Sorry it took me so long to make a post about Day6's new album. I had to listen to the album, then listen to it again. I've pretty much already introduced them back when I talked about their first full length album. Not much has changed with the band either. They still pretty much make music out of a sub label of JYP Entertaiment's basement and eighty percent of the music is good. I still like them because they incorporate a harder rock sound in their music unlike other k-pop rock bands. Youth Part. 1's release saw good sales numbers in Korea on the Haneto Chart.
Track List:
01. WARNING!
02. Shoot Me *Title
03. 어쩌다 보니
04. Feeling Good
05. 혼잣말
06. 원하니까
Youth Part. 1 leads me to believe that Day6 really wants to be big in South Korea. They just don't want to give up the ability to decide which creative direction that they want to go in musically. Harsh reality sets in when they realize that they are going to have to adapt to the superficial machine which is the core of the new generation of Kpop in order to even look directly at an award from those music shows. I liked them better when they weren't promoting as much and was just in the shadows releasing monthly. The music felt more genuine… at least to me. Not saying that I don't want them to promote however, the music had a certain vibe back then. This new mini album's tracks are like a two sided scale. One side of their musical choices are trying to outweigh the other. WARNING opens the album in a loud anthem to the ones that are toxic to love. Tracks like these put the guy's in their best element because the song's instrumental runs wild and free under clean youthful vocals. WARNING's production value is as good as something you would hear from an American pop rock band. Only using a bit more guts and explosive riffs to make a huge first impression. Shoot me is the albums title track and a great follow up from WARNING. Day6's members seem a bit angry, even after letting out all that steam in the album's opener. Production for the title track hits more into a soulful grove as the vocal lines are supported by the strong strum of electric guitars that follow by a smack of a chorus. I enjoyed watching the music for the title track. Shoot me plays out like a song that a band outside of Korea would do which is a perfect method to stand out. CN Blue did just that when they hit the Korean music scene years ago. Bringing something new that can fit perfectly in the mainstream will work wonders for an artist that's seeking popularity in Korea. "Mainstream"success comes at the price of artists sometimes losing their spark of originality that makes their music great though. To tell you the truth, Day6 struggles with where they want to go in their careers. They make good music but their rock songs doesn't always resonate very well with Korea on a large scale. So they try to adapt a little bit by making more poppy rock songs like the one's that make up the majority of this album(Tracks 3-5). I see through the facade since fans should be able to tell when their favorite bands aren't doing the music that speaks to their soul. Clearly JYP is trying to bring in a pay check off them and making them adapt to the normal Kpop image is his way of doing it. Heck, I won't rule out that they don't want even more success either. 원하니까 might as well be another version of their old song called Colors. A track like this shows that these guys got good voices on them as well as the strong presence of their instrument playing, even though it's classified as a rock ballad. Each one of them plays those instruments like they kicking ass on a game of GuitarHero. I get a little afraid for Day6 as far as where I stand as a fan of their music. As soon as they go 100% Kpop bubble gum idol boyband on me, I'm jumping ship into the ocean waves. They will never see my black ass again.
I saw that they're trying to break into the Japanese music industry. The first single wasn't that good but Stop The Rain could take Day6 somewhere if promoted correctly. That song is really good and Day6 needs to put their all into getting as many people in Japan to hear it as possible. You never know, They could be another case of something similar to U-Kiss and 2PM'S situation. Both groups are no longer popular in Korea(U-kiss was never super popular in Korea to begin with..) but they're super popular in Japan. Anyway, I didn't like the majority of the songs on this mini album due to them not sounding any different from music old FT Island or CN Blue could have done on a slow day in the studio. I'm going to see this album as a single…. Three tracks on there are worth my time and I mentioned them in this post.
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