When You Love DAY6

I guess this isn’t really a “surprise.” We are now in October, marking 10 months since JYP Entertainment idol band DAY6 started releasing a brand new dual single every month as part of their EveryDay6 project, along with a compilation album back in June. So no, DAY6’s October release isn’t much of a surprise to many.

Or maybe it is. To me, anyway. In a very corny, sentimental way.

I’ve been following DAY6 since early 2016, only a few months after their debut—though maybe “following” is a strong word here; back then, I would satisfy myself by checking out their releases, sometimes watching a few of their variety show appearances when I had some free time, and keeping it at that. But I have always had a deep love for their music,and that love deepened back in the spring of 2016, with the release of Daydream, and again this year, each month, as the band would release their EveryDay6 singles.

There’s just something about their music. Maybe because it sounds a lot like the kind of rock music I have been listening to since the age of 14 or so, but still keeping a pop, very DAY6-like unique touch that I’ve fallen in love with. Maybe it’s the lyrics—always penned so carefully, with some songs so very honest that listening to them feels like sharing a secret with the band members themselves.

But this new release is… so very special. More special than the rest.

Out since September 29, as DAY6 is about to embark on tour, the October installment of the EveryDay6 project is comprised of the songs “When You Love Someone” and “I Need Somebody.” Two very different songs. Two very good, very honest ones, too.

“When You Love Someone” is by far one of my new favorite love songs of all time. And there’s something that tells me that isn’t about to change anytime soon. I liked it from the first listen because of how easy it is to simply follow the music, to sway along to it—the way it somehow makes you feel warm inside even though you don’t really understand the words you hear. But once you actually look at the lyrics, you realize they paint such a sincere picture of love—any love, really, when you think about it. This desire to take the pain away from a loved one, wishing you’d feel it instead; this overwhelming, all-encompassing feeling of happiness you feel just by their presence—whether romantic or platonic or anything else. The lyrics of “When You Love Someone” depict the feeling of love so simply yet oh so perfectly. As a result, the song makes you feel that powerful yet heartwarming feeling of love. You’re just overcome with it all, and it’s… beautiful, really. Despite how simple the song is—the melody, the lyrics—it is all so beautiful.

Then, DAY6 takes a U-turn, and punches you with heartbreak, solitude, loneliness— something so very raw and sad and all kinds of awful, really, but portrayed so honestly and so beautifully. It’s the feeling that “I Need Somebody” expresses, and you don’t need the lyrics to understand that one. Not only are the English lyrics enough (and the Korean lyrics are rather simple, easy to catch up on for beginners), there’s so much of that sadness that’s poured into the music and melody alone. The loud guitars and the punching drums, paired with the delicate piano, and the members’ vocal deliveries, all convey the desperation of the lyrics as well as the lyrics themselves. “I Need Somebody” is a sad song, but it is not only written and composed absolutely brilliantly, but there’s some of that loneliness that is relatable enough to reach something deep in your heart and anchor itself there. It’s the kind of song you can’t really shake off. But it is not a bad thing, either.

I was not expecting any of this as I waited for September 29 with the release of this new single. EveryDay6 had already provided me with other sentimental songs that I have fallen in love with—for instance, “Hi Hello,” “You Were Beautiful,” or “I Smile,” to name a few—but never had I thought I would fall for a pair of songs so deeply, so intensely, as I did with “When You Love Someone” and “I Need Somebody.” And in the end, it only makes me all the more thankful for DAY6, for their music, for their willingness to share their feelings through their songs, so that people like me can hold onto them.