K-Pop Corner: Seventeen and Dreamcatcher top UAE charts
Popular boy group Seventeen showed a more mature and darker concept with ‘An Ode’
The comebacks of K-Pop groups Seventeen and Dreamcatcher both topped the UAE iTunes Top Albums chart last week.
On September 16, popular boy group Seventeen showed a more mature and darker concept with their third full-length album, ‘An Ode’, and R’n’B, lead single ‘Fear’.
The 11-track album is a shift from the sonic style and concept seen since the act’s debut in 2015. Much like the title track suggests, the 13-member multinational group explores their inner feelings of fear that’s described like poison.
The cinematic music video features a highly energetic, sensual choreography with all the members dressed in black suits and seen drinking up their inner fear and emotions in dance.
“Seventeen explores fear as an emotion they face during their creative process,” according to YouTube’s description page for the music video of ‘Fear’. “As the members search within for insight, the agony they endure help them develop one step further as artists.”
Showcasing their distinct emotions and reflecting their messages through an ‘ode’, the album includes a Korean version of their Japanese single ‘Happy Ending’ as well as August’s dynamic EDM number, ‘Hit’, which was composed by Woozi alongside longtime collaborator and artist Bumzu.
The album topped the UAE iTunes all-genre, pop and K-Pop albums chart on the day of its release. It even got fans or Carats’ attention worldwide so much so that #SEVENTEEN_FEAR and #SEVENTEEN_An_Ode were trending worldwide on Twitter.
Two days later, K-Pop goth princesses Dreamcatcher returned with a fairy tale-like concept with their new five-track EP, ‘Raid of Dream’, taking them away from the nightmare-themed musical series used since their debut.
The album is fronted by symphonic pop-rock lead track ‘Deja Vu’ that puts an emphasis on the seven members’ soaring vocals. It is also a collaborative project with South Korean RPG mobile game ‘King’s Raid’.
Known for their heavy metal pop-rock sounds and fantastical visual and artistic concepts that is rarely seen in other K-Pop groups, Dreamcatcher’s new album is naturally inspired by the games’ worldview. It also marks seven months since February’s EP ‘The End of Nightmare’, which also topped the UAE iTunes chart.
Similar to Seventeen, Dreamcatcher new music release topped the iTunes all-genre, pop and K-Pop albums chart in the UAE, showing the group’s popularity in the country.
The girls also managed to top the charts in eight other countries that includes Singapore, Argentina, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Sweden and more.