DAY6 explores love & friendship through recent ‘Every DAY6’ releases
The end of 2017 is fast approaching, and with it comes the near conclusion of DAY6’s ambitious monthly project. Titled Every DAY6, the first band from JYP Entertainment released two songs every month beginning in January, and released their first full-length album “Sunrise” at the midway point in June.They’ve kept busy, and also held monthly concerts in Korea as well as fan-meets all around the world, and will be embarking on a North America tour in October.
While the music videos for most of the songs released as part of Every DAY6 have separate storylines and concepts, with the exception of “You Were Beautiful” which was a sequel to 2015’s “Congratulations,” the band seemingly chanced upon a winning formula in August. Their school-based music video that practically featured a love rectangle received much attention online, especially as fans tried to figure out the complex relationships between the members. The quartet also started to display their acting chops and had a great chemistry with the main female lead, which fans appreciated. Pre-planned or not, this led to an entire trilogy based around this plot, spanning into the music videos for September and October as well, creating what felt entirely like a youth melodrama.
Every DAY6 August: “What Can I Do”
The story starts off in a powerful and lively manner, backed up by Young K’s striking bass riff, which characterises most of the song. This first music video introduces the characters of each DAY6 member: Young K is the badass who has zero regard for what others think of him; Jae is the nice guy who is best friends with the female lead; Dowoon is the popular but moody student who just wants to sleep; Sungjin and Wonpil are long-time best friends. The relationship between the last pair became contentious throughout the music video however, as Sungjin gradually falls in love with the female lead and Wonpil observes his friend from afar. His bystander stance and facial expressions are kept carefully ambiguous and unreadable throughout the video, leaving fans to come up with theories about whether Wonpil had a one-sided crush on Sungjin as well.
Of course, the love square gets even more complicated when the female lead starts to fall for Young K instead, with the song and music video ending off unresolved, both musically through imperfect cadence and in terms of the storyline, since three characters basically ended up with one-sided loves, thus setting the stage for the sequel to this drama.
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Every DAY6 September: “I Loved You”
As if to signal the calmer nature of the plot, the song begins with bird chirping noises, which was actually live-recorded by the band. Whistle sounds also distinguish this track right off the bat, as do its verses, which are definitely the most musically interesting parts of the track since the members use unique singing styles for each verse. The story takes on a sweeter and more emotional tone in this video, beginning with Wonpil pondering over his relationship and feelings toward Sungjin. Young K and the female lead develop an adorable bickering dynamic, despite Young K still not being interested in her, while Jae gets a love interest of his own in the form of a lady working at a coffee shop. Young K and Dowoon develop the second shippable bromance of this series when Young K saves Dowoon from getting hit at an arcade and the two class loners bond together at a convenience store.
The nature of Wonpil’s affections towards Sungjin become clearer in this music video however, with the “couple” keychain that the two have being a symbol of their relationship. The forlorn expression on his face in the epilogue of the music video when he realises that Sungjin left their couple keychain on the bus in his haste to run to the female lead says it all. Sungjin on the other hand, oblivious to Wonpil’s feelings, takes a brave step towards confessing his love to the female lead. This significant decision was marked by the most beautiful and heartbreaking part of the song, Wonpil’s high pitched “Loved You” at the end of the bridge.
Once again, the music video ended on a cliffhanger, with fans left wondering how the female lead would respond to Sungjin’s confession…
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Every DAY6 October: “When You Love Someone”
…and this is where “When You Love Someone” picks up. Released earlier than usual on the 29th of September due to South Korea being off for the Chuseok holiday, the music video begins with where “I Loved You” ended, but does not continue the scene immediately, rewinding instead to three days prior. The video returns to the other DAY6 members in their daily lives outside of school, starting with Dowoon. While his budding relationship with Young K was not explored further in this video, his life as a rich but extremely lonely man was fleshed out, adding to the more melancholic nature of this song. Jae continues his cute crush on the coffee shop lady, while Young K and the female lead finally make progress in this video when the female lead defends him when he gets into trouble working at a convenience store. He starts to see her in a different light from then on, possibly indicating that her love would soon be reciprocated (in future videos?) Sungjin and Wonpil enjoy some couple moments, wandering around music shops (of course this would be their favourite place) and even having a “Falling Slowly” moment.
Sungjin however, spots Young K and the female lead together, and realises that she would never like him back. Once again, this occurs at the bridge of the song, which is always used effectively in DAY6 music videos (at least in the ones with storylines) to signal a transformation or an attitude change in the characters.
The video skips back to the beginning of the video, as Sungjin musters up the courage to confess to the female lead. With the new knowledge he has about who she likes however, it’s not the hopeful confession fans were expecting in “I Loved You,” rather it is a painful confession on Sungjin’s part that he made knowing that he would get rejected anyway. The way he tries to smile before walking away sadly and the way the two best friends comfort each other in quiet companionship made for a bittersweet conclusion to the video, which ties in perfectly with the sad autumn release. Sungjin getting his keychain back which symbolizes their restored relationship reduced the sadness of the video. I personally really do hope that this music video series continues, maybe up till the end of the year.
Several musical elements stand out in this track, beginning with Wonpil’s keyboard melody in the intro and verses. In particular, the harmonies, which are more predominant than usual in DAY6 songs, add a clear contrast to the melody in the pre-choruses, perhaps illustrating how we sometimes have to hide our true feelings to avoid hurting the people around us (case in point: quietly suffering Wonpil). The syncopated rhythm also creates a laid back atmosphere, which forms the base of the tune as the members show off their individual singing styles, proving why Jae professed this as “a song with many killing parts.”
In all, DAY6 has showcased a variety of musical styles throughout the year. Regardless of the continuity that this music video series has provided over the past three months in terms of directing style and storyline development, the band has continued to diversify itself with their relentless experimentation through different rhythms and instruments. With two more releases to go for the year, I’m looking forward to what the band has to show and am waiting in anticipation to see if this complicated relationship-filled story continues.
Have you been keeping up with Every DAY6? What did you think of the releases so far? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.