Review

Song Review: Dreamcatcher – R.o.S.E Blue

Dreamcatcher have yet to grace us with a follow-up to February’s excellent Scream, but they’re keeping fans on their toes with a special OST release for online RPG game Girl Cafe Gun. Tie-ups like this are common in J-pop, but not so much in Korea – at least not to the extent that they receive full, big-budget music videos. And, who better than Dreamcatcher to soundtrack an action game? Their guitar-heavy sound already draws so much from anime influences.

R.o.S.E Blue sees the girls paired with producer ESTi, whose work thus far seems to be exclusively within the videogame soundtrack realm. And though Blue misses the sharp melodic construction of the group’s LEEZ/Ollounder work, ESTi certainly has the Dreamcatcher sound down. The song is dripping with musical drama, from the pulsing guitar-and-strings arrangement of its verses to the addition of a choir as Blue hits its climax. This track would fit perfectly on any Dreamcatcher album, and that kind of continuity is nice to hear.

R.o.S.E Blue’s melody is a bit of a slow-burn. It does a fine job contributing to the general vibe of the track, but overall I find it pretty bland. The song could have done with a real knockout chorus. What we get instead feels oddly forgettable, even as the theatrical instrumentation seeks to convince us otherwise. Still, trussing up even the weakest of hooks with so much pomp and circumstance is going to make any song more palatable. Dreamcatcher know how to bring the drama, and I suppose if you hear R.o.S.E Blue enough times within the RPG game, it’s bound to sink its teeth into you eventually.

 Hooks 7
 Production 8
 Longevity 8
 Bias 8
 RATING 7.75

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4 thoughts on “Song Review: Dreamcatcher – R.o.S.E Blue

  1. I love mid 2000’s Jpop and this songs hits all the rights spots for me. It might not be as great as their February album but that doesn’t mean I don’t adore it. Dreamcatcher never miss.
    High 8 from me

    Liked by 1 person

  2. …..Yeah, this one is a miss. Dreamcatcher always brings a good amount of rock guitar to their songs but like, their best all have a killer pop melody that works with it.

    This one is heavy per their usual standard but it just…..keeps chugging along without any peak. It could have been a decent one if the chorus were better

    Liked by 1 person

  3. I like this a lot. Granted I like most everything Dreamcatcher do but I still have standards and this meets them. It isn’t as great as their LEEZ/Ollounder work but I enjoy this more than Endless Night fwiw. (As a huge metalhead I never thought I’d say that but here we are.) My take is this is similar, at least in melodic construction, to GFriend’s TFTMN/Fallin’ Light/Sunrise. I get that’s not your favorite sound of theirs, it isn’t mine either, but I appreciate it a lot. Ahaha.

    Also, as a Dami stan, goddamn I really wish they didn’t have to resort to that post-first-chorus trap-rap break just to shoehorn her in. At least it’s brief this time. I guess you got tired enough of saying it so I did it for you, lmao

    Like

  4. As a general rule, any song that states loudly in the title who produced it is usually sign of something less than good, see for example every Steve Aoki ever. Unless the producer is Quincy Jones.

    I also heard Dreamcatcher-does-GFriend in this.

    Its OK. As a song, for me it is definitely a step back from the progression that lead to the awesome Scream earlier this year. Not a fan at all of all the guns pointed at everyone’s head in the video. I suppose given that it is a CF or soundtrack for a gun video game, I suppose the mediocrity and the guns is expected, but glorifying gun culture gets zero points from me.

    Nil pois.

    Liked by 1 person

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