Day6 Continues Being The Absolute Best With "I Wait"

One of my absolute favorite debuts of last year was JYP group Day6 and remains to this day one group whose releases I'm always anticipating. Despite loosing a member early on they came back with "Letting Go" and "Daydream", which was without a doubt my favorite mini album of 2016. Thus I was incredibly excited to hear about the news of "Every Day6", a year-long project in which the group will release one new single each month and hold a concert. New music from these guys every month? It can't get better than that. To start it off they released "I Wait" earlier in January ( I'm aware that I'm late on this one) and are kicking things off in the best way possible.



Although Day6 made it clear from the start that they are indeed a band who play their own instruments and compose their own songs, their music so far has been rocky but still pretty radio-friendly, or at least their title tracks have been. I don't mean that in any negative way as I have clearly adored their music, but I'm pointing it out because "I Wait" takes quite a different direction. While both "Letting Go" and "Congratulations" had a slightly more pop-rock sound "I Wait" is much quicker, more intense and definitely more J-rock sounding. Both Japanese pop and rock music, and combinations between the two, have a certain sound that can quite easily be pinpointed as it doesn't sound much like Korean music, or any other genre for that matter. Thus hearing the way that "I Wait" goes and especially the way the chorus sounds it's obvious where the inspiration comes from.

I generally don't love Japanese music and J-rock isn't normally my cup of tea, but "I Wait" makes it work unexpectedly well. Like with some other more recent K-pop songs it has a bit of a feeling of an anime soundtrack, which again can be either hit or miss for me, but the fact that this song still has a bit of that special Day6 flavor to it makes it fall into a kind of "in-between" category. In this case it's absolutely a positive thing as the song is great and has a chorus that is very memorable, but I don't think it's my favorite title track of theirs. But then again, nothing will probably ever come close to the impression that "Congratulations" had on me.

One thing that Day6 seem to have mastered though is to write these songs with perfect chord progressions set in a minor key, as they, combined with heartfelt and honest lyrics, make for a intense emotional experience for the listener. I personally love tracks that tug at your heartstrings and make you feel what they're feeling, and I applaud them for their ability to create those kind of songs.

As for the MV however I'm not as pleased. Both "Congratulations" and "Letting Go" had great music videos, the former especially, and for them to go from those high-quality productions to a MV mostly set in front of a green screen is disappointing. It's possible that due to the fact that they're releasing a new single and MV every month they budget isn't going to be as high for each one, which is understandable. They have to make it work with whatever they've got and the outcome won't be as impressive, but I guess it's a compromise worth making. In the end it's the music that counts and this is a great way for them to get their name out.

I won't say the MV is completely terrible though as it does have some nice shots and cinematography, but the obvious use of green screen is distracting. Although the background sceneries chosen do suit the mood of the song and the entire color palette of the video is cohesive and appropriate it definitely takes away some of the viewing enjoyment. However I do really love the scenes of the guys just rocking out on their instruments as those feel the most genuine to me, and the addition of rain in the last minute or so is a great touch, cliché or not.

As per usual I'm all heart eyes over YoungK as he's just captivating as a performer, but all of them are great to watch and I believe that is their main strength as a band. They're also much better at conveying emotion when holding an instrument and putting it all out there compared to walking and lip syncing in front of a green screen. As proven once again Day6 are indeed amazing musicians and I can't wait for their next release which I believe will be out pretty soon. Hopefully the song is just as amazing and the MV is even better.

Song: 4/5
MV: 3/5