Greatest Hits:: Dreamcatcher: BOCA

 While I wait for The Form to fill up a little bit more, I'm going to return to the Tumblr poll I dropped that one time that gave me My Pace by Stray Kids to do because that's what y'all voted on. Second place was the lovely Dreamcatcher. I'm delighted by this. You mean I get to do one of my spooky girl groups? Yes, please. Always a pleasure. What's funny about this particular song (and the reason why I started looking into Dreamcatcher in the first place is that the very first time I heard this song, it was actually a stage from The Show on the livestream that THE K-POP (AKA the YouTube channel that The Show was attached to) has running basically all the time. And it was only like the last fifteen seconds of the song, but I was hooked. Done. Sold. And now I'm hunting down their albums. It's crazy how things turn out.

I know that one of the songs I've done recently had a producer or songwriter who has worked on a lot of Dreamcatcher songs (part of Eden's team?). But I don't remember if this was one of the songs. Well, I'm about to find out. BOCA is the second track from Dreamcatcher's fifth mini album, Dystopia: Lose Myself, which is kind of a fantastic title for an album, not going to lie. And the answer is, yes. This song was written and produced by Ollounder and Leez, who you may remember from ATEEZ's "Utopia" (and were also part of the composer group Super Bomb which wrote exclusively for Dreamcatcher, but the original trio appears to be inactive now). Ollounder is the new name here, and while, predictably, we see a lot of ATEEZ, Dreamcatcher, and xikers in his list, I also found a BTOB song which is amazing, as well as maddox, The Boyz, Golden Child, N. Flying, Teen Top, and Favorite. Leez, again, has written some of my favorite tracks from UNB, Tempest, A.C.E, and 8TURN, as well as for Golden Child, ifeye, Lovelyz, and KARD. This is not one of the songs that they've gotten a win for, but the album was their first to hit 100,000 sales, which is awesome.

Handong wasn't with them for the comeback because she was in China.

I'm so ready to dig into this song. 

• Group: Dreamcatcher
• Debut Date: 2017 January 13
• Company: Dreamcatcher Company
• Status: Hiatus
• Album: Dystopia: Lose Myself
• Song: BOCA
• Release Date: 2020 August 17

The line "Hold up I'm a geek the big paradox" hits so hard. It's also the most watched part of the music video, which is delightful.

 Okay, now that that's out of my system. I'll be coming back later, because how could I not, but I'm satisfied and can talk about the rest of this amazing, delicious song for a moment.

That intro really is instantly identifiable. I mean, we start off with the rain, which is great and grounds the song in a really interesting way right off the bat, but there’s also a surprising fragility and naturality to it in the highness and type of the percussion instruments being used. And if you don’t think that’s an apt metaphor for a song about how much words can hurt and be cruel, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s a great pairing for the fury of the instruments later on in the song, where even though it’s loud and angry, we’ve still got the delicate percussion from the beginning. 

Honestly, that’s a great representation as well, because anger is a secondary emotion used to cover up shame, sorrow, or fear as a defense mechanism. But the key word is that it covers it up, not that it erases those feelings that caused the anger in the first place. 

So softness even in the face of hate is a victory in and of itself, which makes this song a rebellion against the hate that causes angels to die. And I’m not actually being flowery about this. That’s an actual line, and I love that line, but not quite as much as Dami’s line. That’s just straight up iconic though, so ignoring that, it's a great reminder that it's a person on the other side of the conversation and on the other side of the screen, not some faceless entity. The other line I'm a huge fan of, the one right before the angels line so really, I should be talking about that first but unfortunately the flow works better this way, is "소중한 시간들을 왜 증오로 채우는가?", which translates to "Why do you fill your precious time with hate?" (It is also worth noting that this song came out in 2020, which had had a few years of very specific trauma).

And in our own interactions with other fandoms and other groups, it's a good reminder not to be cruel because one of the lines from the song is "Where is the love?"

Honestly, this reminds me quite a bit of some of the punk rock I used to listen to. The wonderful and silly songs are great because there needs to be a balance, but also I love this call-out to be a good human being.

Now, before y'all think I'm fully getting back on my soapbox, let's get into that music video a bit.

I love how the members are the only ones in this who don't have face coverings on. In fact, there are some people in here who are completely faceless and so completely insignificant that when the members pass by them, they don't acknowledge them at all. The white busts with the bright red tape covering their mouths is, again, a very lovely representation of being blocked or prevented from saying hate.

Okay. It's been heavy. Let's have some fun now.

Fourteen minutes of behind the scenes for the music video. That's actually basically the best thumbnail because I'm in love with those dresses. Gahyeon's rap with the golden tear sliding down in that gorgeous dress and not the black one? Perfection. But the members are delightful and funny.

And I like that we get to see them bring the dancers in to play with the camera a little multiple times. That speaks highly of them. 

I don't know if I've shared a relay dance in any of these so far, but this is a good one to start with. And I know this isn't the dance practice yet, so I'm not going to get too deep into the choreography, but this highlights a couple of things I really like to see. The lightning strike at the word thunder? Love it.

