“Why do you like Day6 so much?” That’s a question I always get from my family and friends, and my answer is always the same: they’ve got a song for everyone. Which is true, they’ve got a song for practically every occasion and mood. Want to have fun and live without care in the world? Listen to “Freely“. Tired of being single and wondering why you don’t have a significant other? “All Alone” is the song for you. Want an 80s inspired sound with lyrics that reminisce about the good times you used to have? “days gone by” is what you’re looking for.

I stand by the fact that Day6 has a song for almost every single mood, and they never disappoint. The only difficulty is actually recommending songs, because they have so many different styles of music and I’m quite bad at matching a song to the mood my friend is currently feeling. However, Day6’s latest release, “Zombie”, is something that I’m very sure people will get hooked onto if I recommended it to them now.

Currently I’m still at home, waiting for this virus to pass so I can finally go outside to do whatever I want, and it made me face parts of myself that I’ve refused to acknowledge for a very long time. Hence, I started wallowing in my own sadness and feed that hollowness by listening to very sad songs, as seen in my previous reviews. There wasn’t really a song that actually dealt with living the same day over and over again, or questioning why you continue to live when it feels like there is nothing to live for, but “Zombie” acknowledges those feelings. The song doesn’t give you any solutions or advice on how to get through this situation, but it does provide comfort in the sense where you feel that you’ve finally found someone who gets it. 

The MV for “Zombie” is like a friend who doesn’t judge or tell you what to do when you tell them your problems. Instead, they comfort and sympathise with you, letting you know that they are there for you. They don’t try to tell you about their own experience which makes you feel bad about yourself because “someone always has it worse”. No, they give you a nice, warm hug and acknowledge your feelings, but never tell you any lies. 

Now that I’m done gushing about how “Zombie” is a much better friend than most people (to all my friends, I love you, this is a joke), let’s talk about how Day6 tackles the topic of living without purpose.

We follow a day in the life of one man in the MV. We see him wake up, drag himself out of bed and saunter out of the house. His face is pale aside from the dark circles around his eyes, and his cheeks look sunken in and hollow, almost looking like a zombie. Even the way he shambles about in his daily life is very zombie-like, and when contrasted with everyone else around him who are walking with purpose, viewers can see how “abnormal” he is.

The use of zombie-like mannerisms separates the man from everyone else, portraying the feeling of being lonely even amongst a large crowd. Even in the office, while the rest of the staff are moving along just fine and interacting with each other, the man is sat at his desk, doing his work and staying back in the office when everyone else has gone.

I became a zombie
I walk on, drifting aimlessly
Tomorrow will be no different
I live counting the time ’til I close my eyes

The MV has a psychedelic effect to it, where we can see how overwhelming it is to feel so alone when everyone is doing just fine. This effect is further enhanced when water starts to flood to apartment. Although the water level is not high, the last shot of the man lying on his bed with the shadow of the water casted on the wall creates the effect of him drowning in this emptiness. 

We usually get songs that try to cheer up and comfort the listener, encouraging the listener to go at their own pace and follow their dreams. Yet we never really get songs that deal with the harshness of reality. After all, hasn’t there been a time where you wished you had a song that accurately portrayed the emotions you were feeling at that moment? “Zombie” does exactly that– it acknowledges the lack of purpose one feels, and makes for a good lying-on-my-bed-doing-nothing-except-staring-at-the-ceiling song.

It was the song I never knew I needed, but after listening to it and reading the lyrics, the only thing that was going through my mind was, “Yes! Yes! This is absolutely it! This is exactly what I’ve been feeling for so long!” It was so cathartic to find a song that said exactly what I’ve been meaning to say for so long, and it was so comforting where it felt like I was crying into someone’s shoulder after a long time of holding it in.

Day6 strives to tell personal stories in their music, even more so in The Book of Us series that started last year. The series aims to explore human relationships be it with friends, lovers, or even ourselves. In Gravity and Entropy, both title tracks deal with a relationship with others, while “Zombie” is very focused on one’s sense of self. The feeling of aimlessness is something that many have dealt with before, and this feeling is currently amplified due to the coronavirus, where many are uncertain of what’s to come in the following days.

Despite this uncertainty, one thing’s for sure: each day is still the same. Monotonous, lonely, and repetitive. Just like the lyrics, one can barely remember what happened the previous day, but when they properly think of it, the question of whether there was anything worth remembering comes up.

What kind of day was it yesterday
Was there anything special
I’m trying to remember
But nothing much comes to mind

At the end of the day, the phrase “In Day6, we trust” still holds up. “Zombie”, despite its overall depressing nature, provides emotional support to those who are currently suffering during these hard times. Although it is unfortunate that promotion activities have come to a halt as several members were diagnosed with psychological anxiety, Day6’s music continues to heal us even in the darkest of times. We hope for the members to recover, and to quote their song “Marathon“, we would like to remind them that it’s okay to be slow.

(YouTube [1] [2] [3] [4]; Lyrics and Images via JYP Entertainment)