DAY6 visited You Quiz to celebrate their 10th anniversary.
On the Oct. 10 broadcast of tvN's You Quiz on the Block, the band DAY6, marking their 10th anniversary, appeared as a full group. DAY6 began their first performance in a small live hall in Hongdae in 2015 and, 10 years later, became the first domestic band to sell out 80,000 seats, gaining popularity.
Appearing on You Quiz to mark their 10th anniversary, DAY6 said "We have seen the Goyang stadium from the audience seats before. We watched Coldplay seniors' concert, and it was so majestic that we cried a lot. We thought about what it would be like if we stood there."
Young K. introduced the 10th anniversary album, saying "We matched the number 10, so we made 10 tracks. For the first time in 10 years, we prepared double title tracks."
But the members were not successful right after debut. Dowoon said, "I also thought that if I became an entertainer, it would be like 'wow!' right after debut. But we wondered why we looked so shabby," and Seongjin confessed about the dreams they had at the time: "We even talked about performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, but it immediately felt shabby."
Seongjin said, "My first settlement payment was 3,600 won. We debuted but had nothing, so we decided to look long-term and do our best. We tried to get work." Asked if they attended broadcasting station dinners, Seongjin said, "When I went on as a radio guest and heard 'we're having a dinner,' I went no matter what. I tried to get noticed somehow. Still, as little things became possible, it helped."
Seongjin recalled, "At that time, Yukgaejang cup noodles cost 600 won. I thought if I bought six a month it would be OK. I got more allowance to buy them for the guys because we had no money. When I met writers I said we were DAY6 and asked them to listen to our song once; when we got on programs we did everything we could. Even if it was as a guest, we'd do it. We lived frantically."
Young K. recalled the difficult times, saying, "I thought debuting at JYP would be glorious. Flashy and glamorous. But after debut there were only one or two articles. I carried a JYP shopping bag around. Like, I debuted at JYP."
The members' efforts to make their name known never ended. In 2017 they launched the EVERY DAY6 project, coming back 12 times that year. Wonpil said, "Honestly, it was good. We couldn't release albums even if we wanted to, and we had a lot of time to write songs. We wrote about 12 songs then."
He said the songs they released then included "You Were Beautiful," "I Like You," and "Not Joking." Wonpil said, "I was really confident. We had confidence in our music; we didn't see immediate success after debut, but I believed a day would come when people would recognize us."
Recalling criticism after debut under the prejudice of being a 'fake band,' Wonpil said, "So I wanted to make songs that wouldn't be embarrassing. Sometimes I wondered 'why don't they like us?' but I believed they'd think differently if they heard us."
Just as they were on the rise, the group faced a crisis. The leader and oldest member Seongjin suspended activities in May 2020 ahead of the release of the mini album No. 6 due to psychological anxiety symptoms.
Seongjin explained, "From around the time things were supposed to end in 2017, I needed a break. I don't think I had time to rest then. It was a period of holding myself together and pushing through. During that time I couldn't breathe well. I didn't want to show it. It festered and burst, and the time I tried to take care of myself was when I suspended activities."
How did the members watching this feel? Dowoon said, "The thing I could say to hyung was 'recover and come back. Ten years is fine.' But the goal was to not burden him as much as possible." Wonpil said, "We did a unit then, but it didn't fill it," and later the members' military enlistments followed.
As the military hiatus began, Young K. said, "I was most worried about Seongjin hyung, and with everything piled up and then going into the military, there was inevitably some anxiety. It would be a lie to say there wasn't."
Dowoon said, "I really had a hard time. I had nothing to do. Hitting the drums wasn't making me happy. It only gave a little comfort and wasn't fun. At that moment I realized 'I was happy playing DAY6's drums.'"
During the military hiatus, DAY6's songs succeeded in rebounding, and those cheering for DAY6 increased. About the rebound, Dowoon said, "I didn't participate in writing and composing, but I had confidence in the songs. I even told taxi drivers 'we are DAY6.' Doing that and then seeing the rebound, I boasted, 'See? I knew it would be like this.'"
Young K. added, "Word of mouth played the biggest role. So when you share it with someone next to you, you can be proud. We worked hard, and now we can do something from here. I hope it's not just a momentary shine but continues, and we worked a lot for that."
[Photo] Broadcast capture
[OSEN]