Very pretty. Oh and the song’s alright too.
[Video][Website]
[6.00]
Ryo Miyauchi: Back around 2007 in the wake of bands following the Dashboard Confessional wave, “I Smile” would’ve been a second-tier single the emos more in the know would slap on their MySpace page. Day6 don’t need that kind chorus in “I Smile” built for a festival call-and-response to do what they do best, those kids might say. Only the true softies can appreciate this sappy high-school slow dance.
[6]
Edward Okulicz: Shimmering emotional pop-rock like this is a delicate balancing act, and for the most part, “I Smile” shimmers, emotes, pops and rocks gently and smartly, as if made for a prom slow dance or a first kiss in a medium-budget romcom. Towards the end it gets a little overwrought for its own good. I’m sure it’d sound better in a live setting with thousands of punters singing along.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Remove the quasi-abrasive synthesized buzzing and Chris Carrabas might’ve wailed this at the Coral Sky Amphitheater in 2005.
[5]
Alex Clifton: This feels like Coldplay circa 2005, which is truly not a bad thing — it just gets buried in the mix of all the other bands that have attempted to sound like Coldplay in the last twelve years. The music swells appropriately, the vocals are smooth, the emotional payoff feels pretty decent, and yet it feels like a retread of music from a decade ago. It’s either that or I’m officially Old. I’m not sure it will win over anyone who isn’t in the mood for an earnest, un-self-conscious ballad, but I like it nonetheless.
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: DAY6: a boy band that’s also a rock band, for real — and their songs are good; this might be their best yet. “I Smile” is (almost) 4 minutes of beautiful ache, internal anguish doing everything it can to put on a pretty face, literally: “Even though it hurts I smile,” they sing. The keyboards plink out a sad melody, the guitars surge, and the longing is palpable. The emo teenager in me is swooning so hard.
[9]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: A strong melodic hook and lack of histrionics can go far in the world of Korean ballads. But it’s the post-rock informed tremolo picking that told me everything I needed to know about this song. It provides “I Smile” with an inward-looking, overtly moody atmosphere and Day6 make sure to employ it prudently. That, along with other gimmicky musical tropes, often replaced strong songwriting for many a Korean indie band during the mid-to-late 2000s. The comparison isn’t necessarily appropriate — Day6’s tracks have much higher production quality and aren’t quite as sparse — but I also can’t recall another time when a K-pop song opened a floodgate of memories I have of Bluedawn, Donawhale, and the like. Regardless, “I Smile” channels wistful melancholy as effortlessly as the best of them, be it those indie artists or titans in the industry.
[7]
Jessica Doyle: This is a ridiculous complaint to make for a song coming out of the K-pop Big Three, but it feels as if there’s too much loaded in, especially in the chorus, where the guitars and the driving drums somehow end up a mushy mess. (In the verses there’s more room to breathe. The rock-band approach gives each DAY6 member something to do, so the lyricists don’t have to strain to make sure to allot a minimum of 0.5 seconds per singing voice.) Dropping out the percussion for the next-to-last chorus improves things a bit but feels like such an arranging-by-numbers move I can’t appreciate it. But I’m unfairly grumpy. I could’ve used a longer moratorium on “smiling even if it hurts” lyrics.
[4]