Wonpil at his most ‘Unpiltered’ yet in new album

After four years, Day6’s Wonpil returns with a fresh solo sound, ready to lay his emotions bare.

Wonpil's EP “Unpiltered,” released Monday, is his first solo release since his 2022 album “Pilmography.” The seven-track mini album, written and composed by Wonpil, reflects his desire to present a side of himself that feels “newer, more vulnerable and less polished.”

“This album will probably feel very different from my first solo album,” said Wonpil during a round interview at a cafe in southern Seoul. “I think people will see a lot of unfamiliar, new sides of me, so I feel both nervous and excited.”

That shift was intentional from the beginning.

When he began working on the album, Wonpil said he wanted it to stand apart from “Pilmography,” which leaned more toward themes of comfort and warmth. He had also been ruminating on change while preparing for Day6’s 10th anniversary album, "The Decade," last year.

“I've always wanted to present different music and artistic styles,” he said. “Those thoughts had been building up before I worked on ‘Unpiltered,’ and since this is my solo album, I took the time to focus entirely on what I wanted to do and experiment musically.”

At the center of the new album is the lead track “Highs and Lows,” a dramatic rock ballad that channels bottled-up emotions through the metaphor of love. While the song may appear to be about romance on the surface, Wonpil said it began from a different impulse: the need for release.

“People can’t always fully express what they really feel. There’s a layer to how much you can say and what you shouldn’t say as a member of society,” he said. “Everyone holds things in and lives like that. I wanted this song to become a small outlet for that.”

The need for emotional release, for Wonpil, was shaped in part by the pressure he felt after returning from his military service in November 2023.

Day6 debuted in 2015, but the band gained wider attention from late 2023 to early 2024 with “You Were Beautiful” and “Time of Our Life.” As the quartet drew greater attention, Wonpil said he found himself carrying a heightened sense of responsibility to meet growing expectations.

“The way people looked at Day6 changed after I was discharged,” he said. “There was pressure from that, and I felt a greater sense of responsibility about songwriting and performing. I realized I had been under more stress than I thought and wanted to use this song to release such emotions.”

He also alluded to personal pain and a sense of loss that informed the album’s emotional core. Rather than hide those emotions, Wonpil said he chose to let them surface through his music.

“I always want to show the good sides of myself to the public and to my fans, but I wanted to be different this time,” Wonpil said. “I wanted to show a different image of 'human Wonpil.'”

That impulse is also reflected in the album’s title, “Unpiltered.” Asked what he most wanted to show without a filter, Wonpil answered “emotion” without hesitation, adding that he put a lot of his personal stories and experiences into the album to do so.

He pointed to several tracks as examples: In “Highs and Lows,” he captured the sense of emotional collapse — something he said he wouldn’t have expressed in Day6 songs. In “Already Grown Up,” Wonpil explores the uneasy process of pretending to be okay and acting like an adult even when it feels unnatural. In the album’s closing track, “Piano,” he reflects on the fear of being forgotten and the desire to be remembered.

“Since the new album reflects a darker side of my personal identity and story, I also worried that people might be concerned for me and my well-being,” he said. “But I don’t think you can only show the good sides of yourself, and music feels like a safe space for me to communicate those.”

Wonpil added that he hopes listeners will not see the album as a simple signal of distress, but as something that can help them process their own emotions.

“I hope my album can help people release their own emotions as well,” he said. “I want ‘Unpiltered’ to become a channel where people can let out what they’ve been carrying deep inside.”

If “Unpiltered” captures anything clearly, it may simply be a record of where Wonpil is now: in his 30s, under pressure and thinking more deeply than before, but still moving forward.

Asked what kind of music he ultimately wants to make, his answer was not tied to trends or immediate results.

“Not just as a solo artist, but also as a member of Day6, I want to make music that doesn’t age,” he said. “My dream is to make music that still feels relevant even after 10 or 20 years.”