Scrolling through YouTube over the weekend, I suddenly came across a recently released album, Everyday, stylized as EVERYD4Y, from the K-Pop boy group, Winner. As a long-time and ardent fan of K-Pop music, I had no qualms in sitting back and jamming to their new music.

Winner first made their debut four years ago under YG Entertainment, one of the biggest companies in South Korea. Despite being signed under one of the top companies, the group did not attain immediate success in their first few years. It wasn’t until 2017, when they released their single albums, Fate Number For and Our Twenty Four, that their popularity skyrocketed once again. EVERYD4Y, which is primarily composed by the members themselves, is their second full-length album since debut. It topped South Korean and international charts within the first few hours of being released, matching their newly attained success from last year.

When I first listened to the EVERYD4Y album, I was immediately taken aback by some of the songs’ trap style and heavy use of reverb and autotune. Winner’s new album is like nothing they have ever released before. While they still incorporated elements of the tropical house beats that had brought them back into fame last year, several of their songs are strongly influenced by the styles of Western trap artists such as Future and Lil Uzi Vert.

“Everyday”, their title track, is the first song from the album I listened to. Although I had pressed play with high hopes, the song initially fell short of my expectations. With shallow, repetitive lyrics such as “Everyday, day, every, everyday (With you, with you, with you)” and “Pizza and pasta are so so (yum yum). If you want, I’ll go go (go go),” nothing really stuck out to me. In fact, I was so bored listening to it that I closed out of the music video before the song even finished. However, “Everyday” eventually grew onto me the more I listened to it. Before long, I couldn’t help but hum the addictive tune over and over wherever I went.

Several other songs in their album, such as “Hello” and “Luxury” are also similar to the trap style of “Everyday”, with extremely repetitive sound effects and lyrics. However, “Luxury” is by far my favorite track out of the three because it contains the addicting, unique tropical house and pop beats that I enjoy so much about Winner’s music. While it still incorporates some reverb and autotune effects, it’s not as overdone and “in your face” as it is in “Everyday” and “Hello”.

Winner also includes upbeat, party-vibe songs like “La La” and “Movie Star”. “La La”, is almost obnoxious in its chorus-style party vibe. For a large part of the song, the members sing together the lines, “La la la la la la la la” over and over without any variation. On the other hand, “Movie Star”, despite also being very chorus-style, is much less obnoxious in the repetition of these choruses.

Adding on to the “mixing pot” of musical genres in the album, Winner also stays true to their roots by including several pop and rock ballads such as “For”, “We were”, and “Raining”. A drastic change from the other happy-go-lucky, carefree songs, these songs are filled with nostalgia in their beautiful melodies and complex lyrics. The stripped-back feel of the ballads also appeal to my musical tastes, making them undoubtedly something that I’ll be adding to my own playlist.

Among all these tracks is “Turn Off the Light”, sung by only one of Winner’s members, rapper Song Mino. The solo takes on a slower beat with a much more intimate feel. Mino’s voice contains the characteristic huskiness of YG artists such as Bobby of iKON and T.O.P. of Big Bang, as he croons the song’s affectionate and suggestive lyrics. This track definitely showcases Mino’s voice well, and I loved listening to his sweet melodies throughout the song.

EVERYD4Y closes with “Have a Good Day”, a song dedicated to a high school classmate of two of Winner’s members who had died in a tragic car accident in 2014. The song contains poignant lyrics in memory of their friend that send a beautiful message to those who have passed away. Overall, it serves as a fitting outro for the album.

Although I delighted in listening to the majority of the songs on the album, there were also a few that fell short of my expectations. “Air” and “Special Night” both contain unmemorable lyrics, accompanied by an airy, overused pop beat. There was nothing truly special about either song, and they did not impress me at all.

Overall, Winner’s album, EVERYD4Y, truly was a “winner” to me in terms of K-Pop music that has been released so far, and I’m excited to see what the members have in store for the future.

View the video for “Everyday” here:

Listen to the rest of the album on Spotify: