“Happy Death Day” by Xdinary Heroes

You ever have one of those kinds of experiences where you greet someone, and they’re smiling in your face, but shortly thereafter, out of the corner of your eye, you see them giving you a dirty look? Well that’s sort of the premise of the song we’re dealing with today (“Happy Death Day”). It touches on how people, given the occasion, may put on a happy face, but in reality their disposition is concurrently ruled by less-than-favorable feelings. 

And the occasion in this setting would be a birthday party. So in the first verse, the vocalist takes on the role of a spectator at such a gathering who is noticing that even though the event has all of the standard party favors, there isn’t any actual joy in the venue. 

And this apparently causes him to harp back on one of his own birthday parties, when he was just eight years old, and how said event was also filled with “meaningless wishes”. Or as he sees it his well-wishers were just putting on a show as dictated by such occasion. They genuinely didn’t care for the narrator, and he perceives a similar sort of spirit at this birthday party he’s currently at.

These Bloody Birthdays!

And possessing such thoughts as those noted above may not necessarily be the healthiest thing for a child of that age. But this is the Xdinary Heroes’ way of making a point, that they are not fond of birthdays since it brings out the ‘fakeness’ in people. 

And moreover, they are tired of dealing with such individuals. So they are using that position as a premise to damn birthday celebrations altogether. Or the way they conclusively see birthdays is as something that draws us “closer to death” anyway. 

So coupling that reality with the notion that well-wishers are not genuine, it’s like birthday celebrations are something the homeys can do without.

An Observation

It does seem kinda coincidental that recently another K-pop act, Stray Kids, dropped a track entitled “Christmas EveL” which takes a similar approach, i.e. attacking a holiday, so to speak, as the vocalist himself is depressed or what have you. 

So maybe these types of songs, which paint a picture of life being less-than-ideal even in the face of what are traditionally joyous occasions, is some type of new trend in South Korea.

Xdinary Heroes and “Happy Death Day”

On 6 December 2021 “Happy Death Day” became the debut single from Xdinary Heroes, a group of K-poppers that have been put out by one of the biggest South Korean record labels, JYP Entertainment. 

This group is presently made up of the following six individuals:

• Gaon
• Gunil
• Jooyeon
• Jun Han
• Jungsu
• O.de

As of December 2021, the aforementioned band members range in age from 19 to 23 years old. 

Unlike virtually all other K-pop groups we have covered thus far, Xdinary Heroes are actually a band in that each of its members play different instruments. It is not clear who the designated lead singer of the group is, if any. But it has been noted that Gaon plays rhythm guitar, Gunil the drums, Jooyeon bass, Jun Han guitar, O.de keyboards and Jungsu the keytar.

Two members of Xdinary Heroes, Gaon and Jungsu, are credited as writers of “Happy Death Day”, alongside Lee Hae Sol and Sim Eunjee.