“Girls, wear what you want and don't be afraid to be called the villain,” says girl group Dreamcatcher, back with its new album “VillainS,” dedicated to boosting confidence around the world.

Dreamcatcher dropped its ninth EP “VillainS” on Wednesday, which is also part of its new two-part series “VersuS.”

“VillainS,” the first in the series, has five tracks: “Intro: This My Fashion,” lead track “OOTD,” “Rising,” “Shatter” and “We Are Young.”

“A villain is greedy and tends to not care about what others think, and it’s the same with your outfit,” JiU said during a showcase held on Wednesday at Konkuk University's Millennium Hall in eastern Seoul to celebrate the release of the new album.


The lead track “OOTD” is a pop punk track whose name derives from the popular hashtag “outfit of the day.” It centers on being “destructive and extraordinary” by being confident. The point was obviously made through the seven members’ chic outfits, as they collectively sported black leather jackets, matched with black baggy pants and white crop shirts, finished off with silver baseball caps.

“The song is about being flashy with one’s OOTD, as a personal choice,” JiU said. “You can see the villain’s confidence as well as the seven members fighting over a crown in the music video.”

Confidence is the key message of the “VersuS” series, according to Dreamcatcher. The group has been known to have deep central themes underlying its album series, such as environmental issues portrayed in the “Apocalypse” series and cyberbullying in the “Dystopia” series.


“A confident concept is something we've always wanted to do for so long,” SuA said. “We hope fans will be surprised at what we are capable of presenting to the audience.”



The members were filled with ambition, saying that their goal for this comeback was to embark on an Asia tour and get a No. 1 trophy on weekly televised music programs.


“Being No. 1 is always new to us,” Siyeon said. “When we think of InSomnia [the name of Dreamcatcher’s fandom], we want to cry [tears of joy]. If we get No. 1, we promise to sing ‘OOTD’ live while riding on a roller coaster.”

The other members seemed startled by this promise, but Handong thought otherwise.

“We’ve been to a lot of amusement parks while on tour,” she said, “so we’ve been on a lot of roller coasters and it’s been fun. I think we could totally sing our song while riding one.”

Dreamcatcher debuted in 2017 with a dark fantasy dystopian theme and has maintained that vibe as a group through different concepts for each new release. The septet includes members JiU, SuA, Siyeon, Handong, Yoohyeon, Dami and Gahyeon.

It has released songs like “Chase Me” (2017), “Full Moon” (2018), “Deja Vu” (2019), “Scream” (2020), “Odd Eye” (2021), “Maison” (2022) and “Bon Voyage.”

Despite the group already in its seventh year together, the members said that they were still bubbling with ideas for the future.

“One great thing about our group is that the members still have a long list of concepts they want to try in the future,” SuA said. “So it's really fun finding what we want to do and we always look forward to the next release.”

To learn more about Dreamcatcher, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]