DAY6’s “Dance Dance” matches the season but tripped up a bit by melody

It was just announced that DAY6’s ‘Every DAY6‘ project will celebrate its halfway mark with a full album next month. Presumably, this will contain all ten tracks released so far plus the two June entries, and it’s just another example of how smartly JYP Entertainment has orchestrated this entire release schedule. I mean, it took YG Entertainment over a year to repackage Big Bang‘s similarly-structured ‘Made‘ album!

As the weather’s begun to improve, DAY6’s monthly offerings have also become sunnier and more uptempo. “Dance Dance” is their most energetic 2017 track yet, bounding out of the gate with the boisterous intensity of a good old fashioned garage band. The song is all crunchy guitars and wall-of-sound background vocals, bolstered by a near-constant stomp of percussion. As a pick-me-up burst of youthful spirit, it more than gets the job done. DAY6 have always been amazing at injecting emotion into their music, and “Dance Dance” allows them the opportunity to unleash an unbridled sense of joy.

But when it comes to melody, “Dance Dance” doesn’t impress at the same level as many of their past hits. The “dance dance with me — everybody 1, 2, 3” couplet feels a little too on the nose, and doesn’t allow for a particularly interesting chorus. The song isn’t trying to be innovative, and that’s fine. For shout-along concert material like this, simple is usually better. But if it wasn’t for those glorious backing vocals or that surprising second verse rap, this could have been recorded by any number of teenage rock groups. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the song less engaging than DAY6’s best material.

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