Dreamcatcher have become known as one of the most reliably solid girl groups of their generation, sticking with their rock influences through thick and thin. And although I often state my wish for them to incorporate more electronic sounds into their title tracks (their EDM b-sides are always fantastic), I can’t fault them for continuing to develop their signature sound.
New single OOTD takes a bit of a swerve. It retains many rock elements but incorporates rhythms more familiar to other idol groups. In many ways, it feels like their stab at a (G)I-DLE track. Its scuzzy guitars underpin a surprising amount of “look how badass I am” sing-talking. I wouldn’t have expected this from Dreamcatcher, and that jolt of surprise is enough to make OOTD a fascinating attempt. However, once you get over the novelty of hearing the group play in this musical realm, the song’s shortcomings become clearer.
While the production aims for some kind of late-90’s, post-electronica grunge, OOTD‘s messy structure can’t find a hook strong enough to compliment this atmosphere. Dreamcatcher songs are usually anchored by incredible choruses, and that element is missing here. Instead, the track indulges in a series of energy-shifting breakdowns that give it a herky-jerking feeling. It’s a difficult song to get into and lacks the kind of climax that rewards repeated plays. Still, it’s cool to hear a group attempt this sound without the affected brattiness that often goes along with it.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
Grade: C+
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I definitely think the prechorus is its strongest part, but as a hardcore dreamcatcher fan, I only like this because they girls are talented enough to make it an interesting track. But it’s definitely their weakest effort in a long time. Personally, I think they should have embraced the heavy sound and made Rising their title track, it’s a stronger / more disciplined (but not by much…) track.
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as for my personal rating:
hooks: 8
production: 9
longevity: 8
bias: 9
= 8.5
(Vision was 9.5, BEcause was 10, MAISON was 9.75… 8.5 for a dreamcatcer track?! Actually shocking).
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Yeah no, not a fan. And I say this as someone who ults this group, who has gone to war for them. This is the one title track I feel I could safely have gotten from another group. It’s not just that it’s not really a rock song, it’s just so… generic. Like their attempt to be LE SSERAFIM or something. Somehow both repetitious and all over the place, no interesting wrinkles in the instrumental to really compensate. Rating is about right, I don’t think my bias for this group could safely get this to above an 8. Haven’t seen a rating this low for a Dreamcatcher title on this blog since “Good Night”, but this time, you are actually right. Their worst title and it’s not even a contest.
“Origin of the Dreamcatcher”… I would joke about this being a nod to Minx, but Minx’s music was actually fun and good, y’all.
I’m also confused with what they’re doing with the video tbh. If they’re going to cut songs down to below 3 minutes for streaming purposes, then why throw in random pauses into the video clip to extend the length to almost 4? They could’ve done something interesting with the instrumental instead with that extra length. Listening to the album version did clarify the song a bit for me, but it revealed that yeah, it really is quite a bit of a mess.
At least the B-sides are solid as always. I was on the “Rising” hype train, but tbh “We Are Young” and “Shatter” are stealing my attention atm.
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You’re so close to the actual meaning of how I interpreted this song! I suggest you look at other interpretations or my other comment if it ever pops up. For your question about the random pauses, I’m pretty sure its for the lore (like archenemy, the crown, the weird posts).
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Was a skeptic going in as the B-sides drew my attention more. But was very pleasantly surprised and happy with the overall song. Personally its a bit reminiscent of Ateez sound, lyrics notwithstanding as they are as mentioned more Gidle.
The “noise” type of sound and in your face swagger couldn’t have come at a better time, capitalizing their rising popularity after years of momentum and building of solid rock steady fanbase. Personally feel its a one off to let the ladies enjoy doing something vastly different than their usual.
Sitting at a solid 9/10 for me, might rise or fall over the following weeks.
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Well damn, just listened to the album. AoTY immediately, immediately.
Every song just became the defining song of their type in the Dreamcatcher discography.
Rising is THE most authentic Rock song of Dreamcatcher
We Are Young the crowd pleasing edm
Idk what Shatter is but it’s so damn good.
hopefully Nick agrees and we’ll see some buried treasure from this album
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They performed Shatter and Rising at their showcase. Hopefully they can also squeeze some performances in for these tracks at music shows too.
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I think that Apocalypse: From Us is better track-for-track, but Rising scratches the classic Dreamcatcher itch, We Are Young is a fun late-00s/early 10s EDM throwback a la Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, and Shatter is… idk, but it’s mesmerizing. Fingers crossed we get a Buried Treasure, I’m guessing Nick’s favorite will be We Are Young, but who knows.
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So it’s funny with DC we like to throw around terms like “rock inspired”. But tbh none of their previous tracks in their discography are actually purely rock or metal, they are all a blend and kpop in the end. Rising stood out to me as basically an entirely Rock track, which I enjoyed as it’s all predictable and straight up headbanger without the usual kpop switchups
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I have often thought Dreamcatcher is kpop with a heavy overlay of rock instrumental, and the occasional foray into Heart-style vocal styling. But the base is kpop.
