MAGENTA

MAGENTA is the third extended play and second mini album by Kang Daniel. It was released on August 3, 2020 by KONNECT Entertainment and distributed by Sony Music Korea. The EP contains six tracks with “깨워 (Who U Are)” as its lead single. “Waves” featuring Simon Dominic and Jamie was pre-released on July 27. MAGENTA is the second album in the COLOR album trilogy.

MAGENTA is the third extended play and second mini album by Kang Daniel. It was released on August 3, 2020 by KONNECT Entertainment and distributed by Sony Music Korea. The EP contains six tracks with “깨워 (Who U Are)” as its lead single. “Waves” featuring Simon Dominic and Jamie was pre-released on July 27. MAGENTA is the second album in the COLOR album trilogy.

Track Listing

#   Title Lyrics Music Arrangement
1.  “Flash” – 3:48 JQ
Kang Daniel
Lee Jiwon
Ameli
Shin Sae Rom (makeumine works)
Anthony Russo
Anthony Pavel
Kaelyn Behr
Rudy Sandapa
MZMC
Styalz Fuego
Rudy Sandapa
2.  “Waves (Feat. Simon Dominic and Jamie)” – 2:44 ae.patricia
BIYA
Simon Dominic
Jamie
Kang Daniel
Anthony Russo
Julien Maurice Moore
Kaelyn Behr
MZMC
Styalz Fuego
3.  “깨워 (Who U Are)” – 3:22 JQ
Kang Daniel
Bae Sunghyun
Ameli
Shin Sae Rom (makeumine works)
Anthony Russo
Anthony Pavel
Kyle Buckley
MZMC
Pinkslip
Inverness
MZMC
4.  “Runaway (Feat. YUMDDA)” – 3:15 ae.patricia
YUMDDA
Kang Daniel
ADVANCED
Charlotte Wilson
Jacob Aaron
THE HUB 88
ADVANCED
5.  “Movie (Feat. Dvwn)” – 2:59 Dvwn
Kang Daniel
Kyle Buckley
Jeremy Jasper
Julien Maurice Moore
MZMC
Pinkslip
Inverness
MZMC
6.  “Night” – 3:57 Noday
Jung Jinhyung
Riskypizza
Noday
Riskypizza
Jung Jinhyung
Noday
Riskypizza

On July 5, 2020, KONNECT Entertainment officially announced a comeback with a surprise teaser video.[s] While CYAN showed bright and refreshing colors, MAGENTA shows strong and powerful colors that capture the beginning and end of summer from its blazing intensity to calm simplicity.[s] [s] In Daniel’s July 8 V LIVE, he said he tried to interpret summer and the color magenta in a different way. He recommended listening in the track list’s order based on the emotions and mood. In each song, he was fully involved in producing the melody line, whether that be through the melody, which voice register to use, or delivery. He commented that the title track has the most difficult dance he has ever had. After revealing the track list on July 15, he commented on each of the songs in V LIVE: “Flash” = story, “Waves” = passion, “Who U Are” = annoyance, “Runaway” = exciting, “Movie” = feelgood, and “Night” combines the words evening, sunset, and Han River.[s]

Shortly after DAN1TYST, Daniel’s debut anniversary Ontact fanmeeting, he went on V LIVE to talk about MAGENTA. Opening song “Flash” is about energy that will draw power, and its highlight is the unexpected calming part. He recommended starting with “Flash” and ending with “Night” and said each song has its own charm.[s]

As soon as he heard “Waves”, he thought it would be great if strong artists were involved so he personally reached out to Simon Dominic and Jamie, who both accepted. “Waves” is a trendy latin style that is not typical K-pop. In an interview with singer Jamie, she shared that she was rooting for Kang Daniel, so as soon as she got the featuring offer, she listened to the song and thought it was so good, she had to do it. She also expressed her gratitude with the many people that recognized her colors through the collaboration and considers it to be a meaningful work.[s]

Immediately after “Waves” was released, Daniel went on V LIVE to talk about the song. He deliberately pronounced 소나기 (sonagi) differently. After hearing Jamie and Simon D’s powerful delivery, he wanted to build up to those parts and recorded his part in a way so that the feeling was getting higher as the song went on. In the radio show Love Game, he said it was revised the most with three times. He chose “SA, IL, EE, SAAM” as the intro since he thought it sounded cool. Daniel revealed his favorites songs in the album are “Flash” and “Runaway”. Since “Waves” had already been released at the fanmeeting, Daniel confessed he was not nervous about the release of “Waves” but felt the weight of the album release on August 3.[s]

In Dingo Music, Daniel said CYAN had fresh and sparkling songs, while the purpose of MAGENTA was to represent the passionate and burning hot summer with “Runaway” as the climax. He wrote most of the song lyrics and contributed to the title track. Daniel explained during the Oricon interview that he was working on MAGENTA during CYAN promotions when he first heard “Who U Are” and decided on including it. During the Love Game radio interview, Daniel said he was involved in most of the production process. This included logo and cover design, versions, M/V tone and costume concept, sets, song screening, etc. He met up with the content and production team every day. He said he does not like to just do whatever is given to him. In “Flash”, DANITY represent the indispensable compass helping Daniel on his way. “Runaway” is a song for friends who feel exhausted and have the desire to run away to have fun. “Movie” was a strong contender for CYAN‘s title track. It was a song he kept since “TOUCHIN'” era but since he did not think it suited winter, it ended up being the first to record for MAGENTA. He described the song as a musical and was especially happy he got to express his love for movies with the line, “I can show you that movie!” In his countdown live, Daniel said “Night” was the last addition received while the other songs were in the mastering stages. He wanted a lonely yet warm song to end the album since many people say autumn is somehow the season of loneliness. The biggest reason “Night” was included was he listened to the lyrics before going to sleep and could not fall asleep as he was reminiscing old times and wondering how others were doing.

