Chen’s solo album flows like cool water. It’s a clean break from the EXO R&B vibes—Chen continues exploring his own musical personality with his first mini album, April, and a flower.
Our ‘Nature Boy‘ comes through with simple arrangements, focused mostly on piano and vocals. He wrote the lyrics for one of my favorite EXO songs, ‘Lights Out,’ and again contributed lyrics to ‘Flower’ on this album.
Chen shines in this arena. He’s at his best in songs like ‘Nosedive,’ with a focus on rest and refreshment.
I wouldn’t exactly call April, and a Flower an album of lullabyes, but it is a very easy album to listen to. ‘Lights Out’ was my go-to sleepytime music for a few months, and this mini-album is just the thing to put in your ears when you’re tired and worn down.
For a few minutes, you can run with Chen’s voice over sunlit, grassy fields with the wind gently blowing your hair.
Part of me was scared that this mini-album would be full of overwrought, cheesy ballads—but it is not. A+++ for keeping the arrangements sparse, keeping with the spare and natural visual aesthetic.
This mini-album’s biggest weakness is the flipside of its strengths. The songs flow a little too easily. They don’t stick in my head, but slide through in a moment of peacefulness that I can’t remember five minutes later.
I’m not sure that I would remember the title track, ‘Beautiful Goodbye,’ if I heard it out of context.
That said, the album has a great shape, building from lighter songs through an ~emotional journey~ to more impactful songs at the end.
On ‘Sorry Not Sorry,’ I’m happy to hear a descant above Chen’s vocal line. He usually takes care of high notes and descants in EXO’s material, so it’s nice hearing him get to take the melody for once, with the string sections getting the harmony.
I could swear that Chen is channeling Big Bang’s Taeyang on ‘Love Words.’ The song is great—perfect execution of drums in a ballad—but it gives me such Taeyang vibes. Maybe that’s the influence of the songs’s composer, Kenzie.
My favorite song on the album is ‘Portrait of You.’ It’s cinematic. It’s emotional. The melody moves through so many different textures and sections—the piano is a voice, not just accompaniment. (But this is expected: it was written by the brilliant Andreas Johansson.)
Such a perfect ending. I’d drift off to sleep to that song anytime.
Overall, I think this is a very Chen album, which is a good thing—though I wish that somehow they had worked enough hooks in amongst the calm to help me grab onto the songs. It’s good for him to differentiate himself from all the hype that surrounds EXO—and this album is about as opposite as you could get from that.
I have a feeling this will grow on me. It’ll definitely have a place in my earbuds the next time I need an oasis of calm.
EXO vocalist Chen (Kim Jong Dae) is coming out with a solo album this April.
It’s about time.
“Nosedive,” his collaboration with Dynamic Duo, was my favorite song of 2017.
“Lights Out,” the song he wrote on EXO’s winter album Universe, is a beautiful and moving endcap to a day. And like I wished in that past review, I’m glad to see that we get more of singer/songwriter Chen.
The man knows how to communicate through song.
I’m excited to see how this album shapes up, especially with the title “April, and a Flower” with that promo image. (Check the strategically placed lens flare.)
The moodiness of the image (love all the noise from the ISO) and the poetic treatment of the text in this teaser give me hope that this won’t be a purely saccharine spring ballad release.
But we won’t know for another week.
One thing the k-pop industry does right: sweet anticipation.
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
HYPE.
Sehun’s E-X-O is back.
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.
Recently W Korea released a photo spread featuring members of EXO, and it’s basically a visual representation of EXO-L waiting for the next album.
I feel you, Chanyeol.
Exo has released a full-length album, a repackaged album, and a winter mini-album each year since debut.
Last year’s album, The War was released in August 2017.
It’s now nearly October 2018.
No new music.
Over the years, the members have been getting busier with external activities. Kai, Sehun, and Chanyeol go to fashion events. Suho is starring in a musical. DO is starting a serious acting career, and is currently the male lead in a drama. CBX exists. There are variety shows. Collaborations happen.
Still, no new music.
Members are starting to stare down Korea’s mandatory military enlistment.
(I believe Xiumin is required to enlist this year.)
Military service time is 18 months.
