Like many fans around the world, I had November 2 marked on my calendar—finally, an EXO comeback. It had been over a year since the last full album release.

With that immense and quietly building space of expectation, new music would be 1. immediately welcomed by EXO-Ls worldwide, but 2. with a group at the top of its game, eventually there will be a below-average release. No pressure.

With Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, EXO pulled it off…mostly.

Tempo

Tempo feels comfortably EXO. It’s fun in the vein of “Call Me Baby.” The chorus is singable. The sound engineering and f(x) are incredible. The harmonies are on point—specifically the bit where Xiumin and Sehum sing and rap octaves over each other, and of course the a capella section. This is a song that knows the best of EXO and how to present it to its fullest, morphing and reprising itself through funky descending bass lines and soaring vocals.

As the members grow as artists/performers and head into their late 20s (Sehun, the youngest member, is currently 24 years old), they’ve transitioned from a young group in search of a sound to a self-assured group who knows their strengths. If you were wondering which group reigns as the VOCAL KINGS of k-pop, this is your receipt.

I will not be surprised when a bunch of other acts come out with a capella tracks next year.

The music video isn’t super-innovative but the glitchy light effects are really cool, like the boys are holograms. Chanyeol shines with his blue contacts (I picked a good bias).

Sign

I don’t recall grotty bass lines (reminiscent of NCT 127’s “Limitless”) being a popular back then, but this song reminds me of an alternate-universe Korean version of an early 2000s boy band song. (Maybe it’s the “bye bye bye” part?) We don’t deserve Baekhyun and his vocals.

Fun fact: I keep mishearing one of the lyrics as “Honestly, pikachu”

Ooh-La-La-La

This is a song that makes you really appreciate SM’s sound engineers. It’s such ear candy—from the subtle pop of a record-player effect to the way that the layers of sound are so airily pieced together. The guitar riff is beautiful, almost “island feeling,” like you could play it on a ukelele and sing on a beach and it would sound just as good. Otherwise it’s a simple song; I want to hate it because it verges on saccharine but I also kind of love it. Like a popsicle on a hot summer day, but that’s French themed with a big whiff of fresh island air.

Gravity

“Gravity” is the song that “Power” wanted to be. I’m loving 80s club feel to this one, with the sample from “Power” in the intro, and the powerful yet funky bass line (SM is really good at those). Lyrically, I love the interplay between Korean and English; the chorus creates a rhyming pattern in Korean that begs for a declarative singing of “GRAVITY” to round it out—but instead of giving us the relief in the first round, they build anticipation through a full seven lines before finally giving us the payoff. It’s great—I haven’t had a song keep me on the edge of my seat lyrically like this before. Especially since most of the lyrics are in another language!

With You

EXO would like to float over fluffy white clouds with you. It’s ballad with undertones of traditional Korean music. Sweet, but not particularly memorable.

24/7

Love it or hate it, this song builds from a distinctive whistle to a very Motown-ish throwback (disclaimer: I’m not a Motown expert). I’m not a fan of full-on falsetto songs (with the exception of Big Bang’s “Cafe“), but this one is really well executed. The call-and-response structure is interesting, and the vocals are on point.

Bad Dream

If any of the songs on this album grew on me, it’s this one. I went from “okay I kind of like this one” to “obsessively listening on repeat” in less than an hour. This song is all over the place musically, somehow combining a bouncy synth, gorgeous guitar riffs (but not enough of them!), a dolphin-like pealing sound, and an absolutely beautiful-yet-rough moving bass line that reminds me of something that I can’t quite place. The vocals shine on this one, with more technical acrobatics a la “Stay” from last year’s winter album.

 

Damage

  1. HYPE.
  2. Sehun’s E-X-O is back.
  3. It’s a jam.

 

Smile On My Face

One of EXO’s b-side staples is the R&B ballad. Most fans love them. This incarnation is very soothing, and Chen’s harmonies are heavenly. Moving on.

Oasis

Like “Been Through” from last year’s winter album, I bet that “Oasis” will be a popular track on the album with American fans. To me, it sounds more like Western pop than k-pop. It’s not a bad song at all–the melody is gorgeous–it just feels like anthemic indie pop.

 

Overall: Don’t mess up a good thing

This album feels sonically cohesive, and darker than The War (which would make sense, considering that this is an autumn album). SM is good at matching album “tones” to the season, as you can see in the differences between Red Velvet’s summer vs fall releases.

With this album, there are no surprises. EXO has dialed in their sound. It’s like they’re now a “middle aged” group instead of a hungry young wolfpack. I’m glad they’re making cohesive albums now instead of random collections of singles, but on the flip side there were no songs that catch me by surprise, no “Forever” or “El Dorado.”

When I first listened to The War last summer I was immediately and utterly obsessed with “Forever.” It grabbed me in a way that few songs do. None of the songs on DMWMT have grabbed me in that way, with the possible exception of “Bad Dream.”

I like this album, but I don’t LOVE it. Like…there’s nothing wrong with this album but I’m also not obsessed with it. It’s clean. It’s well balanced. It shows off EXO’s skills in a variety of ways. But I honestly can’t see myself listening to it much, other than picking off a few favorites to add to my epic EXO playlist.

It says something that I listened to NCT 127’s Regular-Irregular again before I settled down to write this review.

[Update: I’ve been listening to this album on repeat. Oops! It’s great, the end.]

 

It may be relevant to note that I’ve always preferred the young, exploratory phase of a musician’s existence over the polished and complete work that tends to be produced later on.