Yeah, having fans seems to be a sticky thing – especially in K-pop where a lot of fans are (slightly) immature teenagers and the fangirling culture isn’t very healthy. On one hand, fans are – as you have said – essential for any group’s success, on the other hand, it can be a bit creepy sometimes. I know I wouldn’t cope well with the knowledge that a bunch of strangers from all over the world are obsessing about me, claim to know me and I am expected to interact with them and love them.
I hope he’ll be able to come to terms with it. Somehow.

I know, that also occurred to me. I agree that it might be his personality, Brian seems to be more balanced.

All this aside, I love their new release! And Jae looks great with the blue hair.

Yeah I do see how he’d love it and hate it all at the same time. One of the questions I assume runs through his head a lot would be “do you love the music because of what it is, or do you just love it because it’s in Korean?”, since he seems very determined to not be called an idol, ever. But yes, I totally agree with everything you’ve said–it’s not like fans have never been overbearing to him or anything,.

I LOVE the new EP so much too! Shoot Me is fantastic, but the B-sides are all amazing as well. Loooooove that the drums are more prominent this release as well, go my boy Dowoon. Jae does look great with the blue hair! I hope he’s grown into his skin a lot more now… haha I’m glad you don’t think I hate him or anything, and that we’re able to talk about what we’re not so comfortable with in a really nice conversation 🙂

Sorry for the delay in responding, I wanted to give the whole DAY6 album a listen before writing to you and then got caught up in a binge watch. 😛

From what you’re describing, it seems like he would much rather be recognized as an artist or a musician rather than as an idol. Which again might have something to do with the Western culture which is much more focused on individuality. That makes me wonder whether he knew what he was getting into when he got into JYP or whether his expectations were vastly different.

The whole EP is great (I’ve heard it only once, I would need to listen to it at least once more to pick a favourite), but “Shoot Me” is almost the only song I’ve been listening to these past two days. By the way, I love the lyrics! Together with the MV it creates such painful raw emotions, I love it. It reminds me a bit of the ironic “Congratulations”.

Haha, Dowoon seems to be your bias. 😛 If I had to choose with my limited knowledge of their personalities, I would choose Young K (or Brian). He seems to be perfect.
I suppose I understand a bit what Jae has been going through, thanks for shedding some light on it! Before I couldn’t really put my finger on it and just disliked him, now I can relate to him a bit. So thanks again!

No worries! You’re right, he does seem to want to be recognised as a musician more than anything else, especially since there are different labels for different people in the Korean music industry. ‘Idol’ is not the most flattering one, lol. It’s curious though, that out of the five Brian and Wonpil are the most prolific songwriters and not Jae, who has the most desire to be recognised.

I remember Jae saying in an interview once that he used to be more “selfish” when he first entered JYP–so probably there has been a shift in his sensibilities when it comes to working as a team for music. About what I said for the international/Korean fan divide though, I found a video by Jae’s editor for his YouTube channel here. It’s mostly mocking “Koreaboos” who try and sing their songs in Korean, and again we come to the question of why Jae (and his friends) consistently have this attitude of “we don’t like you intruding on our language and music but we also really want you to buy our stuff”. I know the duality of his two cultures is tough, but as somebody who’s also somewhat in a situation like that, it’s just really interesting to me.

Haha yeah I love Dowoon a lot. Brian is super talented and perfect though, I’ve never seen/heard him be hard on anything or anyone. Maybe except when it comes to his stage name lol, since he insists on being called Young K. But he’s Brian!

Wait, who’s Brian? I know only Young K! 😛 (This is such a running joke, I see it almost everywhere.) But yes, I knew that he writes a lot of music for DAY6, I just had no idea Wonpil wrote music too! What a talented boy.
I wasn’t sure whether Jae wasn’t composing as well, so I didn’t mention it, but it’s really interesting if he doesn’t. Again, I am wondering why he became an idol in the first place. Maybe he wanted to be famous at first and only later realized that he didn’t want admiration of teenage girls who might love him only for his looks or his nationality. I don’t know him well enough to make any conclusions though.
This all just made me think of EXO’s ex-member Kris who seemed not to be content with the ‘idol’ label too. I am sure there were more issues, mainly with management (EXO-M didn’t get as many performances or get as popular as EXO-K), but seeing the music he’s producing now – all very artistry and self-written – the artistic freedom must have been the biggest reason for him to go. I’m not saying Jae would leave DAY6 or anything, their personalities are very different (I think), but I am getting similar vibes from what you’re telling me about him.

It’s nice that he’s growing as a person.
I know that channel! I’ve seen him mention Jae and DAY6 in that one video I watched from him, had no idea he was Jae’s editor.
I think we all sometimes feel the same way as Jae does about this – all those interactions between idols and non-Korean fans that make you cringe (e.g. After School Club) are the proof of it. I suppose a lot of idols might not see it this way, they just might feel awkward or uncomfortable sometimes, but Jae being brought up in the West has a different point of view.
I suppose the main thing that feels so wrong about K-pop fangirls (and fanboys) might be the loss of their individuality. Instead of keeping their true selves they worship idols – pretty people living in a country they have probably never been to and speaking a language they mostly don’t speak. Some of the fans – the “koreaboos” – go even further, trying to look like their idols, wanting to move to South Korea etc. I am not sure I have expressed well my thoughts or captured well the reality of the situation.
On the other hand Jae knows he needs all these people if he wants to get popular and succeed. And that must be quite difficult for him, maybe even embarrassing (?) that he needs those people’s support.

Oh, you’re secretly an idol? 😛 Just kidding, I suppose you meant you’re living between two cultures, right? (What group do you belong to? Have you ever met EXO? When are you making comeback?)

He seems to be so perfect I am afraid of stanning them. His perfection is killing me… Oh, the stage names. Young K is still pretty good though, there are worse (The8, A-Day, Rap Monster, U-Know). Brian sounds much better to me, but maybe he wants to create a line between his professional and private life.

Sorry for ranting so much. I really like to think about how different people deal with fame and fans. And I’ve always marvelled at the fan culture – how those people can love and admire someone this much. So I became a fan (purely from scientific reasons, of course) and now I understand. But I still like to think and rant about it. So thanks for listening (reading)!

Haha that joke is everywhere. He corrects it every chance he can get, it’s actually kind of hilarious. Speaking of which I’m so glad he has a shorter, black cut now. My favourite Brian was predebut Brian who rapped for Baek Ayeon: SHIPTASTIC. Wonpil actually writes most of Day6’s music alongside Brian, so I was glad to hear more synth incorporated in their new EP because boy, is he good with the synth.

Jae first appeared in Korea via Kpop Star Season 1, so no matter what he’s already been kind of associated with the ‘idol’ label for a while now. The judges were from the Big 3 that debut season, so like… yeah, idol agencies. I think he’s so cognizant of the whole Korean Wave phenomenon that you’re totally right, he hates the fact that there are people who like him simply because he’s Korean, but he also knows that these are the money makers. It’s a sad situation, isn’t it?

Kris I’ve never liked much haha. I guess you are right about him having more artistic control over his music and whatnot now, but it’s also interesting to see him at all these fashion events et al… I’ve always felt that his heightened awareness of the fact that he could earn so much more going solo in China was not very palatable. Haha.

Oh yeah… I forgot Jae hosts After School Club, which more often than not features pretty suspect “fans”. But yeah, like what we’ve discussed before, his Western upbringing probably scoffs at how they don’t know anything yet pretend to. I’ve had the experience of getting called a “wannabe Korean” and having my native Korean friends defend me (I didn’t do anything that serious I think, just talked to them in Korean while I was in a place that didn’t like Korea so much), so I guess the difference in cultural sensibilities/upbringing is key in why Jae behaves this way and the rest of the band doesn’t. Brian has said before that he’s more Korean than Canadian, so that explains it for him I guess.

