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Kang Daniel's 'Magenta' EP is already breaking records, but it's his abs in 'Who U Are' that has fans talking

The artist participated much more with the writing on this album and his growth is quite evident

Kang Daniel's third EP, 'Magenta', is here, and the idol's fans got an extra treat in the form of a music video for the lead single, 'Who U Are'. Daniel more recently dropped a music video for the single, 'Waves', featuring rapper Simon Dominic and rapper-singer Jamie on July 27. 'Magenta' is the second mini-album in Daniel's 'Color' trilogy, with the previous album 'Cyan' having dropped earlier this year in March.

Speaking about the EP, Daniel shared in an interview with Soompi that it had a different 'color' to his first mini-album 'Cyan'. "If ‘CYAN’ had more of a refreshing feeling to it, then ‘MAGENTA’ has more of a strong and powerful feeling to it." The album is meant to capture the essence of a summer that is beginning to draw to a close. With regards to the track 'Who U Are', Daniel stated, "It’s a song with lyrics that talk about awakening emotions in you that even you didn’t know about. I compare it to a burning sun because of the power and passion in the song." On July 5, fans got to glimpse the album via a comeback teaser which showed off Daniel's versatility as a singer and songwriter, and fans couldn't help but feel moved. One tweet read, "Daniel's voice while singing waves!! Lemme cry / It's so beautiful."

Speaking about having had a greater role in writing his own music this time around, Daniel shared, "I’m honored to have had the opportunity to participate more in the music-making process as I got to work with great people. When I write lyrics, I get inspiration from the things I like, so I couldn’t help but write about films in one of the songs. I worked on a song called ‘Movie’ with Dvwn, and I really like the lyrics ‘I can show you that movie.'" Daniel's passion is certainly paying off, seeing as the album already began making waves with its preorders and release-day sales, nearing the 200,000 copies sold mark and positioning Daniel as "the first solo artist in Hanteo history to have 3 albums with over 100,000 sales in the 1st day of release."

The music video for 'Who U Are' has already left Daniel's fandom, the Danitys, thirsting for more, owing largely to a very short glimpse of the idol's abs. One fan tweet read, "I CAN'T BREATHE! DANIEL ABS! HELP!" while another stated, "And yes our Kang Daniel has served yet again another bop. I swear no one among all those who watched the MV was not shookt in THAT scene."

Overall, the album is a hit among fans, who have deemed it a "nice evolution for Daniel's catalogue," and the release is even managing to convert a few more listeners into Danitys, with one user tweeting, "Usually I don't like this style of music but that's really good."

While Covid-19 restrictions have made comebacks this year difficult, the K-pop industry has slowly been picking up in recent months and Daniel has made the absolute most of 2020 thus far. The idol has also hinted at his upcoming performances, noting they have been designed to "heighten the experience" of the album with unique choreography. Additionally, he has also confirmed that he will begin working on the final installment of the 'Color' trilogy soon. "After I wrap up my activities, I’m going to take my time to look back on everything I’ve learned through my two mini-albums, and start working on the final mini-album of the trilogy. I’ll do my best to put out a variety of other content as well, so please anticipate it," he added.

Given 'Who U Are' already sees Daniel making good on that promise, it should be an absolute treat to get to watch him perform this EP live. In the meantime, we can all enjoy the newly released music video below.