Dreamcatcher (group)

The group as MINX on stage in 2015.

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".[5][6] On September 15, Happy Face Entertainment announced their new girl group.[3] 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.[7] Minx made their official debut on M Countdown on September 18 and ended promotions on October 26 with a final performance on Inkigayo.[8][9]

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.[10][11] On the same day, Minx held a press showcase at Ellui, a club in Seoul.[12] They performed their first comeback stage on The Show on June 30 and Show Champion on July 1.

In November 2016, Happyface Entertainment revealed that Minx would re-debut under the name "Dreamcatcher" with two additional members Handong and Gahyeon.[13][4][14] The group re-debuted with the release of their first single album "Nightmare" and its title track "Chase Me", on January 13, 2017.[15] 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[16] and its title track "Good Night".[17]

Dreamcatcher on August 22, 2017
From left to right: Dami, Handong, Gahyeon, Yoohyeon, SuA, Siyeon, JiU

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".[18] 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.[19] On August 1, Happy Face Entertainment announced that Dreamcatcher would hold their first world tour after wrapping up their promotions for 'Prequel'.[20]

On October 3, Happyface Entertainment announced that Dreamcatcher would join MixNine.[21] By December 10, 2017, however, Happy Face Entertainment announced that JiU, Siyeon, Yoohyeon and Dami would leave the show due to a schedule conflict with their tour in Brazil.[22] On December 8, Happy Face Entertainment announced that in collaboration with MyMusicTaste, Dreamcatcher would tour 7 countries in Europe in February 2018 as part of their "Fly High" World Tour.[23] Happyface 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.[24] All tickets to the fan meeting were sold out in under a minute after its release to public sales on January 2.[25]

Towards the end of the year, Dreamcatcher received critical acclaim from music critics worldwide for their unique sound that incorporated influences of rock and metal music. "Chase Me" was ranked No. 19 on Billboard's Best K-Pop Songs of 2017: Critics' Picks.[26] Subsequently, Dreamcatcher was listed No. 3 on Billboard's Best New K-Pop Acts in 2017.[27]

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 (오종훈) and Leez (이수민), who also composed Dreamcatcher's previous title tracks "Chase Me" and "Good Night".[28] This was followed up by individual teaser photos released everyday at 1313 hrs KST until 12 January.[29] On January 12, Dreamcatcher released their first anniversary digital single "Full Moon", alongside a promotional video.[30] 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.[31] 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.[32] 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 (February 14), Lisbon (February 16), Madrid (February 18), Amsterdam (February 21), Berlin (February 22), Warsaw (February 23), and Paris (February 25).[33][34] In March 2018, the group announced their official fandom name to be "InSomnia".[35]

On April 28, Dreamcatcher were appointed public relations ambassador for copyright protection for Microsoft's latest Blockchain Security Technology commercialization and copyright protection campaign. [36][37][38] On May 10, Dreamcatcher released their second EP Escape the Era.[39] Their second EP has six tunes, including the lead single "You and I" and its instrumental counterpart.[40] Their second EP Escape the ERA's Outside and Inside versions ranked numbers 1 and 3 respectively on Hanteo's album chart,[41] 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.[42] The group announced a Latin America tour on May 17 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.[43] On July 15, Dreamcatcher signed with Pony Canyon to make their Japanese debut in the fall.[44]

Their third EP Alone in the City was released on September 20, 2018.[45] On October 5, it was announced that Dreamcatcher would be debut in Japan in November with a Japanese version of their single “What” scheduled for release on November 21.[46]

On February 13, Dreamcatcher released their fourth EP, The End of Nightmare. The album 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 announced that they had changed their label name to DreamCatcher Company.[47] After promotions of '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, a short fan-meeting was held.

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 were to take 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. On August 31, Dreamcatcher announced the official 1st generation membership for their fanclub 'InSomnia'. Both Korean and Japanese fanclub applications started on September 2, and lasted for a month.

In early September, Dreamcatcher released a series of pictures teasing a new release. 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 broadcast on LINE Live. 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. A Japanese version of the song was also uploaded simultaneously. This song is a formal collaboration with the mobile game 'King's Raid'.[48]

After 'Deja Vu' promotions, Dreamcatcher embarked on their second Europe Tour in the cities of London (October 24), Milan (October 27), Berlin (October 30), Warsaw (November 1), Paris (November 3), Amsterdam (November 5), and lastly Helsinki (November 7). Thereafter, the group also successfully completed their first ever tour in the United States of America, where they performed in cities Los Angeles (December 6), Chicago (December 8), Dallas (December 11), Orlando (December 13), and Jersey City (December 15). 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.

On February 3, Dreamcatcher revealed their teaser schedule for their first Korean studio album.[49] This first studio album—Dystopia: The Tree of Language—was released on February 18, together with the music video for "Scream", an uptempo EDM-rock song. The album featured 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". it was marked their first part of the "Dystopia" series and first album of the group since 2017, Dreamcatcher's third Japanese single, titled 'Endless Night', was released on March 11,[50] after its official music video was released a week earlier via ponycanyon's YouTube channel. On March 12, Dreamcatcher announced support for Handong's participation in the Chinese Idol-producing show 'Youth With You' .[51] 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.[52]

On May 1, Millenasia 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.[53] The music video of the song was released on May 6.

On June 16, Dreamcatcher released a teaser for their new song 'R.o.S.E BLUE' an O.S.T collaboration for the mobile game Girl Cafe Gun.'Girl Cafe Gun'.[54][55] The song was released on July 15 at 6 pm.[56][57] Following 'Deja Vu' in 2019, this was the second soundtrack that Dreamcatcher had produced for a game.

As part of an ongoing collaboration with MyMusicTaste, Dreamcatcher performed a 6-member concert 'Global Streaming Into The Night & Dystopia' on July 4 at 23:59.[58] This was the group's first ever online concert held for a global audience.

On July 8, Siyeon released her second OST track 'Good Sera' for drama Memorials, after her Love & Secret OST collaboration Two of Us in 2014.

On July 30, the second installment of the "Dystopia" series, The group revealed their teaser schedule for their fifth EP.[59] The fifth EP, Dystopia: Lose Myself was released on August 17 and became their best selling album to date.[60] The music video for the title track 'BOCA' from their fifth EP Dystopia: Lose Myself was released on August 18. On October 16, Handong officially made her return to the group. Handong also released her solo debut song, First Light of Dawn, on October 19th.[61] On November 9, Dreamcatcher officially joined social media platform Weverse. [62]

On November 20, Dreamcatcher released their fourth Japanese single 'No More'. On November 21, Siyeon released her third OST track 'No Mind' for drama Get Revenge.

On November 27, Dreamcatcher announced that they will be performing the opening theme song for anime television series King's Raid: Successors of the Will, titled 'Eclipse'.[63] The song was released on December 25. A full version will be released in March of 2021.

With the third installment, the group announced their new comeback with their sixth EP, Dystopia: Road to Utopia and its lead single "Odd Eye", which was released on January 26, 2021.[64]

The sixth mini-album contains 7 tracks, consisting of the title track "Odd Eye" and its instrumental version, as well as "Intro", "Wind Blows", "Poison Love", "4 Memory", and "New Days". Multiple songs of the mini-album were written and produced in collaboration with Ollounder and LEEZ.