The musical evolution of DAY6: The Kpop band from JYP that changed the game

The pioneers that popularised bands in K-Pop, DAY6 is a South Korean rock band under JYP Entertainment. The 5 piece band was created masterfully, bringing together 5 amazing artists who were simply even better together. The current line-up of members includes Sungjin, Jae, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon. Originally, Day6 was a six-member band but one of the members, Junhyeok, left the group owing to personal reasons which many fans thought were because he violated JYP’s dating ban. However, Day6 were able to overcome the change in member line-up and emerged even strong than ever before. Today, they’re one of the biggest names in K-Pop and if you don’t know them yet, it’s time you do!

Let’s get into the musical evolution of Day6:

Congratulations

The group debuted on September 7, 2015, with EP The Day, which peaked at No.2 on Billboard's World Album Chart a week following its release. The lead single for this EP was Congratulations and it was an insanely quick hit. Day6 had debuted with one of the hottest songs in the entire year. With a strong pop rock/alt rock sound, this wasn’t anything that was commonly seen in K-Pop. Besides, being from JYP Entertainment, Day6 received a full promotional backing that helped them grow right from the start. One can say it was easier because they were simply that good and talented. All the members in Day6 are vocalists and are responsible for playing their own instruments. K-Pop hadn’t seen a successful band in very long and Day6 filled that gap extremely successfully. The addition of rap to rock music worked so wonderfully that they had already found the formula success before even starting. The music video for Congratulations moreover, featured actor Choi Woo Sik, now of Parasite and Oscar fame.

I Wait and You Were Beautiful

Day6’s next big success came with their 2017 monthly project Every Day6 where they released two songs every month on the sixth along with concerts prior to the song's release, music videos, and 4 fixed V Live broadcasts. I Wait was even bigger than Congratulations which once more, was outdone by You Were Beautiful. Both these lead singles were perfect representations of rock music that had been transformed by Day6 to create a unique inimitable sound. Day6 could break into the market more easily than some mainstream K-Pop idol groups today can. You Were Beautiful still remains one of their most popular songs.

I Like You

Day6 dived into a different genre while still adhering to the basics of rock, leaning more towards rock ballads. Once again, Day6 knocked it out of the park even while trying something new. I Like You holds the strange ability to have you head bop while also having tears run down your eyes. One may compare this quality to something like Guns N Roses and being able to achieve this within such a short time since their debut is nothing short of an incredible feat.

Shoot Me

Day6 finally achieved spell bounding popularity worldwide with Shoot Me. Safe to say that Day6 peaked in their musical career with Shoot Me and the graph has remained consistently steady ever since. Shoot Me was created completely with heavy rock influences and it really defined the genre in the K-Pop industry. At a time when cheery summertime idol bops were occupying the charts, Day6’s Shoot Me was able to dethrone them easily. The appearance of actress Shin Se Eun in the music video only augmented its appeal.

Sweet Chaos & Zombie

The latest releases by Day6 finally got them their first music show win on July 24, 2019. Sweet Chaos brought back the hype from Shoot Me despite the break. A group that had been loved and adored by millions finally got the validation from music shows after years of hard work. As such, the 2019 release was a special one for fans and the band alike. Despite going on hiatus in 2020, Day6 released The Book of Us: The Demon on May 11. The lead single Zombie debuted at No. 8 on Melon's real-time chart and went up to the No. 1 spot after debuting No. 2 in Bugs. Zombie was the perfect release at a time the world was reeling from a pandemic and millions of fans could finally resonate with a shared universal emotion that was highlighted by Day6.

Currently, a sub-unit of Day6, Even of Day which includes Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon are promoting with their EP The Book of Us: Gluon and will be holding their online concert soon. Fans cannot wait for all the members of Day6 to have a comeback again but until then, we sincerely wish for their good health and happiness.

ALSO READ: The K-Pop group that started it all: Watch EXO evolve musically through the years

What do you think of Day6? Share your thoughts with Pinkvilla in the comments section below!