I always know whenever a new Dreamcatcher release comes out, because my Twitter feed will be always inevitably be on fire. “DON’T STOP STREAMING THIS!” they cry. “WHY IS THIS ONLY AT 350K VIEWS?!” they scream. “SIYEON MY GODDESS, BLESS MY SINFUL WAYS WITH YOUR HOLY THROAT SOUNDS” they beg. Following K-Pop groups after having primarily been a fan of underground J-idol groups for so long is honestly pretty jarring.

Dreamcatcher’s newest music video, “Odd Eye”, is, sadly, not a cover of the Yukueshirezutsurezure song of the same name, because frankly, nobody can possibly handle that much power. It does, however, see the long-awaited return of Chinese member Handong, who took a year-and-a-half vacation in order to fail a reality TV show in her native country.  So, how does her comeback release hold up?

I mean, its not bad at all, and Dreamcatcher never fails to bring the beautiful music videos full of flashy cinematography and hidden meanings that I’m too dense to pick up on until I see some lass on Twitter like “did you see how Bona blinked at 1:37, that represents her feelings of despair and disbelief over how Blackpink are still selling more records than they are”, but its no Tsurzure Odd Eye in my personal opinion.

Something I have noticed, is how much I’ve been preferring their Japanese lead singles to their Korean ones lately. It’s not just because I’m a massive weeb. Their most recent Korean lead tracks have, for the most part, sounded like a slightly edgier variant of the standard K-Pop formula. Their Japanese singles, on the other hand, have been full-blown rock anthems. Take their Japanese single, “No More”, which was something I had been meaning to give its own article back when it came out, but I forgot (sorry).

Damn, that’s good anime food!

It makes a lot of sense from a business perspective: While K-Pop certainly has a strong fanbase over in Japan, rock music has had a harder time breaking through to the mainstream over in Korea compared to Japan. By toning down the heaviness of their Korean releases while doubling down on the heavy over in Japan is probably the wisest move they could make, as disappointing as it is to those of us who were initially won over by such tracks as “What” or “Chase Me”. 

I know it sounds like I’m demeaning Dreamcatcher right now, but that really isn’t the case. I still get excited (if, maybe a little scared, given some K-Pop stans) whenever a new Dreamcatcher release comes out, especially when it’s a Japanese track. Their newest EP, “Dystopia : Road to Utopia”, is also out today, and if “Break The Wall” from their previous “Lose Myself” is anything to go by, there’s still plenty of room for me to be pleasantly surprised by a Korean Dreamcatcher track that absolutely blows me away. I look forward to hearing it later today!