Title says it all
So some of Day6 most popular songs in Korea are songs like "You Were Beautiful", "Zombie", "Congratulations". SKoreans kinda prefer the softer side of Day6. For comparison sake (yes this is not the fairest comparison), we look at Melon likes
So on top is of course "You Were Beautiful", which remains to be the most liked JYPE BG song on Melon, followed by "Congratulations" their debut song. As you can see, SKoreans seem to like their softer sound, songs like "Zombie", "I Like You", "Letting Go" are the popular ones there. "Love Me Or Leave Me" seems to be an anomaly for being high for a B-side compared to their other titles, even higher than "Sweet Chaos". Or this also shows that Day6 general popularity is also getting higher among the SK public because their B-sides actually have more likes that some of their older title tracks.
Now I wanna discuss a bit on their possible International market. I'ma use another comparison for this, and this time it's Reddit users voting for their favourite Day6 songs
I use Reddit as a comparison to showcase the taste of international fans since, it's mostly international fans that users Reddit. So like you can see a lot of the high ranking sons are those with a stronger rock vibe, songs like "Shoot Me", "Sweet Chaos", "Stop The Rain", "I Wait", "Love Me Or Leave Me".
The thing about Day6 is that their music is very varied, like as you can see from the tastes of different fanbase. If lets say they try to venture into the international market, I can actually see them doing fairly well if they focus more on the rock aspect of their music. This isn't a farfetched idea because you can already see from their Japanese "Unlock" album has a very strong J-rock vibe to it. I'm thinking if their sound could venture more into those that is similar to other rock bands or bands that are popular in Western countries, like One Republic, Imagine Dragons, The Script, Fall Out Boys etc etc those kind.
And also, Day6 has 2 good English speakers, Jae and Young K. In fact Jae is Korean American. You can see how well spoken they are in English interviews
I do think that Day6 if given the chance they can actually do well. In fact they already had 2 World Tours going around US and Europe region.
If lets say I have a grand masterplan, that is if they continue to stay together
- 2021 if they are ready, should still be focused on their domestic market. 2020 was actually a pretty good year for them in terms of Korean recognition. I mean it's not groundbreaking but their fanbase is steadily growing. EoD also got them more exposure while Sungjin and Jae rest. 2021 should still make SK their main focus
- Eventually Sungjin will have to enlist because he is the oldest that needs to enlist, since Jae is Korean American he doesn't need to. In order to fill in the gaps, EoD can still continue with their sub-unit promotion and Jae can also continue with his solo projects. He actually have been releasing a lot of songs and collaborations with other artists through his eaj project so this should still continue. Jae has said it before, that through eaj he learned a lot from other collabs and want to take stuff he learn to put into his new music with Day6
- Subsequently the maknae line will also need to enlist, and I suppose this would be a good time for each of them to focus a bit on their own solo stuff. Or if they want they can have new sub-units also to try tap into different sounds. Park Bros Sungjin + Jae? I don't know see what they want to do
- Once everyone has done their military service, then it's time for OT5. This is where the international market comes in. Honestly I think now it might be too early to dive in so fast, but after a few more years whereby hopefully KPOP can become a bit more mainstream in the Western market, maybe it's a good time for Day6 to be serious about it and try too. I'm not saying that they need to but they could also. I suppose Jae would also be more inclined to do it since he is Korean American, and a lot of his solo songs are English as well.
- Edit: Some people have mentioned in the comments that they should try an English album and I agree. They have 2 English speakers and especially Young K who writes a lot of Day6 songs, and Jae who also writes his own English songs for his solo stuff
K so honestly I don't know what you guys think. Whether or not they will resign or stay in JYPE or not I don't know honestly. I just hope that we can get to see more of them in future. Looking forward to a 2021 OT5 when everyone is ready