Stepping Into the Spotlight (Again): Dancing With the Stars
Few stages are as unforgiving—and as generous—as the Dancing With the Stars ballroom. For a performer who came of age under lights, the DWTS format turns experience into edge: camera awareness, pacing, and the ability to sell a moment. Feldman’s casting for Season 34 brings precisely that combination.
The premiere is set for mid-September, meaning rehearsals are already a grind of choreography, conditioning, and character work. Early local reports even linked him with a pro partner known for musicality and narrative-driven routines, a pairing that would make sense for an actor-singer comfortable inhabiting a story beat by beat.
For official scheduling, ABC’s season hub remains the authoritative guide—and the most up-to-date reference for times, vote info, and episode synopses (ABC’s DWTS page).
The Sound of 2025: “Characters” Finds Its Lane
Parallel to the TV push, Feldman’s 2025 music chapter is unusually focused. His single “Characters” arrived as both a radio play and an artistic thesis. Thematically, it’s autobiographical without being literal—an anthem for shapeshifters who’ve been told to pick one box and stay in it. Sonically, it nods to polished pop-rock but leans into a live-band feel, the kind that snaps when you add sax and a real rhythm section.
That’s exactly what audiences heard at his late-July birthday show in Southern California, where the track landed like a calling card. On radio, “Characters” crept upward across late summer, inching into the conversation on indicator charts and earning a second wind from press coverage.
It’s a reminder that at a time when virality can shoot a song to the moon overnight, there’s still value in the slow build—the old-fashioned climb that comes from airplay, write-ups, and word of mouth.
One Night Only: The Birthday Show That Said a Lot
Artists talk about “era changes,” but the best ones show you. Feldman’s single 2025 concert—billed as a birthday celebration—had the feel of a table-setter, not a nostalgia showcase. The set list threaded signature moments with the current material, signaling that the archives and the present can live in the same breath.
Fans left with fresh footage, new favorites, and the functional promise that less can be more: one night, done right, can move more hearts (and more streams) than a scattershot calendar.
From Cult Footnote to Canon: The Birthday’s Second Life
Every actor has a role that critics weren’t ready for the first time. For Feldman, that may be The Birthday, the long-shelved genre oddity from director Eugenio Mira that finally found its U.S. release window after two decades in limbo. Its rediscovery coincides with a broader wave of restoration culture—labels, programmers, and festivals mining the 2000s for hidden gems.
Feldman’s performance, trapped for years behind distribution purgatory, is now part of a public conversation that appreciates risk and strangeness. The timing is fortuitous. With DWTS placing him in front of a broad audience, the film’s new availability gives curious viewers something surprising to seek out afterward.
Fifty Years Young: Learning, Unlearning, and Doing It Live
Milestone anniversaries can be traps. They can turn a career into a clip reel. Feldman has avoided that by treating his 50th year in show business as a runway, not a victory lap. He’s been candid in interviews about the industry’s shifts—the promises and pitfalls of AI, the challenges of touring at scale, and the evolving reputation of 80s nostalgia.
But the through-line is practical: stay hands-on. Write the songs. Rehearse the steps. Show up for the work, whether the camera is a Hollywood rig or a fan’s phone. That diligence is why the DWTS choice reads less like a stunt and more like craft—another discipline to study, another muscle to train.
Managing the Mix: Music, TV, and the New Attention Economy
If you’re wary of spreading too thin, Feldman’s 2025 playbook is instructive. There’s a clarity to the sequencing: a high-profile TV anchor to reintroduce him to casual viewers; a defined single supported by repeatable hooks (radio edits, performance clips, behind-the-scenes); and a narrative-rich film deep cut for cinephiles hungry for context.
This isn’t random activity; it’s a funnel. Viewers who sample the DWTS premiere may follow him to streaming services for the track. Those who discover the song through playlists can fall into the rabbit hole of past catalog and movie roles. And the cult cinema crowd, drawn by the restored film, might be surprised to find a modern live act with real band dynamics. Each lane feeds the others.
What the Ballroom Could Unlock
DWTS has a long record of creating second acts—or third, fourth, and fifth acts—for entertainers who bring humility and work ethic to rehearsal. Success isn’t just about scores; it’s about showcasing personality and progress week after week. Feldman’s advantage is narrative: audiences know him, but they likely haven’t seen him like this.
The camera-savvy performer learning lifts, frame, and footwork is inherently compelling television. Even a mid-season run can be catalytic if it’s filled with memorable themes, clever song choices, and a standout freestyle.
The Social Loop: Why Small Updates Matter
Chart snapshots, backstage snippets, and rehearsal teases might seem minor in isolation, but together they form the heartbeat of a modern campaign. Feldman’s updates around “Characters” and show prep turn passive followers into active participants—asking them to root, vote, request, and share. That kind of steady drip doesn’t just sell a single; it builds a community that’s resilient between releases.
Personal Chapters, Public Grace
Public figures live with headlines they don’t write and timelines they don’t control. Over the past couple of years, Feldman’s personal life has been illuminated and litigated in the press. What stands out in 2025 is the pivot to work: show up, ship, perform. In a culture that often rewards noise, there’s a quiet power in letting the output do the talking. It reframes the conversation—away from speculation, toward skills.
What to Watch Next
The near-term calendar is loaded. The Dancing With the Stars premiere will test first-week nerves and fan mobilization. “Characters” can keep building if live clips and radio momentum continue in tandem.
And as The Birthday reaches more eyeballs through streaming and repertory programming, it could reposition Feldman with younger moviegoers who know the 80s hits but haven’t seen this weirder, risk-taking register. There’s also chatter about additional music bundles—EPs, remixes, and B-sides that give DJs and curators more to play with as the season unfolds.
The Long Game: Reinvention, Not Repetition
When you’ve worked across so many mediums for so long, the temptation is to repeat what once worked. Feldman’s 2025 portfolio avoids that gravitational pull. The TV slot isn’t a rehash of past reality beats; it’s a training-ground storyline with stakes.
The single isn’t an algorithm-chasing mimic; it sounds like a band. The film revival isn’t a greatest-hits package; it’s a rescue mission for a role that deserved daylight. Add it up, and you get a portrait of an artist who understands that the past is a foundation, not a ceiling.
Corey Feldman, In Motion
Perhaps that’s the most interesting part of the current moment: motion. Whether he’s counting eight-beat measures in the studio or drilling a Viennese waltz hold, Feldman is moving—toward craft, toward connection, toward a version of relevance that doesn’t apologize for age or experience.
The bet is simple: do the work in public with generosity, and audiences will meet you halfway. For now, there’s a dance floor to learn, a chorus to nail, and a rediscovered film to celebrate. That’s not a comeback arc; that’s what a working life looks like when you love the work.