On August 3 at 5 PM, a V LIVE broadcast with various corners was prepared to introduce the new album. On August 5 at 6 PM, an online fansign was held. 50 fans who pre-ordered through Soundwave Online Mall were randomly selected. He also had two fansigns on August 10 for Music Korea at 2 PM and Interpark at 5 PM and a final fansign on August 16 at 7:30 PM. Daniel appeared on You Heeyeol’s Sketchbook for the first time since his debut and guested as a special MC and judge on Fun-Staurant. He also guested on radios Kim Shin Young’s Noon Song of Hope, Volume Up, and Love Game within the two weeks of promotions.

In addition to giving away streaming gifts, KONNECT staff introduced new events during this era. There were two lotto or Danitto draws and rock paper scissors random events through which winners were notified in DMs. There was a photocard decorating activity that fans in addition to staff and Daniel participated in. Fanmade decorations can be seen in the #다니엘마젠타포꾸 hashtag.

Title track “Who U Are” took first place on three music shows: SBS MTV The Show on August 11, KBS2 Music Bank on August 14, and MBC Show! Music Core on August 15.

MAGENTA surpassed 320,000 physical album sales within a week. Daniel also achieved a Gaon triple crown by topping the album, download, and BGM weekly charts.[s] [s] [s] He received a Hanteo certificate for reaching 200,000 physical album sales within a week.[s]

The album also topped the iTunes Top Album charts in at least ten different regions, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, and Kazakhstan. It also made it into the top 10 in other countries, including Brazil (where it reached No. 6) and the Philippines (No. 2). Despite his lowest album debut on the Worldwide iTunes Album chart at number twenty one, it later peaked at number six.

Daniel hit 1 million Spotify monthly listeners for the first time on August 19.[s]

“Waves”

The music video was revealed exclusively to Daniel’s debut anniversary ontact viewers on July 25. The pre-release digital single and music video were released on July 27. The last scene previewing “Who U Are” was not shown at the fanmeeting. Daniel said in his V LIVE that the set’s mood is like the Basilisk scene in the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and that he also watched a few Latin thriller movies since the music video has that style. “Waves” does not have a full choreography, but the point dance is the dancers’ ability to express beats like breaking waves.

Two outfits Daniel wore in the music video were designed by Tone Seoul, who had previously designed outfits for Taemin, EXO, NCT, BLACKPINK, NU’EST, and THE BOYZ among others.[s] [s] [s] In particular, the black suit embedded with white crystals weighed 10kg.[s] The third suit is from Dolce & Gabbana’s upcoming collection. Daniel said his inspiration was Fantastic Beasts, and he intended to look like an adventurer.

“깨워 (Who U Are)”

In Fanijeom, Daniel revealed that he filmed this music video the day before “Waves”. The fire effects were real, and he had to wash five times to clear out the ash. Daniel explained at M Countdown backstage that the music video’s concept was the world collapsed and he woke up alone, and there were wild people. In the radio show Volume Up, Daniel said he wanted to portray a dystopian tribe. He commented that he had body paint artists come in to draw tattoos on his dancers. The music video reached 10 million views in four days, a personal best among all of Daniel’s music videos.

In the Oricon interview, Daniel explained the choreography is not K-pop style. Rather than showing neat lines and the texture of music, they followed the flow of the song and created rhythm from their bodies. He elaborated, “My choreography is not line-oriented. So if you haven’t danced before, it might be difficult to dance to my choreography.”

“Movie”

After Daniel concluded promotions, he revealed a surprise music video on August 18 featuring Dvwn, Chancellor, Jo Seho, Nam Changhee, and Henry. The music video was full of Kang Daniel’s ideas about a person who likes movies. According to KONNECT, laughter never ceased on set despite the rain.[s]

Charts

Album (Peak Charts Positions)
Korea
[Gaon]
Japan
[Oricon]
Sales
[Gaon] [Oricon]
Certifications
[Gaon]
1 94 KOR: 337,785
JPN: 384
Tracks (Peak Charts Positions)
Title Korea
[Gaon] [2]
Kpop Hot 100
[Billboard]
“Flash” #95
“Waves” (feat. Simon Dominic and Jamie) #102 #92
“깨워 (Who U Are)” #12 #80
“Runaway” (feat. YUMDDA) #94
“Movie'” (feat. Dvwn) #96
“밤'” #97
Tracks (Realtime Charts Debut)
Title *MelOn(Old System) Genie Bugs *Soribada Flo
“Flash” #25 #54 #18
“Waves” (feat. Simon Dominic and Jamie)** #58 #13 #17 #16
“깨워 (Who U Are)” #53 #17 #25 #8
“Runaway” (feat. YUMDDA) #26 #48 #20
“Movie” (feat. Dvwn) #28 #58 #21
“밤” #29 #60 #22

Source: MelOn  |  instiz iChart
*MelOn changed its system in July 2020. Old system charting isn’t included in the iChart. Soribada also stopped being included in the iChart since July 2020.
**Pre-released track “Waves” realtime debut is from July 27.

Album Credits / Teasers & Behind the Scenes