagram, containing 2 photos and a video. Following that, a comeback scheduler was unveiled - confirming the release of a new special mini album, Raid of Dream.
On September 11, the group released their first Japanese full album titled The Beginning of The End, which includes Japanese versions of most of their title songs and 2 new Japanese singles. The music video for the track 'Breaking Out' was released 2 days prior to the album release, and Dreamcatcher held a showcase to promote and perform the new Japanese songs on September 14 - an event that was broadcast on .
Together with the release of Dreamcatcher's Korean comeback album Raid of Dream, the music video of their new Korean song 'Deja Vu' was unveiled on September 18 after a sequence of teasers and trailers. A Japanese version of the song was also uploaded simultaneously. This song is a formal collaboration with the mobile game 'King's Raid'.
After the conclusion of 'Deja Vu' promotions, Dreamcatcher embarked on their second Europe Tour, specifically in the cities of London, Milan, Berlin, Warsaw, Paris, Amsterdam, and lastly Helsinki. Thereafter, the group also successfully completed their first ever tour in the United States of America, where they performed in cities Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, and Jersey City. Handong was absent from both Europe and America tours due to at the time unspecified reasons, later revealed to be her participation on Idol Producer.

2020: Handong’s temporary absence, First korean full-length album and international recognition

On February 3, Dreamcatcher revealed their teaser schedule for their first Korean studio album. This first studio album—Dystopia: The Tree of Language—was released on February 18, together with the music video for "Scream", an uptempo EDM song. Although this was the first promotion since debut where the group performed as six members, the dance for "Scream" was nevertheless choreographed for seven members in order to enable full-member participation in the future. In total, the album features eight new original songs, packaged with Dreamcatcher's previous two fan songs "Full Moon" and "Over the Sky", as well as Siyeon's solo debut song "Paradise".
Dreamcatcher's third Japanese single, titled 'Endless Night', was released on March 11, after its official music video was released a week earlier via ponycanyon's YouTube channel.
On March 12, the official Dreamcatcher Twitter account publicised and announced support for Handong's participation in the Chinese Idol-producing show 'Youth With You' when the show aired its premiere episode.
From March 20, Dreamcatcher did a 2 week-long follow-up promotion on "Black or White", a song from their first studio album, days after promotions for 'Red Sun' and "Scream" ended on the second week of March.
On May 1, Milenasia Project announced that Dreamcatcher, alongside Korean boy group IN2IT and female soloist AleXa will be featured in their song titled 'Be The Future'. The project, supported by UNESCO's Global Education Coalition, emphasized the importance of maintaining good hygiene practices and to express their deepest gratitude to teaching staff worldwide for their continued efforts in educating students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The music video of the song was released on May 6.
As part of an ongoing collaboration with MyMusicTaste, Dreamcatcher performed a 6-member concert 'Global Streaming Into The Night & Dystopia' on July 4 at 23:59pm. This was the group's first ever online concert held for a global audience.
On June 16, Dreamcatcher released a teaser featuring the members in a recording session, ending with the words 'R.o.S.E BLUE'. A follow-up video revealed and announced that the group will be singing the song 'R.o.S.E BLUE' as an O.S.T for the mobile game . The song was released on July 15 at 6pm. Following 'Deja Vu' in 2019, this was the second soundtrack that Dreamcatcher had produced for a mobile game.
On July 30, Dreamcatcher revealed their teaser schedule for their fifth EP. The fifth EP, Dystopia: Lose Myself'' will be released on August 17.

Members

Sourced from a Korean media interview with Dreamcatcher.

Studio albums

Extended plays

Single albums

Singles

Compilation appearances

Concerts

Headlining concerts

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryResultRef.
2017Mnet Asian Music AwardsBest New Female Artist
2017Melon Music AwardsBest New Artist
2018Korea Brand of the YearFemale Idol of the Year
2018Keum Yeong Star AwardsPromising Idol