The last three years was the time of self-reflection

In late-October, just hours after his discharge from the South Korean Navy, Kim Wonpil quietly resumed his idol duties. Sitting in the back of a van, still wearing his green military uniform, the sentimental Day6 member turned his head toward the camera beside him, softly touched his hand to his heart, and exhaled. “I’m really really really really happy,” he expressed. “Thinking about the four of us standing on stage… I think it would feel like something new.”

It did feel new, in a way, but also the same. Upon reuniting in the studio in November, Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon – fresh from their respective military conscriptions and solo endeavours – fell back into a familiar rhythm, working on what would become their first album in three years, and their first album as a foursome, aptly titled ‘Fourever’. The music came naturally, as it almost always does for Day6, but their perspectives had shifted.

All that time away from the stage, away from one another, had reignited their passion for the band and redefined what it meant to each of them. The mini-album’s seven tracks reflect the aftermath of their soul-searching. “What we wanted to show was who we are at this moment,” Young K tells NME. And at this moment, amid an evening round of press interviews in Seoul, “It feels like we’re superstars,” drummer Dowoon jokes in English, always one to lighten the mood.

Leader Sungjin, steady under pressure, veers the conversation in a more sensible direction, adding: “What we are at the moment is the band that does their best and will always do their best.” (Spoken like a man who says his idea of happiness is “a regular day full of mundane contentment”.) For Wonpil, this moment couldn’t come soon enough. As the last member of Day6 to enlist, the honey-voiced instrumentalist felt the weight of his presenters’ absences greatly. “I’ve been waiting for this day since I was in the military, before my release from the service,” Wonpil says. “I’ve been ready, and I’m really happy that this is happening right now.”

From the very first lyric of the album opener ‘Welcome to the Show’, it’s clear that this project is a reintroduction of sorts. “I’m so moved by the stage / That I won’t be alone any longer,” Young K sings, his voice wrapping around the melody with a newfound warmth. The song was the final addition to the album, having come together in an hour or two before being rewritten and reworked by Young K. But the essence remained the same. “There will be challenges in everybody’s lives,” Wonpil says of the song’s message. “But I hope this song, or maybe Day6, can help you overcome them.”

Unlike some of the band’s more melancholic singles – the unbearable heartbreak of ‘You Were Beautiful’ and the timely existentialism of ‘Zombie’ come to mind – ‘Welcome to the Show’ is sonically brighter and lyrically sweeter and more affirming. Its anthemic sound was inspired by Young K’s experience on the summer festival circuit last year. “When I was going around, doing all the shows and performing songs like ‘Best Part’ or ‘Time of Our Life’, songs that make people jump and sing along, I felt like we needed that kind of track,” he says.

‘Welcome to the Show’ delivers on that front, aided by Dowoon’s thumping precision and a resonant pre-chorus chant that unites all four voices. “Usually, that kind of chant comes after the chorus, like a post-hook,” Young K describes. “It was our challenge to put it at the beginning of the chorus.” The band welcomed these challenges while making the record, together with their longtime collaborator Hong Ji-sang. “We were half excited and half fearful,” Dowoon smiles, describing the in-studio atmosphere by evoking their 2017 song ‘I Smile’. After years suspended in liminality, they wanted this mini-album to represent the here and now.

“When we were writing this album, all of the songs were what we just wanted to try at the moment,” Young K says. They didn’t go in with any creative directive; their only goal was to “write good songs” and see what throughline emerged. After all, they’re not the ones who choose the single – they leave it to JYP Entertainment‘s top brass to decide. (If it were up to them, the presenters all have a particular fondness for ‘Happy’, a song that’s perhaps more in line with Day6’s signature bittersweet ethos.) “We just write the message or lyrics that suit the song the most,” the bassist explains.

The passage of time is a constant throughout. ‘Get The Hell Out’ wonders what life would be like if they could outrun the past (“time, hurry up and run fast / until you become a speckle far away”), while standout track ‘Sad Ending’ depicts the crumbling ruins of a relationship (“love’s expiration date has already passed”). And then there’s the closer “Didn’t Know,” a strumming ballad written that revisits the past with a new perspective (“I keep looking back at what can’t be reversed”). It makes sense that time would be at the forefront of their minds – the time they missed being together, the time they reclaimed for themselves while apart and the finite amount of time that hangs over every idol’s head in the K-pop industry.

“The last three years was the time of self-reflection,” Sungjin says. Onstage, his voice bursts forth with grit and power; in person, he’s much softer. Before he enlisted in 2021, the guitarist took an extended hiatus from group activities in 2020 due to anxiety. It’s been four years since he’s performed with Day6, but the time away from the stage has allowed him to fall in love with performing again – and do so on his terms. “I think since I made my debut, I kind of lived to serve others. I put others before me. But for the last three years, I solely focused on myself. I thought a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about myself, and I grew as a result. I focused on discovering what my desires are and what I want at the moment, and I pursued it – I just did it.”

Within that time, Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon debuted their sub-unit Day6 (Even of Day), releasing two projects in 2020 and 2021. Young K also went solo with the mini-album ‘Eternal’ later that summer before enlisting. Upon his return, he jumped back into songwriting, dropping his first full-length album ‘Letters with Notes’ in late 2023, while also penning tracks for K-pop acts like NMIXX, Jo Yu-ri and H1-KEY. He even performed at festivals with the sole focus of promoting Day6. “I learned a lot and thought a lot and experienced a lot,” he says. “It made me realise how much I want to do this.”

“There has been growth, musically,” Young K adds. “While I was doing solo stuff, I would think about how to improve and how to put a Young K stage together. I tried to bring all of that into Day6. I really thought about how I could contribute what I learned from my individual work to the band. My main focus was promoting who we are, promoting Day6 by putting the name Day6 out there. To do that, I’m doing as much as I can, hoping that if people know who Young K is, then they’ll discover Day6. You don’t have to [choose] me as a bias…” he laughs. “Just please listen to Day6!”

Despite his obvious longing for the stage, Wonpil, who released his studio album ‘Pilmography’ in early 2022, found purpose in his service work. “There were a lot of long, strenuous activities involved but also meaningful work,” he says. “For example, I volunteered with the USS Nimitz-class aircraft carrier presenters.” Of course, working on ‘Fourever’ made him realise how much he “really, really, really loves Day6”. (And Overwatch, Young K teases.)

Meanwhile, Dowoon, in addition to raising his plants (“They’re like my children,” he says in earnest), started asking himself more philosophical questions, thinking more deeply about himself, and getting introspective. “I spent a lot of time thinking about my place in the world and where I would be needed the most,” he says. “That thought led to an unhealthy state of mind, but I had a lot of time to ruminate on it, and in the end, I learned to love myself.”

It’s why ‘Fourever’ is such a significant title for this chapter of their story. It’s more than the culmination of a four-year journey or a nod to their fans, My Day, who are celebrating their fourth anniversary. “It feels whole,” Young K says. In the music video for ‘Welcome To The Show’, there’s a scene in which Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon perform while looking at one another, their bodies turned inward with smiles on their faces. Like the endless knot featured on the album’s cover, it symbolises a sense of harmony and interconnectedness, an unbreakable bond tied in unity. At this moment, the four presenters of Day6 say, “It feels complete.”

Day6’s new mini-album ‘Fourever’ is out now on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming platforms

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