Haha YEAH our comeback’s scheduled for the later half of July so totes keep an eye out for that 😉 Haha in all seriousness though, even the simple divide of languages can be hard to bridge–I can imagine Jae being frustrated at the fact that the people who speak to him in English while he’s in Korea are all people who desire his ‘Koreaness’. Can be quite trippy, I presume.

Young K is actually a stage name I can get behind haha, since it’s a combination of his Korean name (Younghyun) and the first letter of his surname (Kang). But Brian just sounds so much better LOL. I think you’re right though, he does seem to want to separate his personal life from his professional one. For that, he seems even more admirable aw.

I just looked predebut Young K up and he was cute! My favourite hairstyle of his might be the longer hair he had in the “I Wait” MV. But really, Young K looks good in everything.

I’ve read about him being on K-Pop Star, he’s really been an idol from the beginning. It is a sad story.

I might be misjudging him right now. Honestly, I don’t know Kris almost at all, as I did not know EXO when he was in it. It’s true that he’s hit it big and is definitely earning more than he was before. As I said, I don’t really know him and I doubt anyone will ever understand what were all his motives for leaving EXO. My image of him right now might be a bit biased because I just recently came to terms with him leaving EXO and finally am able to wish him well in his career.

Well, different races and nationalities can sure be a sensitive topic. (I hope you don’t think I am a racist for having used the word “race”.)
That’s exactly the reason why I wouldn’t go up to Korean people I meet (there aren’t that many of them here where I live at) and start speaking Korean. I suppose I wouldn’t want to be seen as some kind of koreaboo or “wannabe Korean”. It’s great your friends defended you! 🙂
(And I hope I didn’t offend you now. I don’t mean to say that speaking Korean to people makes you a “wannabe Korean”, just that in my context where Koreans are not that common and people who learn Korean are from 97% doing it because of K-entertainment, it feels embarrassing to me.)
Brian definitely seems to be more balanced (as I have already said) while Jae seems to be torn between the two cultures. I am not surprised Brian feels to be more Korean.

Ok, I’m gonna stream your MV and sign up for your fanclub! What’s your fandom name? I’m going to guess which one you are in the group, haha.
I haven’t even thought of this. Do you mean that the only people talking to him in English are his fans? I suppose it’s worse because English is the communication language of all international fans.

I had no idea his Korean name was Kang Younghyun! Just shows that I am only a casual fan. Now his stage name sounds even better to me.

Predebut Brian/Young K is the cutest! He and Baek Ayeon were super adorable/kind of flirty when she was promoting her song with him. They went on a radio show together much later and I swear there were hearts in his eyes for her. Or maybe it’s just me BUT I SWEAR!!! I like shorter hair on guys in general so Day6 does it for me mostly. There was a time when Dowoon had much longer hair but I’m glad their hairstylist did their job hehe.

Yeah Jae’s been an idol from the beginning, so maybe that’s why he wants to get rid of that label so badly? He definitely seems more meeker in front of a Korean audience though–watch him on Yoo Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook, for example–but put him in front of an English-speaking one and his attitude emerges almost immediately. It’s really interesting.

No worries! It’s just that I also speak Chinese, so I sometimes chance upon things about all the ex-Chinese members of Exo. It’s kind of elucidating to see how much more they earn back home, maybe because of the sheer spending power that the industry has. No wonder most of them hardly ever go back to Korea. I’m watching to see if Lay ever comes back to Exo.

