Since today, January 13th, is Dreamcatcher‘s 5th year anniversary as a group (they debuted on a Friday the 13th!!!), I decided to list my 13 favorite Dreamcatcher songs. I’ve always hated ranking stuff because it is a difficult and honestly pointless endeavor, since tiers are a superior way of grouping things. I still made this attempt though, so here we are.
A couple of caveats/rules: I only included a maximum of two (2) songs per comeback because if I didn’t have this qualifier, half of this list would come from Deukae’s first full length album Dystopia: Tree of Language. We need to make room for other songs as the girls have a lot of songs already. Only original Japanese songs are included. No need to put Japanese versions of their Korean songs on here.
Anyway, I didn’t enjoy leaving songs out of this list, I just wanted to get it out of the way so I wouldn’t second guess stuff and make this exercise more difficult than it needs to be (first world problems, amirite).
Also, if somehow you find yourself reading this, just don’t overthink things lol.
Special Mention
BOCA – this one is the most difficult to leave out because the music video is the first Dreamcatcher media that I’ve ever consumed.
Which A Star – This song sounds dreamy and catchy and extremely underrated.
I Miss You – One of Dreamcatcher’s many Japanese rock songs, I Miss You has major anime vibes.
Now, on to THE LIST:
13.) 4 Memory (from Dystopia: Road to Utopia EP)
4 Memory is a song that blends EDM and dream pop brilliantly. It’s catchy and invokes summer-y vibes from me. I don’t know why but in my mind, I go back to my elementary days playing in the grass at school whenever I hear this song. 4 Memory is another example of Dreamcatcher’s (and by extension their producers’, Leez and Ollounder) versatility when it comes to genres.
12.) Daydream (from The End of Nightmare EP)
Daydream is a love pop ballad that has a catchy chorus, and is one of Dreamcatcher’s songs that give listeners a glimpse of the girls’ vocal superiority. How can you not feel kilig when listening to this?
11.) 괜찮아! (from Prequel EP)
Alternative titled “So Trust Me”, 괜찮아! (gwaenchana) is a rock ballad with pretty nice guitars and inspirational lyrics. The title, “Gwaenchana!” is Korean for “it’s okay” and is repeated over and over during the chorus. It’s basically Dreamcatcher comforting you when you’re down, no? I believe that this song is criminally underrated as I don’t often see InSomnias talking about it online.
10.) Airplane (from Summer Holiday Special Album)
🎵Airplane, Lalalalala, go up into the sky!🎵🎵 Airplane is the closest thing to traditional Kpop in Dreamcatcher’s repertoire. It’s super catchy and invokes vacation vibes. I would overplay the shit out of this when if this pandemic ends and we can safely go on vacations again.
9.) Polaris (from Raid of Dream EP)
Polaris is a melancholic ballad that features every member’s vocal prowess, particularly Yoohyeon’s and Siyeon’s. Seriously this is so good. It sounds even better live.
8.) Jazz Bar (from their first full album, Dystopia: Tree of Language)
Jazz Bar lives up to its name in that the song has sexy, jazz bar vibes. The chorus, while already super catchy, has a sultry feel that entrances in you in a semi-sensual kind of way. It is another testament to Dreamcatcher’s versatility when it comes to musical styles. There’s at least one Deukae song for fans of every genre.
7.) Over the Sky (single release)
Over the Sky is a fast song with hints of pop-punk. The short piano intro followed by a very punk guitar riff coupled with the fast-paced beat should be enough to lure non-Kpop fans into listening to the song. Really, if you put this on a pop-punk playlist, nobody would bat an eye.
6.) Wake Up (from Prequel EP)
Wake Up is yet another Dreamcatcher song with pop-punk vibes. The intro is an interesting punk-sounding guitar riff followed by super upbeat drums. The chorus sounds like your typical anthemic early to mid-2000s punk rock that could get a crowd rolling. I feel like this would be a nice song to crowd surf to.
5.) Can’t Get You Out of My Mind (from Dystopia: Lose Myself EP)
This is Dreamcatcher’s first and (so far) only song that’s fully sung in English. CGYOOMM (that’s a long ass title man, which as a Fall Out Boy fan, I should be used to by now) is a straight up EDM, club music that you can dance your ass off. The lyrics are romantic too, so that’s a bonus.
4.) Scream (lead single from their first studio album Dystopia: Tree of Language)
Surprisingly, every other song on this list so far is a B-side (note: a “B-side” in Korean music is different from your standard Western definition of “B-side” music), with Scream being the first lead single. I did not intend this, nor did I notice until now. Anyway, Scream is a super intense song that fuses rock with experimental sounds. I don’t know man, think Nine Inch Nails, but dance-able. The music video is also equally bat-crap insane.
3.) Don’t Light My Fire (from their Japanese EP Eclipse)
Don’t Light My Fire sounds is an example of Dreamcatcher’s foray into heavier music as the song has metal-sounding guitar riffs and drums but is a bit more melodic/anthemic compared to their other metal songs like “No More”. The lyrics also speak of divine judgment. Metal af.
2.) Alldaylong (from Summer Holiday Special Album)
Another example of Dreamcatcher’s genre versatility, Alldaylong is straight up a citypop song that’s ugggghhhhhhhhhhh so, so good. Who doesn’t love the chill, dreamy vibes of citypop? What makes this song even more special is that, when you check the credits for the song on the album booklet, you’d find out that JiU and Yoohyeon co-wrote the lyrics with their producers Leez and Ollounder. JiU has co-written songs before, but this is Yoohyeon’s first writing credit as far as I know. My song-writing bias and bias wrecker. 🥰
1.) Break the Wall (from Dystopia: Lose Myself EP)
The song that made a Dreamcatcher stan the moment I first heard the opening the guitar riff. I really said out loud, “Wtf why does this sound like Evanescence??” Because it was a straight up rock song, that’s why. As a rock fan growing up and having only discovered KPop relatively recently, Break the Wall and Dreamcatcher bridged the gap between my two musical worlds.
I then checked out this live performance of Break the Wall and it blew my mind.
- Yoohyeon looked very pretty there, ultimately sealing her bias-hood.
- Siyeon really looks like a metalhead, and reminded me of Babymetal.
- Siyeon hitting those high notes at the end of the song gave me goosebumps.
- Those double pedal drums at the end of the song gave me a lovely kilig feeling.
Stan Dreamcatcher you cowards!!!! They’re super talented and don’t rely on heavy multimillion dollar marketing by giant companies like a lot of modern pop artists do.
Follow them on all their socials:
Find them also on Weverse and VLive! Here is a cheat sheet for Dreamcatcher as well. Get to know the girls on Insomnicsy’s Youtube channel, where they make fan edit videos of the girls.
patrickkennan.com 