Kang Daniel retells 'The Story' in new repackaged edition

The face of boy band Wanna One, Mnet’s street dance competition series, and now his own agency company: But even in the midst of it all, Kang Daniel aims to show his most honest, vulnerable self through his solo music. The singer is set to release...

A concept image for Kang Daniel's ″The Story: Repackage Retold″ [KONNECT ENTERTAINMENT]

The face of boy band Wanna One, Mnet’s street dance competition series, and now his own agency company: But even in the midst of it all, Kang Daniel aims to show his most honest, vulnerable self through his solo music.

The singer is set to release “The Story: Repackage Retold” on Thursday, the reissued version of his first full-length album “The Story,” which dropped earlier this year.

The reissue features five new songs — lead track “Nirvana,” “Selfish,” “Ghost,” “Ride 4 U (Remix)” and “Nirvana (Solo Ver.)” — in addition to the original 10 tracks from “The Story” — “Parade,” “Upside Down,” “Loser,” “Don’t Tell,” “Ride 4 U,” “How We Live,” “Mad,” “1000x,” “Moment” and “The Story.”

There are two versions of “Nirvana,” as the lead track features rapper ph-1 and a performance by dance crew We Dem Boyz. We Dem Boyz recently signed under Konnect Entertainment, the agency founded by Kang himself, as the crew consists of members who were backup dancers for Kang.

“We’ve frequently collaborated with Kang before in the past, but the fact that our name has been added to this new song means a lot,” We Dem Boyz said in a statement.

A concept image for Kang Daniel's ″The Story: Repackage Retold″ [KONNECT ENTERTAINMENT]

The tracks on this reissue were rearranged on the tracklist, and new songs were added in between “to compose the album like one whole story,” Konnect Entertainment said, adding that “the new songs completed the plot.”

Kang is listed as the lead lyricist for every single song except for “Selfish.”

“Selfish” was produced to have lyrics and a melody that contrast in nature: It has a bright mood with the instrumental sounds of violas, guitars and bells, but the lyrics are darker in context, the agency explained.

In a teaser video for “Nirvana,” which was posted to his social media channels on Monday, Kang is running toward a yacht dock. Konnect Entertainment described the track as “a song that has encompassed Kang’s energy.”

Kang is also in the middle of a world tour, currently in the Asian leg, which takes place in Manila, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao.

Next year, starting in Manchester on Jan. 26, he will tour Europe and North America, finishing off in Los Angeles on March 18.

Kang Daniel as a contestant on Mnet's hit K-pop audition show “Produce 101″ (2017) in which he later won first place and debuted through project boy band Wanna One. [MNET]

Kang debuted in 2017 after winning first place on season two of Mnet’s hit K-pop audition show “Produce 101.” He and 10 other finalists formed Wanna One, which disbanded in early 2019. Wanna One experienced great popularity while it was active, with songs like “Energetic” (2017), “Beautiful” (2017), “Boomerang” (2018) and “Light” (2018).

After Wanna One broke up, Kang founded Konnect Entertainment later that year, which now represents artists CL, Chancellor and Yuju, a former member of disbanded girl group GFriend.

He debuted as a soloist in July the same year and has released songs like “Touchin’” (2019), “2U” (2020) and “Paranoia” (2021).

For the first few years, he released a series of albums for his “color project,” which saw him show off “different colors” of himself through EPs like “Color on Me” (2019), “Cyan” (2020), “Magenta” (2020) and “Yellow” (2021).

Afterward, his first full-length album “The Story” focused on “telling a story that everyone can sympathize with, using [Kang’s] own tools.”

Needless to say, “Upside Down,” the lead track for “The Story,” topped local music streaming platforms upon its release. The album ranked No. 1 on the iTunes Top Albums charts in some 20 regions including Japan, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

The music video for “Upside Down” scored over 10 million views on YouTube just 10 hours after being uploaded.

Kang Daniel hosted various Mnet's street dance competition series, like ″Street Woman Fighter″ (2021) pictured above. [MNET]

Kang later became the host of Mnet’s street dance competition series: “Street Woman Fighter” (2021), “Street Dance Girls Fighter” (2021) and “Street Man Fighter” (2022).

He also made his acting debut through the Disney+ original series “Rookie Cops” (2022) in which he plays a freshman at Korea’s National Police University.

Although Kang started out as a K-pop hopeful, his career has branched out immensely. He also earned a place in the Guinness World Records for the fastest time to gain 1 million followers on Instagram back in 2019. It took him 11 hours and 36 minutes.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]