Gauran Sharma, New Delhi

DAY6, a 5 members group, comprising of Sungjin, Jae, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon under JYP Entertainment; released the mini-album ‘The Book of Us: The Demon‘ on May 11, 2020, which is their latest addition to their ‘Book of Us’ series. Every My Day; their fandom; knows that DAY6 has a discography that can never disappoint, but this time, this album just hits too close to home. Listening to the album for the first time was a phenomenal experience for me because every song was beautiful in its own way. It felt like the calm before a rollercoaster ride starts and the thrill after it speeds up with all its ups and downs. Although the songs vary in genres, the overall theme of the album is “conflict of heart“.

Day and Night

The first song of the mini-album is Day and Night and just as the title suggests, the song is about the push and pull between two lovers who always have bad timing, and their relationship keeps going up and down just like day and night. The song is very upbeat and the melody has many layers which makes it interesting, and as it corresponds to the lyrics, it will make you feel mixed emotions throughout. A bonus for My Days is that Dowoon, the drummer of the band, also sings a little along with Wonpil during the second verse.

Zombie

Zombie is a song about not finding any meaning in life and continuing on living in the same monotonous routine which makes you feel just like a zombie with an empty brain and an empty heart. The inspiration behind the song, as Young K said in an interview with Apple music, is that in Korea, there’s a phrase that if you are living a life repetitiously and have nothing new, without any emotions, it’s similar to living like a ‘zombie’. The band wanted to write about people, even themselves on the theme of living life sometimes with nothing new to look do or look forward to. He also said that Wonpil came up with the word ‘zombie’ and they mixed up both of their lyrics to shape this song.

The song is a power ballad with meaningful and relatable lyrics and has a constant build-up which gives the listener a serotonin boost as it goes on. The song was a well-deserved title track because of how cleverly it was written along with the beats, so hats-off to Young K and Wonpil for writing this masterpiece of a song.

Tick Tock

“I think this is the end

We’re different

We were happy every day

I don’t smile anymore”

Tick Tock is a song that symbolizes the passage of time during which two lovers gradually grow apart, the sadness and emptiness that grows between them who feel like their love is slowly fading away and they have stopped feeling the butterflies anymore. The music remains at the same pace of a clock ticking throughout the song just like its title; it makes the melody sound bittersweet.

Love me or leave me

“I already know that your answer is no.

But I pretend that I don’t, though I already knew it

I can’t give up on you yet

Until I hear you say it to me

Can’t give up on you”

Love me or Leave me is an upbeat track with live music but it has a sad undertone to its lyrics which are from the perspective of a person who is demanding an honest answer from the person they love to make a decision to either stay or leave. Even though they know the answer already, they want to hear it from the other person first so they give them an ultimatum.

Although the song is from the perspective of a broken-hearted person, it has very lively music you can even dance to. When the song begins, the first line is sung by Wonpil where he is saying that the decision rests upon the other person, the desperation in his voice shows how much he wants them to answer already and the whole song is just that. The song has a very nice build-up and when the beat drops you want to dance to it, this is a perfect ‘break-up party’ song for the broken-hearted.

Stop

Stop is the song that makes you feel like you’re the coolest person in the world when you listen to it walking down the road with your earphones in. It starts off with a guitar riff and has those don’t-mess-with-me-vibes because of its descending bass-line and has a constant rhythm to it which gives the song an edge to it. The song is about being in a toxic relationship where both of them know that they’re wrong for each other but still can’t seem to break it off.

The song was supposed to be in their previous album The Book Of Us: Entropy but ended up in this album, as Young K explained in an interview, “That [this] song’s vibe was based on The Book of Us: Entropy album. While I was writing it, I came up with a story: ‘Give it up, guys. If it’s not gonna work out, just give it up.’ That story was suited more for this album because there is that imbalance.” A wise decision on their part as this song gives the whole album an edgy and fresh vibe.

1 to 10

The song is about how a person wants to give their all for their significant other, from 1 to 10; in other words, their everything, as it is a common saying in Korea. They are trying to convince them that no one knows and loves them more than they do. They are so desperately in love that they don’t care if it’s being reciprocated equally or not, they just want to do everything for them even if it means that they don’t get loved back.

The song flows smoothly throughout and the singing is done in a flamboyant manner, such that you will not even realise when it started and when it ended because it has such a chill vibe to it. It also has that staggering feeling when a verse goes ‘nobody loves you‘ followed by a pause and then it continues on with ‘more than me baby’ which implies that the person is telling the other that they won’t be loved by someone else as much as they do.

Afraid

Afraid is a dreamy song that expresses how much in love a person is but still wants to let their partner go in fear that they are not good enough for them and they deserve better.

“You resemble the moon

Illuminating the black sky

But your light is becoming

Overshadowed by my darkness”

These lyrics express the notion that I would only bring you down if we stay together, even though I love you so much I can’t stand seeing you losing yourself because of me.

The song starts off calmly with guitar strumming and has a constant build-up which expresses the dilemma in their head. The instrumentals are really heartfelt, the lyrics are beautiful too and the guitar feels like it’ flying over the whole song. The singing throughout the song has that yearning feeling and sadness, that I’m not good enough. The whole song has that emotional vibe, of being in a daze during an on-going conflict of heart. I felt like I was in a daze while listening to this song, it sounds so heart-breaking that you will definitely feel like you’re the one feeling all those emotions.

In conclusion, this album is perfect to listen to on a rainy day because it will make you go through a rollercoaster of emotions in just a total of 28 minutes and 28 seconds. Here’s the album sampler that showcases every mood of this album. Enjoy, MyDays!

Which song is your favourite from this album? Let us know in the comment sections.