DAY6 Leaves a Powerful Message Behind Shoot Me: Youth Part 1
By far, DAY6’s newest album Shoot Me: Youth Part 1 has been one of the most unexpected releases in terms of their musical style. With dramatic sounds dominating the album’s tracklist, the band’s striking transformation surely reached fans’ high expectations.
“Shoot Me”
A set of mysterious sounds surrounding your ears, the title track will surely lure you in an instant. A powerful rock genre based song, “Shoot Me” depicts the harsh difference between fantasy and reality. DAY6 expresses the hurtful actions and sacrifices made in a relationship; with the growing tension between two people, the lyrics sing out “Yeah just shoot me / Bang bang / Your bullet bullet bullet / I’ll get shot as much as you want / If this is what you want.” As much as the lyrics convey a strong emotional wave of pain and hopelessness, they also implicate a deep message—the inevitable feeling of helplessness one experiences in life.
The music video had a long-lasting impact as well. Not to mention Wonpil, Jae, Sungjin, Young K, and Dowoon’s charismatic appearances, highlighted with the alteration of colorful filters, were definitely something to look out for! Starting off with a familiar scene (hint: it’s from the teaser), the video interchanges between the main characters and the members. Young K and Sungjin, standing back to back, initially describe the intense anger building up in the relationship. At the song’s peak, the female shoots a finger gun at the male, immediately inflicting physical pain upon him. A symbol of the ruthless society bringing harm to others in attempts to settle a temporary conflict, everyone else in the setting follows and shoots. The male lead, however, does not resolve his own pain and anger by hurting others; his “bullets” instead introduce colorful explosions into the scene. As the blasts of confetti bring an end to the film, a last message briefly appears on the screen, reinforcing the general idea: “Vicious Words Hurt Like A Bullet.”
Third Mini-Album: Shoot Me: Youth Part 1
The five remaining tracks on the album maintain relevance to the general concept even while expressing a variety of emotions.
“WARNING!” talks about the uncontrollable urge to fall into the pit of dangerous love. Incorporating multiple repetitions of the key guitar and drum segments throughout the song, the track’s underlying band sounds allow the catchphrase “You gotta stop” to blend in while indicating a clear introduction and conclusion to the track.
Unlike the heart-breaking lyrics, the fast-paced beat leads on the next track. A look at the lyrics of “어쩌다 보니” may evoke the thought that this song responds to its preceding song “Shoot Me.” Revolving around the theme of pain, this specific track relates to the actions of forgetting. “어쩌다 보니,” meaning “somehow,” shows how one’s attempt to forget another naturally became part of reality.
The main concept being freedom of youth, “Feeling Good” is the type of song that you would listen to in a much more relaxed manner.The band sounding a bit less intense this time around, “Feeling Good” brings a lively atmosphere into play. Just the perfect one to listen to on a summer night to boost up your mood!
A song with a mixture of disco and punk, “혼잣말” gives off a pretty unique feeling. The lyrics express the emptiness with the absence of one’s lover and talk about some habitual mistakes (such as making two food portions instead of one) that the lack of presence resulted in. Often including such examples, this track carries a faint sense of sadness as well as longing.
“원하니까” most closely resembles the usual sentimental emotions DAY6 brings to us. The steady rhythm builds up with the dramatic pauses in the middle to provide a base for the vocals to converse the undesired end of a relationship. With this, the album comes to an end.
Overall, this album set an impactful impression of DAY6 as a band. Straying away from their typical image, the group came back with a totally unexpected change in their sound. The participation of all members in making the album Shoot Me: Youth Part 1 proved that they are artists capable of inducing challenges. Certainly, this album became the starting point for DAY6 to open up to a wider musical range and reveal their potential further out to the public.