"Upside Down" is a song by South Korean singer

Kang Daniel Kang Daniel (; born Kang Eui-geon, December 10, 1996), stylized as KANGDANIEL, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, television host, and businessman who rose to fame in early 2017 as the first-place winner of the Produce 101 Season 2, s ...

. It was released on May 24, 2022 by

Konnect Entertainment Konnect Entertainment (; stylized as KONNECT Entertainment) was an independent South Korean entertainment company founded on June 5, 2019 by Kang Daniel. The company was based in the Gangnam District of Seoul in South Korea. It previously manag ...

and distributed by

Sony Music Korea This is a list of record labels owned by, or associated with Sony Music Entertainment (SME). According to the Sony Music official website, the main labels are Columbia Records, RCA Records, Epic Records, Arista Records, Legacy Recordings, Sony Mus ...

. The song serves as the lead single from his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' The Story''. A Japanese version of the song was included on Kang's Japanese debut EP titled '' Joy Ride'' which was released on October 5, 2022 through

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group (WMG) owns, has a joint share, or is associated with the record labels listed here. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records *Elektra Records *Parlophone Records *Warner Records Atlantic Music Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * A ...

. The original Korean track was later reissued on November 24, 2022 via an album repackage, ''The Story: Retold''.

Background and composition

"Upside Down" is a medium tempo song that allows a

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and heavy guitar sound to coexist. Lyrically, it contains Kang's "pleasant solution and message" to situations that are not going as planned. This is conveyed when he sings "I feel like I'm living in a world that's upside down / I need to change it back / Turn everything around". He expanded on the meaning by sharing that "There are days when you can't do anything ight The song is about one's determination to turn everything upside down on such days". As a teaser for the title track, Konnect Entertainment released an interactive website designed by social media platform

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on May 15, 2022. The specific team responsible for the design and development of the website additionally stated that "Upside Down" contains the message that "Even if things don't go according to our will, we don't succumb to reality and create our own world at our own pace. Finding

our Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" Places * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France Other uses * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a governm ...

own color by creating a world that suits ourather than adjusting to the world's standards."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Upside Down" was directed by Wooje Kim of ETUI and premiered on Konnect Entertainment's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel at 18:00 ( KST) on May 24, 2022. It was preceded by two teasers released on the same platform on May 20 and 23. It exceeded 10 million views in 10 hours, besting Kang's previous record. It was also included in a list titled "K-Pop Videos: Best of 2022" created by

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Commercial performance

"Upside Down" peaked at number two on the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...

for the chart issue dated May 22 to 28 in 2022. The song also took first place on MBC's ''

Show! Music Core ''Show! Music Core'' (), or simply ''Music Core'' is a South Korean music television program broadcast by MBC. It airs live every Saturday at 15:30 (KST). The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. I ...

'' on June 4.

Critical reception

"Upside Down" was included in a hand-picked selection of songs and videos by the

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-based streaming service, Tidal. The latter list was described as "the best this year brought from the magical world of K-pop visuals that only enhance your listening experience".

Charts

Accolades

Music program awards

Release history

References

{{Kang Daniel 2022 songs 2022 singles Kang Daniel songs Songs in Korean Sony Music singles