As one of the few girl groups specialising in a heavier rock sound as well as dabbling in a darker concept, DREAMCATCHER is undoubtedly one of the most unique groups out there. InSomnias (fandom name) last saw them in late January, when they came back with their 6th EP "Dystopia: Road to Utopia" and after just a short 6 months, Dreamcatcher Company's (formerly known as Happyface Entertainment) resident girl group has returned with a special summer EP aptly titled "Summer Holiday". If you think the girls are returning to the bright and cute concept they originally had many years ago in their past lives as Minx, you'd be totally mistaken because DREAMCATCHER stays true to their roots with title track BEcause. Without further ado, let's dive in.
Meaning: Apart from their more aggressive sound, DREAMCATCHER is known for crafting storylines with their releases and thus far, we've gotten two distinct storylines, the Nightmare Quartet and the Dystopia Era, the latter of which wrapped up with their previous EP. BEcause is likely a new standalone story and much like their previous titles, the song is very dark and the lyrics paint a disturbing picture. An important detail is the inclusion of "悲" (pronounced "bei"), the Chinese character/hanja for "sadness", near the end of the song. This links directly to the song's title and from this, we get the best idea of what BEcause is all about. Simply put, the song's hook in the chorus goes "BEcause I like you" and if we add in the hanja from earlier, the line can then be interpreted as "the cause of my sadness is that I like you", a theory that has been confirmed by DREAMCATCHER themselves.
I'll elaborate more in the next segment but we see from the choreography that the girl behave like dolls or marionettes on strings. Combine that with the lyrics, which have been described by many as yandere, and we get a creepy final product where the girls sing about being madly in love with someone while being very aggressive in keeping them by their side. This song can actually be interpreted two ways, one being a love song and the other having a far deeper meaning tied into the MV's premise. To further understand the girls' duality as depicted by the song, let's first take a look at Gahyeon's chorus line, "with a face of an angel, I'll tell you I love you". Sounds innocent enough right? Well, the vibe totally changes once we get into the post-chorus because various members sing about someone being "forever mine, even your breath". It's pretty clear that under their seemingly sweet exterior, the girls are hiding a far darker persona and this is made apparent from the very start of the song, where we heard JiU and Handong sing that "you don't really know me/people might think that I'm a nice girl but they don't know the real me".
What cements this for me are Siyeon's bridge lines, where she sings "I don't care if you reject me/a different voice of mine will call out to you instead". Excuse me ma'am, I'm going to have to stop you from being even creepier than you already are but the point is, the members look as if they're behaving in a devoted fashion and serenading a potential lover but in truth, they're merely drawing that person into a web of destruction. I mentioned earlier that BEcause could've a deeper meaning apart from just being a love song and this has spawned fan theories about the true meaning behind the song and MV. I'll explain further in the next segment but essentially the theory goes that JiU is the story's villain and has entrapped some of her fellow members in a "cursed" hotel, replacing them with evil doll-like doppelgangers, hence the doll-like movements in the choreography. DREAMCATCHER's titles have always touched on very dark themes and BEcause is no different, with its creepy double meaning staying true to the group's concept.
MV: I talked a little about this earlier but the MV is a huge selling point behind BEcause's meaning and adds a lot of depth to the story. As mentioned, the most popular theory is that JiU is the villainous proprietor of a cursed hotel (which gives off strong Hotel Del Luna vibes) and has replaced some of her members with doppelgangers, with this premise being likened to 2019 American horror film Us. I won't break down the entire MV and theory here because that would take forever so instead, let's focus on how the MV brings across the song's dark and eerie concept. Typically, when you talk about horror concepts in K-Pop, you might be thinking of dark set pieces and outfits but something I find super interesting is the stylistic choice to generally dress the girls in brighter and somewhat cuter outfits. Normally I would talk about this under the next segment but it's integral to the MV so here we are.
The main imagery is the dolls, which are generally considered the stuff of nightmares while also meant to be cute. This is the exact point of the MV, where the girls are decked out in cute dresses and behave in a doll-like manner. Not only that, the MV's two main set pieces (the hotel and a theme park) are meant to give off a fun and innocent vibe but everything's a little off, the hotel being shrouded in smoke, and the theme park falling into abandonment and disuse. It's pretty obvious that this comeback has the underlying theme of darkness masquerading as innocence, something that's quite obvious from their promotions. With an EP name like "Summer Holiday", you'd expect the exact opposite of what we actually got with BEcause so much like the title's MV, this is just one big façade.