I also love how adorably goofy the members are. They're rocking up here with a modified version of the choreography, which you'll see in a bit, but they're playing and teasing each other and the fans. The spot where Yoohyeon and SuA pick up Siyeon? Adorable. Even more adorable is SuA lip syncing along with full enthusiasm like it's her part. And then Yoohyeon as she's walking back flexing her bicep and slapping it like "Yeah, I got muscles! Whoo!"

Their costumes are also absolutely gorgeous and they look incredible, like a team of freedom fighters in a Final Fantasy game. One of them is definitely the demolition expert. No, I will not elaborate.

This is also something new, and I love these kinds of posts because I get to find all sorts of interesting performances.

This one was done for Esquire Korea, which was a surprise to discover, I'm not going to lie, but I love that.  Their outfits look awesome too. Ignoring how amazing they sound for a second, they look stunning. The visuals are visualing right now.

I love this song specially because Siyeon's high notes are a work of beauty. And the best part is they are definitely seeing live because we get a great view of their throats and you can see them flex and move. Especially Dami during her very best line at the beginning. 

Yooheon again is being adorable, until it's her part, and then she's dead serious. She smiles. She winks. She dances and vibes around with the song like she's alone in her bedroom.

Contrast that with Siyeon who is standing there like she has never smiled a day in her life and isn't about to start now. (One of the comments says something like she needs her pants, which as a fellow pants-lover, I feel that in my soul).

And I need to specifically shout out Gahyeon because she's completely gorgeous.

This one is another relay dance (I'm going to get to the stages, I promise), but this one is hilarious. There are dinosaur noises, laughing, panicking in English, and Dami wondering why everyone is trying to be funny and then doing Siyeon's high note like it's her job.

Okay, first up for the stages, we have one from The Show! What's cool about this is with those subtitles, is that it clearly indicates which member is singing and when it changes parts. 

The styling on this stage is incredible. Shout-out to Siyeon's pants as well. But her vocals? That high note? The vibrato on that? She doesn't just hold that note; she holds her voice until the precise moment when she can let her vibrato go, and the amount of control and skill that takes has me in awe. 

A lot of the fans were displeased with The Show, to put it mildly, but that doesn't change how incredible this performance is.

This one is from Show! Music Core, and they look stunning in their all white outfits. They actually look a bit like white versions of their black ones from the music video, which I love. I love when this happens.

But, I want to give a specific shout-out to Dami. I know I've talked about her a lot, she's amazing and she was also the first one I could identify on sight without having to rely on hair color, but she does a very specific thing where she claps to prove those mics are live. 

Here is a version of the song from an online concert held in 2021, with all seven members, which is why I am making sure to include it here. 

But also, this is a little bit of a shift in the sound, because this is with a live band and it's also a different rearrangement. Enjoy this one. I did.

Okay. So, before we actually do the dance practice, I want to show you the part switch version. They worked so hard for this one. They had their hair done like the member in question. Their makeup included the various little beauty marks the other member has. There were cute little squeals and jokes happening, with the imitations completely on point (Dami especially. A lot of people, including me, had to really fight to see her as Dami because she embodied Yooheon so very, very well).

But the cool and hilarious thing is that the dancers also did a part swap, which means that it was a pair of the girl dancers lifting actual Yooheon-as-SuA, and they struggled. But they also tossed Yooheon-as-SuA, which was the cause of at least some of the squealing.

Okay, time for the actual choreography, complete with a plethora of shoe squeaks which I adore. 

But this is the time when I get to talk about that choreography!

First of all, they actually have choreography to mimic the "mouth with thorns" thing that they're singing about. That part is so cool. 

The powerful, slow stalking?

The hair flips? The stomping and the body rolls? 

The full group ripples, concealments, and reveals?

There's almost a military march echo to this choreography in some sections that reminds me a lot of "Bang" by After School. 

This choreography is so cool and powerful and feminine. 

And the dancers completely nail it, you know?

This is end-of-year awards show worthy. 

This is also the same place that GFRIEND's Apple dance practice was recorded, and where A.C.E has done a lot of theirs. Which is a really cool visual connection.

Surprise! You get this as well! Because there's a behind for the dance practice. This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. It's not very often you see the idols spook their dancers and then laugh at them for jumping like that. Multiple people ended up on the floor. Poor guy. 

And Dami's zoomies to get into position brings me joy. As is the way they dramatically flop.

But, we also get a cameo from a dog, so that's worth seeing normally just one its own. The dog is apparently named Pie and I already love him.

And last, but not least, this is the zombie version dance video. 

Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed this deep dive into the song. I certainly did because there are so many wonderful little points to all of it that make up an amazing whole of a song.

If you have a song you'd like me to do next, or eventually, drop a comment! Leave me a message! Give me an anonymous submission via The Form! And if you're not sure of where it would fit, just pick either GH or BBS and I will figure it out when I get to the song. I'm also getting a little low on submissions again, so please drop one. If you don't want to tell me why you love it, that's fine too. That's what comment sections are for.