Oh yeah for sure. I feel like that has escalated in recent years, but Korea as a whole is still learning how to deal with non-homogeneity, I feel. The entire diaspora issue is also something I feel like they struggle with a lot? It is kind of hard to cater to two very different cultures at the same time, and I think that’s why Jae flip-flops around a lot. Brian is lucky, in the sense that he spent a good number of years (four) in a Western country, but still is essentially Korean enough inside to manage working in the music industry there. Haha the whole “wannabe Korean” incident was just so bizarre to me, since I’ve been learning Korean before the whole Korean Wave thing got so big. I understand that to a lot of people, learning a language because of a fad may be kind of off-putting, especially since there is a lot of fantasies being made about said country and its people/culture/etc, but as somebody who took linguistics for a bit, I also find it natural that people get attracted to other languages? It’s the fantasising of culture bit that has to be managed, though clearly it’s not being done very well by most people we see on the internet.

I presume that Jae has English-speaking friends, in the industry or otherwise, but he seems to thrive on attention (not saying that it’s a bad thing, he seems quite the extrovert) and that comes in heaps on the internet. And international fans crowd that space, so… yeah. Probably a toxic cycle. I haven’t read the comments on their Instagram account lately but the last time I did they were quite, um, interesting?

Kang Younghyun is such a nice name isn’t it! I actually think all the members have great sounding/looking names. Or maybe it’s my bias showing haha.

I wrote a quite long reply a few hours ago and lost it! Here we go again.

Maybe he has/had a crush on his sunbaenim? Maybe she’s the inspiration for some of DAY6’s music? 😛 The only Korean celeb couple I am lowkey shipping is IU and G-Dragon (the JiJi couple!). The were so awkwardly cute together during their “Palette” stages and concert talks, even gave one each other some cool/weird gifts.
I am a hair person, so if an idol cuts his hair too much, he loses around 70% of his charm for me (cough-D.O-cough). But DAY6 all have nice hair right now (I specifically checked it), no complaints.

Interesting, maybe he feels more “at home”, more confident in front of English audience? I’ve just watched a bit of their Yu Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook appearance and Jae seemed quite nervous (as all of them).
By the way, Sungjin has a cute accent and I feel quite proud of myself for having recognized right away that he’s not a Seoul boy.

It’s cool that you speak Chinese! Sounds like a difficult language. Did you learn by yourself?
Yeah, they do make more money there. Oh, Lay. I think the whole fandom is still hoping he will be in the next comeback. I know that his solo career makes probably some nice money both for SM and (hopefully) Lay and the political situation has not been very good. But things might be changing – EXO is having a concert in Macau in August. So, maybe next comeback? Lay is preparing his next solo album though…
On the side note, I know Lay would not leave EXO, he is very loyal and EXO misses Lay too. I hope for OT9 again.

Korea definitely doesn’t know how to deal with non-homogeneity. Just look at all those racism “scandals” of various idols (yes, including EXO).
Also, cultural appropriation. To be honest, I’ve learned of this through K-pop – our country is quite homogeneous, so it’s not an issue here.
I do understand now why it is such an issue for some (I suppose mainly US?) fans and why it’s offensive, but I am kind of behind idols on this. I am not saying cultural appropriation is okay, just that I understand why idols, the whole South Korea really, don’t see it as an issue – they just don’t get what the problem is. Sorry, I’ve digressed.

Brian definitely seems more balanced, I am not surprised he’s feeling more like a Korean. Jae seems to be torn between the two cultures.
I have started learning Korean only after I started watching K-dramas, so it’s all mixed feelings for me. I love languages (studying English currently) and I’ve been trying to learn Korean (on and off).
But I am still trying to keep away from the “Koreaboo” label. Which is quite difficult once you start stanning a group. I am trying to find balance, not to go too far and not to lose myself to “Koreaness”, if you get what I mean.
At least I’ve been stripped of most of the illusions about South Korea. I don’t think it’s a great place to live at long-term.

I ran out of space.

Yeah, Jae has an active Twitter account. He interacts with fans a lot there, I believe. Aren’t Instagram comments always quite interesting? Most idols are just really lucky they don’t understand English.

It is a nice name. And don’t worry, we are all biased. 😉