The entire MV is meant to instill an ominous feeling in us because we as viewers know something is clearly not right here and our greatest fears only become true as the MV descends into madness. No matter how innocently the girls are dressed or how fun the set pieces are supposed to look, the flashes of dark elements and creepy imagery really drive home the point of how the MV is masking its true nature behind a seemingly bright exterior.
Styling: We've already covered some of this earlier but to reiterate, most of the MV sees the girls dressed in relatively cute and lovely outfits. Bright colours, nice dresses, basically everything that's the opposite of what you would think they would wear based off the group's generally dark concept. Like I mentioned earlier though, these outfits are all part of the girls' innocent mask, beneath which lies a more sinister vibe, just like the dolls that I kept bringing up throughout the post. Most of the aforementioned outfits are your usual "visual" outfits and outside of those, there're two distinct dance sequence outfits. The first is a coordinated uniform (think of a hotel worker's getup), with all 7 girls wearing the same red-and-black vest on top of a white long-sleeved blouse.
The other dance outfit is one we see less of, with the girls all decked out in white dresses that unlike the previous outfits have slight differences amongst the members. For example, Handong's dress is sleeveless and she's wearing a lace choker while some of the other members like Dami or Yoohyeon have midriff-baring tops. Both dance outfits are play into the eeriness of everything, the first because all the girls look like copied-and-pasted dolls while the second because they're in in direct contrast to the dark nature of the song, further playing up that something's not right there.
Personally, I think that Handong and Gahyeon look the best this comeback. I've had a hard time picking a DREAMCATCHER bias (in fact I don't even think I have one) but I'm definitely leaning more towards Handong. Whilst praying for her scalp, which has to endure hair bleaching every single comeback, I have to wax lyrical about her styling this time round. With her practically white-blonde hair, she looks great and totally fits the creepy doll idea present throughout the MV, especially because of her ethereal otherworldly beauty. As for Gahyeon, her red hair is simply gorgeous. Need I say more?
Song: DREAMCATCHER has always been known for their rock concept that has been present since their debut with Chase Me (which BEcause's MV reminds me a lot of, just saying) and though they've delved into different sounds before, such as EDM with Scream or Latin beats with BOCA, BEcause stays true to the group's roots by bringing the hard rock sound into the typically bright summer K-Pop season. In direct comparison to their previous title track Odd Eye, which had far more minimalist verses before building up to a strong pre-chorus and chorus, BEcause instead has powerful and fast-paced verses which lead to a quieter chorus. Upon first listen, I immediately thought that their latest title sounded a lot like Wind Blows, Odd Eye's B-side, in that both songs had brighter sounds as well as similar arrangements (especially Dami's rap). BEcause is very energetic and lulls you into thinking that it's a fun song but there's underlying piano keys that make everything feel just a little off, reminding you that nothing is as it seems.
Something else I found pretty interesting about BEcause are the creative decisions to give some of the girls lines that are quite a bit different from what we're used to. Firstly, we've known that Siyeon has a huge vocal range but in recent titles she's sung in a far huskier tone that befits rock music better. However, this time round she's adopted a far higher pitch (think PIRI), which I can't really say fits a strong rock sound but definitely demonstrates her vocal capability as well as matching the MV's more innocent doll-like image. Another intriguing point is that we're finally seeing the return of rapper SuA! New listeners might not know this but our main dancer also holds the position of lead rapper, although she hasn't rapped much in recent comebacks. This time, she gets an entire rap in the bridge, which is perfect for the song's creepy vibe. I love that DREAMCATCHER's able to continue growing as a group while bringing back some elements from their past, it's amazing.
My one gripe with the song is that I felt it ended very abruptly. I felt they could’ve added one more post-chorus at the end of the song just to wrap things up better instead of merely going from the chorus into the fairytale-like piano ending.
