NCT DREAM are unquestionably having a successful 2022. The group became ’triple million-seller’ for the second time. NCT DREAM‘s second full album, Glitch Mode – released in March – sold 2.09 million copies within a week of the release and made the group a ‘double million-seller’ in the shortest time; the repackage Beatbox – released in May – sold 1.52 million copies, breaking their own record sales.
But life has weird ways of working out, and when it comes to NCT DREAM performances, life has been throwing quite the number of lemons to the group. And they made the best lemonade they could. From Chenle sustaining an ankle injury before the release of Glitch Mode and being unable to perform some of the choreographies to the group having to perform as 5DREAM due to overlapping schedules.
Life threw NCT DREAM its biggest and sourest lemon the week of their first-ever Seoul Dome concerts, “THE DREAM SHOW 2: In A Dream”. On Monday, July 25, SM Entertainment confirmed that Mark tested positive for COVID-19; two days after, Renjun was confirmed positive for COVID-19 and announced that the upcoming three concerts would be cancelled.
NCT DREAM was preparing to perform at the Gocheok Sky Dome this weekend – from July 29 to 31. “THE DREAM SHOW 2: In A Dream” was going to mark the group’s first solo concert in Korea in over two years and a half due to the pandemic, but more importantly, the group’s first Dome concert and the first solo concert as 7DREAM. NCT DREAM held their first solo concert series, “THE DREAM SHOW”, in South Korea and Japan in November 2019, January and February 2020, as a six-piece after Mark graduated from the group.
The news of “THE DREAM SHOW 2: In A Dream” being cancelled made Dreamzens and NCT DREAM’s members feel various emotions. One thing that both Dreamzens and 7DREAMS did was to reassure each other and stay connected as much as they could through the platform Bubble and Instagram Lives. During the week, Dreamzens gather together on social media platforms to cheer themselves up by sharing their feelings, video edits, fanart and on Friday, the night of the first scheduled show, fans in South Korea gathered at the Gocheok Sky Dome to also show support for NCT DREAM.
On Twitter – the “official” platform for K-Pop (in 2021 the hashtag #KpopTwitter reached 7.8 billion global tweets) – two fans felt the need to do something more. What at first was a suggestion to hold a Spaces to listen to NCT DREAM’s songs on the day the announcement of the shows being cancelled was made turned into Feb (@renminbar) and Zie (@struckoflove) hosting Twitter Spaces playing NCT DREAM’s songs during the time that the concerts should have been taking place.
“I know how heavy this news [the concert being cancelled] probably felt to the boys and the fans. I also felt that same heaviness. So I, and probably many other fans, needed something to brighten up this dark week we’ve had so far,” Feb said.
Zie added, “I saw Feb suggesting on the timeline since everyone is saddened about the news of Mark and Renjun and the whole cancellation of the concert – I felt like I couldn’t cry anymore and felt numb TT – and needed a host for this idea to happen, I didn’t have anything to do and I really thought it’s a good idea and I like cheering people up so I decided to dm Feb and we went from there.”
During the first Twitter Spaces on Friday, 11.6K people joined the stream and the hashtag ##DearDREAMWeLoveYou trend at No.1 Worldwide. “We weren’t performing or anything but seeing the 1.6k+ people waiting for the scheduled space to start was already such a big surprise to us. The space was so heartwarming. People kept tagging us in posts saying thank you and how the space helped them feel better.” said Feb and Zie added “Seeing people on the timeline and in the hashtags during the Spaces having fun with the songs, it became really fun for me too. At the end, I felt like I had post-concert depression.”
The “set-lists” for each night have been a no-skip. Both Feb and Zie said it wasn’t hard to finalsie the playlists – “when you stan someone with great songs, no matter the sequence, it’s gonna be a great playlist.” said Feb – and mostly went with what their heart told them.
When asked what this experience will mean to them and what they will bring with them at the end of these three days, Feb said how this made her realise how NCT DREAM’s fandom is something else. She was not expecting much, but because of Dreamzens and their love for the group, the Spaces became big events, “I will always remember how this little thing made so many people’s hearts happy”. Zie added, “I think the best fitting word would be “healing”; we will move forward with our chins up after the three days knowing that there will be better and brighter days and that life is going on.”
For Feb, Fate always finds a way to bring 7DREAMS together, fans just need to wait a little bit longer and keep cheering for NCT DREAM. For Zie, 7DREAMS will be back stronger than ever and Dreamzens will too!
Currently, over 5,000 listeners are enjoying the third and last Spaces and using the hashtag #LookAtThe7Stars to share how the Spaces is making them feel.
You can re-listen to the first part of “It’s Never Goodbye DREAM Day 2” here and the second part here.
With the hope of seeing the announcement for the rescheduled concerts soon, we are sure that NCT DREAM can only go up.