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I don’t know how to feel about this either lol. It definitely feels like G-idle with some Aespa thrown in there – and tbh if I didn’t know, I doubt I would have even guessed it was Dreamcatcher singing it. It’s certainly different for them – I’ll give them that!
This is the kinda groovy song I might enjoy – but I think I really need to get it out of my head that it is Dreamcatcher to truly enjoy it. Very very few parts really felt like them. It was pretty cool, and the instrumental was nice – special mention of Handong and Yoohyeon who sounded really good.
When I heard the title name was OOTD – the first thing that came to my mind was “Out of the Darkness” – and I was all ready to imagine a wild dark fantasy song…. and then I learnt they meant “Outfit of the Day” and….. lol I was stunned for a while alright. It just hit me that the definition I made was BECAUSE it was Dreamcatcher probably and for any other group I would have guessed the obvious meaning faster 💀
This might grow… or not… idk – I just hope that listening to the song alone on Spotify might let this grow on me! 😀
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I also immediately linked “OOTD” with “out of the dark(ness).” What a disappointment when I learned what it actually signified!
I don’t like to say this, as “hate” seems like a strong word, but I…kind of hate this song. Dreamcatcher has been one of my favorite groups since they debuted. (I enjoyed their Minx incarnation, too.) This song, however, isn’t just bland to me; I couldn’t even listen to the whole thing. (I made myself go back and do so later, as well as look up the English translation, to be sure I wasn’t over-reacting.)
After songs addressing bullying, peer pressure, anxiety/fear, climate change, etc., a song about looking cool and wealthy and being popular for it online just feels really shallow. I want to summon Viviz and their recent song “Untie” (about the fake-ness and emptiness of social media popularity and being popular/famous for being attractive and how this can be an addiction) to tell Dreamcatcher how hollow the sentiment sounds!
Musically, I find it boring and derivative. I hope to find something I enjoy on the album. I don’t think this track could get above a 7 for me, and most previous DC tracks I would rank 8-10.
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So…I think you kind of missed the point of the song and the MV. Handong’s legs are covered in bruises. The members fight, but the fight is fake. Jiu is displayed in a box like a product. Gahyeon walks down a grocery store aisle past boxes of cereal like a model on a runway but it’s the most mundane consumerist setting possible. Dami talks about drunk driving (Dami, the member known to drink the least). Dami also says “fuck out of my way”, that’s not girlcrush cool, she’s being an asshole. The members are constantly on their phones, Siyeon is shown getting styled looking completely arrogant and self obsessed. Their images in the video are constantly being manipulated, the things happening in the video are constantly being shown to be artifice, breaking the wall to show cameras and crew. They talk about being gorgeous and flawless but they repeat it over and over like they’re trying to convince someone or themselves. It’s self destructive and narcissistic, not empowering. It’s the opposite of being about cool, its about the coolness is a kind of obsessive trap (we see the mystery online social media entity recruiting people as if into a cult). I’m very much convinced follow up’s to this will continue to be about a self destructive pursuit of “the crown” (adulation, fame, power).
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I knew OOTD meant Outfit of the Day when it was revealed but funny enough because it’s Dreamcatcher and also a couple teaser photos (Siyeon and Yoohyeon have like hair horns) I thought we were getting like a literal Devil Wears Prada theme. I don’t know if that’s *better* than what we got
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This is Dreamcatcher if they were covering a Pixy title track.
No offense to either group of course, but I can easily imagine this sort of experimental but funk-ish genre switching from the group of Pixy more than Dreamcatcher. It’s more rock than Pixy would go for, but that’s why it feels like a cover.
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This song is not particularly great, especially for Dreamcatcher.
HOWEVER I’m enjoying the production (visual and sonic!) a whole lot. I feel like they’ve really leveled up in terms of “MV having a coherent theme” this comeback, and the song is one I’d have a blast covering or screaming to at a concert if I’m fortunate enough to see them live again.
Basically I’ll be disappointed if they continue their sound this way (then again they’ve been continuing it with Bon Voyage/Vision and I wasn’t wild about those songs), but I’m having so much fun with the content it doesn’t matter I guess.
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(Not an Insomnia) I liked this song at first, the pre-chorus is very nice and the anti-drop chorus was not bad at all cause it actually has a somewhat pay-off after it. After a few days, this song has grown a LOT more on me. The hooks are super nice and the production sounds a lot clearer now after a few listens. I wouldnt say this is their best release in a while but I much prefer the overall song to Bon Voyage cause I can be more engaged without the pace changing 3 times, the chorus of BV sounds a lot more explosive. Also MUCH better than vision, that song was just lame. Also the people saying this sounds generic… no tf it does not? Its much better executed than a lot of other songs like this.
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I … actually like this? I don’t know how much I like it, but it will be listened to a few more times. The song just seems more coherent in the story telling than other songs and groups it sounds adjacent too.
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Happy 7th anniversary to these outstanding young ladies. May you have many more!
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