Line distribution: I've said this in my Odd Eye review but I'm really happy that DREAMCATCHER has managed to improve their line distribution fairness. Gone are the days when one or two members would dominate the song, instead we're now getting a pretty even distribution where all 7 girls get a suitable number of lines. Rightfully so, the top spot goes to main vocal Siyeon with 18.8%, something that happens more often than not. What is surprising is that with the exception of some adlibs, she doesn't actually have any lines in the choruses, which is unusual. Most of their titles usually have her singing in the chorus in some capacity so it's a big change so to speak. Like I said earlier, Siyeon sings in a much higher pitch in BEcause and really shines with her high notes. Her verse lines are also really great and show us a different side to her voice, something we haven't heard in a while.
Coming in close behind is lead vocal Yoohyeon at 17.4%. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary here since she's part of the vocal line. Yoohyeon does tend to get chorus lines and BEcause is no different, with her sweeter vocals being perfect for the song. In 3rd place we have leader and oldest member JiU with 14.5%, and as the group's final lead vocal, it makes sense for her to get as many lines as she does. If you haven't figured out by now, the top 3 spots in BEcause's line distribution are all taken by the vocal line, which is expected for a K-Pop group. JiU could be considered the MV's main character, since she's the main "villain" and as the group's visual, she's definitely going to get pushed front and center. She also opens the song and gets a ton of chorus lines this title, likely because her voice is a lot softer than the other members so it's very suited for the innocent vibe the song is trying to give off.
Next up, we have SuA at 13.8% and like I said earlier, she actually gets rap lines after a long time. As main dancer, she dominates in that department but in truth, many people have wondered if she can be considered part of the vocal line because outside of the vocal line, she might have the strongest vocals. This leads me to my next (possibly controversial) opinion, that in this comeback specifically, SuA's voice is the most suited to hard rock. Just listen to her pre-choruses, which happen just as the song starts to pick up rhythm, and her lines there are in huge contrast to the previous members', who all had very soft and sweet vocals. Our main dancer on the other hand, went totally hard with her voice and gave us a really strong pre-chorus, belting her lungs out and giving the song that nice strong quality it deserves.
Right behind her is maknae Gahyeon at 13.7% and I think it's safe to say that despite the fact that she's in the bottom half of the line distribution, this is her era. With her red hair shining through and her honey vocals, she really sells her lines. Although she's lead rapper (and has generally rapped in previous titles for the most part), she takes on an exclusively vocal role in BEcause and she even gets the most amount of chorus lines this comeback, having lines in all 3 choruses, an achievement that's usually reserved for Siyeon. In 6th place is main rapper Dami at 11.7% and as you would expect, her lines are almost all rap lines. She gets an entire verse to herself, demonstrating her prowess as one of the best female K-Pop rappers now and also part of the 2nd pre-chorus. With both of these parts, she really maximises her deep voice and gives us a great rap performance, with a ferocity befitting the song's strong sound.
Lastly, Handong rounds up the line distribution with 10.1%, which (all things considered) isn't that far off from 1st place Siyeon. As a sub-vocal as well as the only foreign member (being Chinese), it's usually expected for her to get the fewest lines and that was the case for many of their previous titles. Back then though, it was way worse and she would only get around 3 very short lines. With BEcause, Handong has gotten way more lines than in the past, allowing her to showcase her power vocals (especially in the pre-chorus). Not only that, she even gets bridge lines (something that also happened in Odd Eye) and she serenades us with her amazing voice. DREAMCATCHER not only has the distinction of being one of the most unique girl groups around with their concept but are also the masterclass of how to have fair line distributions for relatively big groups with foreigners.
Final thoughts: I saw this YouTube comment recently which stated that the fandom is called InSomnia because we don't sleep on DREAMCATCHER and honestly that's so true. Our girls have never failed to amaze us with their talent and even in between comebacks, they continue to entertain us with different forms of media. If I've said this once, I've said it a thousand times before, it's a travesty that DREAMCATCHER has yet to obtain their first win, especially with amazing titles like Scream or Odd Eye. Our girls are honestly dishing out some of the best products in the K-Pop industry today and will only continue to soar higher from here on out. I know for a fact that I'll continue to support them all the way until the very end. Why? Well, to take a page from their book, "BEcause I like you." Thanks for reading.
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