There is a deadline.
Here’s what I think is going down:
SM is “testing” the fans, to see if they’ll wait patiently for more than a year between albums. (It’s been 14 months and so far nobody has gone crazy yet.)
Sometime this fall, maybe in November at this point (after NCT 127 and Lay), EXO will finally release new music.
The repackaged album will take the place of the winter album, to be released in December.
After that, all the members will enlist at the same time. During that time, SM slow-drips content. They are getting the hang of YouTube, and fans would 100% love another dedicated EXO variety show, especially when the members are in the military.
Or perhaps they stagger into 2 groups separated by 6-8 months, and we are treated to a new subunit or two.
When they are discharged and back together full strength, EXO head directly into the recording studio an through the magic of the SM production machine, have new music ready to release in a ridiculously short amount of time.
One of the many things that SM Entertainment does well is learn from its mistakes. Super Junior has been taking a long time to get back on its feet now that its members are trickling out of the military. I doubt that SM wants to inflict that on EXO.
Anyway, I really hope we get new EXO music soon. The end.
I’ve noticed a recurring pattern in many of SM’s releases over the past year or two. Most notable are two SM Station x 0 singles back-to-back with the word “young” in the title.
“We Young” – Chanyeol x Sehun – Sept 2018
“Young” – Baekhyun x Loco – Aug 2018
“We Young” – NCT Dream – Aug 2017
“Young and Free” – Xiumin x Mark – July 2017
I would say MAYBE this comes from NCT Dream being the youth unit, but NCT Dream only put out one of these songs. Most of these include members of EXO.
So maybe it’s not Lee Soo-Man who’s having the crisis, but EXO. They’re getting to the point where they can no longer push out military service (I believe Xiumin is required to enlist this year) and are staring down the results of what happens when a group is scattered through military enlistment. Super Junior has been doing a decent job of picking back up the pieces as the members end their service, but it’s still a somewhat scattershot approach.
Perhaps I’m trying to ascribe to much meaning behind why there are 4 songs with incredibly similar themes and titles. (I probably am.) But I’m curious as to why there are songs from two different groups that have the exact same title. Is this an SEO thing? Is the Chanyeol x Sehun version going to be a remix of the NCT Dream song? (We’ll find out.) (I’m hoping it’s a Chanyeol original, tbh.)
When you add NCT Dreams “Go” and “We Go Up” to the mix, it further muddies the SEO waters–let alone someone’s ability to remember the actual titles of the songs.
Part of me wonders if this is a byproduct of an overly refined system, in which the syntax “We ____” has tested well and in which concepts of youth and going places have also risen to the top. Watching how SM iterates on a theme, it almost looks to me like they’re putting out multiple variations, waiting for one to stick.
I don’t know anything, really, about the behind-the-scenes of the pop music industry so take that with a grain of salt.
I see patterns and can’t help but speculate on them.
Okay, friends. It’s time. I’ve noticed that I’ve slipped into negative thought patterns again. Negative thoughts are not what I want guiding my life, so when they start to crowd out the positive ones, I want to take action.
And that action is this: forcing myself to appreciate the good things in my life.
A gratitude post, if you will.
» Long talks with a new friend about the Orthodox church. I cannot tell you how relieving it is to talk with someone from a similar background who understands my struggles and can tell me how she dealt with similar things. (A mentor!)
» Finding William Davis’ book Undoctored. I want this book to be the physician view of what I’ve personally gone through on my health journey over the past few years, and I’m excited to read what he has to say. Wheat Belly was an influential book in my diet explorations, and helped explain so many of my horrible detox symptoms when I quit wheat. My only complaint is it took me a YEAR to learn that this book existed! It was published last May!
» Peones. They are one of the most beautiful flowers on God’s green earth, and when I look up from my laptop, I get to stare at a vase overflowing with peones. I’m so thankful that I live near a cutting garden where you can go and have the pick of any flowers I want.
» EXO’s Forever.
