Most of the time, a k-pop group’s title track is the best song on their album. But, sometimes b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve.
I wasn’t all that enamored with DAY6’s latest title track, but boy do I love the album. For the first time, the group has leaned into their electronic side in a substantial, sustained way. Tracks like Emergency and 365247 are little marvels, pushing the DAY6 sound in new, exciting directions. But it’s album opener Deep In Love that absolutely blew me away. In fact, I think it’s my new favorite DAY6 song, and one of my favorite overall tracks this year.
If this praise sounds over-the-top, you’ve got to understand where I’m coming from. My earliest musical encounters, when I was still in diapers, happened via MTV, where I was captivated by songs like Europe’s The Final Countdown. Shortly after, I became obsessed with Stan Bush’s wonderfully schlocky The Touch, from the 1986 Transformers soundtrack. This kind of rollicking, bombastic stadium rock is in my blood. Where others hear “guilty pleasure,” I hear adrenaline-building, life-affirming anthems.
In this way, Deep In Love gets everything right. Its verses propel forward with a crackling energy, built on a bouncy bassline, mammoth guitars and joyous synth. The pre-chorus melody is ripped from every excellent 80’s power rocker ever crafted, and leads into a ridiculously grandiose refrain where the guys’ vocals are chorused to high heaven. There’s a palpable sense of swagger to the entire track, which gives DAY6 license to let loose and have a ton of fun. This is especially true during the snarling bridge, which briefly brings the drums up to double time while a guitar solo rips in the background.
Though I’ll post the link, don’t listen to any of this via youtube. Listen to it in your car, or on headphones. Listen to it anywhere that you can really crank up the volume. A song like Deep In Love just doesn’t register the same way if you don’t let its boundless energy envelope you.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 10 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 10 |
| RATING | 9.5 |
Be sure to add your own rating by participating in the poll below!
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I really should start listening to everything on entropy, I love the quirky emergency but man….this songs rocks. Hard. Day6 is finally giving us the rock edge that the idol industry needs right now
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It’s a great album all the way through. Emergency is definitely my second favorite track. I would love to see them pursue that sound further… maybe for a title track sometime?
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Though I will always wish you would appreciate Sweet Chaos a bit more — come on, it’s at LEAST an 8.25! — I’m more than happy to witness your DAY6 awakening here.
The album as a whole is incredibly solid, and for me, Emergency was the first standout. It’s a beast of its own! Let’s just say I really did need the song to keep telling me to breathe, because it’s the sort of song that actually makes you breathless while still sounding like it could be from the Mario Kart soundtrack. Petition to make that a genre? Regardless, Deep in Love was one that grew on me over the last couple days rather than being an immediate knockout. At first, honestly, the chorus was my least favorite part, but it turned out I just hadn’t blasted it loud enough yet. It’s powerful and anthemic and exactly the kind of song DAY6 can pull off in their own impressive way.
Going to tack on a couple long-winded thoughts related to music taste here, as well: You mentioned in your review that you didn’t like how closely it veered to the US pop-punk wave, and so it makes sense that you’d prefer Deep in Love, as, like you said here, you grew up in the golden age of anthemic rock (lucky you!). Perhaps that also explains why I’m a fan of both. I actually missed the beginnings of the 2000s emo craze (I grew to enjoy it a few years ago, but always the music itself and never the lyrical content), but I was raised on some pretty anthemic stuff, as well as some calmer music. Never a day went by in my childhood where Green Day, The Beatles, Cake, or a similar artist was playing somewhere in the house. American Idiot (the album and the song) was a childhood favorite. I can thank my parents for my music taste, sans K-Pop! I also grew up in the golden age of YouTube, and my favorite video was — seriously — a Mario Paint Composer version of The Final Countdown. I love my anthems that I grew up on, I love my pop-punk that came later on, and I love my Korean boybands that I can enjoy without cringing at the lyrical content. I think the time period during which I’ve lived has really given the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate any and all genres!
Except trap. Maybe not that.
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Yeah, individual music taste has so much to do with what you were exposed to as a kid and teenager. I could almost cry, thinking of kids who are growing up with trap as their formative genre.
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When ‘Rescue Me’ came on I thought I had accidentally switched to a different artist. The guitar presence in this album is soooo nice to hear. I was a little bleh listening to Sweet Chaos but listening to it along with the whole album has made me appreciate it so much more. The album is *chef’s kiss* fantastic
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Yeah, Sweet Chaos is better in context of the album. There are still many tracks I prefer over it, though.
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Deep In Love is a fantastic album opener. When I listened to it, all sorts of flashbacks from pop music’s past popped into my head. It took some of the best arena rock elements into one without sounding like a copycat song. This whole album is gold, a banquet of many different dishes, all delicious. I have a feeling that the boys have been listening to all sorts of music all the time in order to grow and make songs more mature and diverse. The Day6 sound is now not only recognizable but getting more sophisticated. The band’s growth is astounding.
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