What do you think of Day6 chances in the Western market?

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

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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

Quote from keaji

Hmm that's interesting. I knew Shoot me was popular internationaly, but not that You Were Beautiful and Congratulations were not on the top. Don't they also have English version of those two? And i also think it sounds good in English.

I like both of their sides, 'the stronger' and 'the soft' and a think it would be good to keep showing both. I don't think the sound is the problem with their international recognition, rather then maybe the concept and promotion?

Kpop fans usually follow and 'stan' their favorite groups for the whole package, the content etc.

So i feel like maybe Day6's target public should be different than usual kpop fan? I'm not sure though. But i feel like people that don't even know anything about kpop would appreciate them for their music.

Also, do you think Jae is planning to promote and do solo stuff in S. Korea or US? Is his target public international or domestical?

If would maybe be good if he plans to promote more international, to set the base for the whole band, if they would try more international market when it's OT5 again after all the military services.

(if they stick to your plan :D)

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This is just form a Reddit vote, so it isn't 100% accurate. If you look at Spotify, You Were Beautiful is at 37mil while Shoot Me is at 44mil. Congratulations is at 11mil, so it's pretty far off. Sweet Chaos for instance is at 19mil.

The interesting thing is that Zombie is at 20mil, and the Zombie Eng version is at 13mil, which might actually mean that the English version of the song actually appeals to the Western Market a lot. If they release an English album it might actually appeal to Western fans well.

Jae has been doing a lot of solo stuff for people who asked for collabs, and a lot of his songs is in English and thus I think his solo project is more towards the Western public. This is also why I think it would be good for them to try out an English album because Jae has said that he learned a lot from these collabs and want to use these things he learned and use it for Day6 music.

I timestamped for you in this video, he mentions that Day6 is always working on album and he is doing a lot of features. I can't remember which video was it that he mentioned about using stuff he learned from features into Day6 music but I did recall him saying that

Quote from bangtan-hoodie

I think jyp is bad at promoting in west but may if they put out English single/album

I think they can do well with an English album. They have released a few English versions of their songs which they wrote themselves as well

And I mentioned it in another post earlier on, their Zombie English version actually is one of their more listened to tracks on Spotify

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Quote from kfan2021

Day6 is very unknown among kpop fans

Not sure about "among kpop fans" but Day6 fanbase is actually pretty solid. They actually already did 2 World Tours, and I would say compared to other Korean bands they are actually one of the most popular. Hopefully more people do give their music a listen

Quote from bangtan-hoodie

So I'm definatly sure they can have chance with perfect promotion

Like I can totally imagine them coming up with a song like "Stop And Stare". If they have western promotions, I think they should focus on the band aspect rather than the idol aspect, because they are a band that plays instruments. I would think at that age when they all complete military service they are also over the whole kpop idol image

Quote from Afriyieau1

No offense but Japanese bands make kpop bands eat dust. And if they are going international, those will be their competitors

Like do you mean internationally you think Japanese bands will be their main competitors? Honestly I don't really know who their competitors will be, because Day6 would kinda be the first KPOP Band that actually try to venture into the Western market. I was thinking maybe their competitors if they release an English album, would be other Western bands