Some of my favorite Dreamcatcher tracks meld the group’s rock sound with borderline-cheesy, stadium-ready melodies. Songs like Fly High and Over The Sky veer closer to “anthem territory” and bring the sense of drama I crave in a great rock track. New single BONVOYAGE harnesses a similar energy, even if its execution doesn’t quite find the killer hooks that would rank it among their best.
BONVOYAGE hinges on a dynamic arrangement that balances quiet balladry with explosive choruses. This approach can either be cathartic or lopsided, and I’m not sure how I feel about it here. The instrumental is interesting throughout and the the vocal performance is excellent, but I don’t find the melodies all that compelling. And when it comes down to it, melody will always be number one for me.
As a farewell to their years-long Apocalypse project, BONVOYAGE makes a suitable climax. At its best, the song delivers a sense of heft that feels momentous. I expect many will liken it to an anime ending theme, and the comparison isn’t unwarranted. Its second half is a vast improvement over the first, with a rousing finale that capitalizes on the track’s inherent theatricality. The last minute or so is worth the build-up, making BONVOYAGE quite replayable. I’m interested to see how it fares with time.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
Grade: B
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Full marks for ambition. However it sounds like the song is trying to do too many things and does ‘t quite pull it all off. The song doesn’t know what it wants to be. The ladies as usual perform the shit out of it.
That said, I’ll take it anyway. Better to sounds like this with some amount of invention, than to sound like the other girl group song out today which is a formulaic pile of noise.
Rating is about right, I might give it 8.5 for being almost all in Korean, and not some grab bag of crappy English catch phrases.
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“I might give it 8.5 for being almost all in Korean, and not some grab bag of crappy English catch phrases.” As a French speaker, their pronunciation of <> is even more egregious! It’s almost closer to “voyagez,” only more like “voyagie,” which sounds awful in French.
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Well, kpop pronunciation is another thing, whether English or French. The rendering of consonants and vowels and syllables into a language which doesn’t have a fully overlapping set is always an interesting problem.
“Dreamcatcher” itself is 드림캐쳐 Deuh-reem-cay-choh (roughly)
because no compound consonants “dr”, no a as in cat, and no solid final R sound “er”. A lot of “er”s in English.
My sister teaches Italian, and the usual beginning problems for Italians speaking English are no a as in cat, no short i as in in, and no J sound at all.
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I love this so much. It’ s why I like it when people speak English with a unique accent. The way your brain has adapted to your first language will determine how you make sense of sounds and how you create them, and the way this affects any other language you learn is so fascinating.
It has to be said though, some kpop writers/producers/?? are just not even trying to create lyrics that 1) make sense meaningwise and 2) have the right syllable stress in the songs rhythm.
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I’m okay with the bon voyagie pronunciation at the end, because they pronounce bon voyage correctly in the chorus. To me it’s K-Pop playing around with words and warping them to fit desired rhythm. They wanted a four syllable phrase so they threw bon voyage into the Korean sound system. But perhaps they should have just found a one syllable word to put in front of bon voyage.
I get more annoyed with the inconsistent treatment of déjà vu in K-Pop songs. Often it is said déjà view, and sometimes even dézà view. For a phrase they love to use, I wish they would get that one right.
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Instead of “voyagie,” the correct French pronunciation for that extra syllable would be the /ə/ sound: voy – ah – juh; or using the IPA, /vwa.ja.ʒ/
That would have sounded cool if they used the correct French pronunciation.
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Oh hmmm! I didn’t think of them just using the French pronunciation here. That would have been cool. I took French so yeah, I’m familiar with that “uh” vowel which Korean totally has in the 으 vowel.
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It’s a gorgeous song. You’re right that I don’t know if it quite finds the melody, I’ll say it reminds me a lot of a mix of “What” in that I wish it was pitched ever so slightly lower, but it unfolds beautifully and is a grower. In other words your review is spot-on.
That said: DEMIAN.
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I’ve heard this track a few times but my mind keeps defaulting to Reason’s chorus. Agreed this is a grower for sure.
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Could have done better if they put longer pauses and more thoughtful build-ups between each verse for a more emotional appeal since the execution felt rushed for me, plus I would have liked a guitar solo/dance solo before that final chorus PLUS the final chorus felt so short, i wish there were more high notes from siyeon, yoohyeon, and sua with a longer outro
side note:
general observation about “modern” rock songs (western and kpop, incl. alt.rock/00s revival) in general is that they feel too rushed, it feels like they have no time to rest in between. maybe because of the tiktok and sped-up trends that everything needs to be 3 minutes or less
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Honestly, this meets the expectations I’ve put on them. They always deliver great songs and this one is no exception.
I love everything about this song. The verses, the chorus, their voices. This song reminds me of their older music and I’m here for it.
8.5/10 for me
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To be fair, they’re only a year old, so their “old” music still feels pretty fresh to me imo 😅
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Oh no I thought this was about LE SSERAFIM OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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In that case yes this is like their older music haha *pain*🤠 . Why can’t we delete our own comments 🙃
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As a longtime Dreamcatcher fan (I’ve been listening to them since their Minx days), I’ve grown accustomed to hearing this kind of sound from them. Bon Voyage sounds highly reminiscent of their 2017-2019 era music, in which they adopted an anime-theme-adjacent sound that is not at all unpleasant, but it doesn’t necessarily amaze. This song has a rougher edge than that era of music, but the aesthetic is there nonetheless.
I agree that the melodies are not as compelling as they are in other Dreamcatcher hits, but I actually appreciate the movement between mellow ballad and full-on rock anthem. It’s a contrast that not many groups can pull off, but I think that it works here.
I don’t think this Bon Voyage will grow on me as much as YooA’s Bon Voyage, but an 8.5/10 sounds about right for me. A solid addition to the discography.
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Just meh for me. Not compelling enough and once again their pronunciation of foreign words puts me off.
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this is a decent rock song. could be a bit more beefed up, but i like it
anyway have yall heard of The Idol (the show Jennie’s playing a super minor role in)? i read into it and it’s absolutely disgusting (im not explaining anything further) 😬😬😬
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i read about it too 💀💀💀
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Hell yeah! I ruined my sleep schedule so I could catch this song right when it dropped. It was worth it. I do agree that it’s not their strongest song (I’m still in love with Vision), but it’s a solid one nonetheless. It’s so cool seeing a main rapper contributing solid vocals like Dami is doing here. And Siyeon’s high notes at the end… Don’t even get me started.
9.5/10 for me, but I’m extremely biased. As for the B-Sides, every single one is fantastic. But that’s normal for Dreamcatcher.
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Rating’s about right! There are some parts that hit really hard and some parts that are ok. On one hand there’s some non Dreamcatcher vibe in certain places but the song as a whole is VERY Dreamcatcher and I don’t think it would fit anyone else as well 😀 Definitely the instrumental was a highlight and agree with the second half being more awesome. Their vocals are a treat as always!
The MV was ok too – always great to watch the pretty ladies. Also Yoohyeon here looked so much like Wendy lol.
Also this is the sorta ending on a high thing that I like – what I really think Enhypen song’s could do with 💀 Don’t just… end. Give us that final victory lap! ✨
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