» This will probably mean nothing to those of you who don’t have access to my analytics (which is…everybody), but it so heartening to see this blog pick up in traffic. Certainly I have a long way to go in content, presentation, and promotion before Batfort is worthy of major traffic, but I’m enjoying the steady-ish increase. Organic views for May 2018 surpassed all of December 2017, which had a spike of views from Twitter to a specific post. I’ve had better months in between then, but I find it immensely satisfying when a slow-and-steady month nets more views than a wait-until-the-hero-at-the-end month.
And even though I’m stuck in an office most of the day, summer is still a time for brighter and lighter things. Breezy, even.
That is why I finally purchased EXO’s The War last week. This is an album that came out last August, but that so perfectly encapsulates a summer vibe that it’s still worth it.
Despite the fact that most of my favorite EXO songs are from other albums, The War is by far my favorite EXO album.
Why is this?
Because this is the first EXO album that actually sounds like an album.
One of my biggest issues with k-pop, and most current artists, is how single-oriented everything is. Maybe it’s because I came of age when artists still put out full albums, albums that took you on a journey and told a story, but I really like the exploration of themes that you can pull out of a collection of songs.
For example, G-Dragon is phenomenal at packing an entire relationship’s worth of feeling into a 4-minute song, but even the MADE album is a disconnected collection of emotions. Each song is nearly perfect, but the whole is pretty discombobulated.
So when I listened to The War, and heard that all the songs share a semi-cohesive sound, I was over the moon. Some songs are sexy, some are hype, and others are melancholy, but they all work together to create an atmosphere that really works.
This is especially different from EXO’s past albums, which were the musical equivalent of “throw the spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.”
I, for one, am glad that they stuck it out and combined a reggae-inspired feel (tested in “24”) with a dangerous feel (confirmed with “Monster”). Because as we know, SM Ent is always A/B testing.
And that’s fine with me, because the end result is something that I love to listen to.
Okay, let’s talk favorites
My absolutely most best favorite song on this album is “Forever.”
It’s a lot of people’s faces, and for good reason. The declarative horn samples and those inside out harmonies get to me every single time.
My other favorite is “Going Crazy,” and not only because it features a REVERB FLUTE ARPEGGIO, but because it combines so many different styles in a very rhythmically satisfying way.
I also enjoy “The Eve” and “What U Do,” and regard “Kokobop” with great fondness.
There are 3 tiny changes I would make on this album:
Move the cool bass run in “What U Do” from beat 1 to beat 2 for some premium counterpoint action
Change the intro to “Kokobop” so it’s a little more assertive and sounds less like a metronome
Continue the REVERB FLUTE ARPEGGIO in “Going Crazy” – or rather have it morph into a descant – until the end of the section. It disappears too quickly in its current form.
Overall, though, it’s a great listen. Good variety within a cohesive sound, and all the songs are quality even when they’re not my favorites.
There’s a reason it’s been on repeat in my car this week.
Plus, this is the comeback that blessed us with Mullet Baekhyun, so really. No downside.
My favorite genre of k-pop videos is the dance practice.
“Why is this?” I can hear you asking. “Why would you watch the practice video when you could watch the polished video?”
Well, my friend, I am glad you asked. There are so many reasons.
Since it’s a practice, everyone’s wearing casual clothes and I don’t get distracted looking at the styling. Since k-pop costumes have a lot going on, it can take a lot of focus to sort out the individual and group dynamics going on in any given stage.
The camera may zoom in and out, but in general it keeps to the same angle, with no cuts. This lets me see the choreography as it was intended by God, nature, and Kasper. I can see the full formation changes that you cannot in the frenetic jumpcuts that plague the live music shows.
Since it’s a dance-focused video, there’s a better chance of watching the group dance full-out. K-pop groups don’t always dance full-out in performances because they have to sing, too, so if you want to truly appreciate their dance abilities, watch the dance practice.
I particularly like EXO-CBX’s “Blooming Day” dance practice, mostly because the choreo is so good. The formations trade off between three sets of three and many variations of the dancers flanking Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin. The chreo is a mix of legit dancing and jokey dance moves that suit the song and the group.
Unlike some of EXO’s choreography that runs counterpoint to the main melody of the song (see the “Monster” dance practice below), this choreo reinforces all the main sections and rhythms of the song – but it works with the theme.
Another dance practice I particularly enjoy is EXO’s “Monster.” If I’m being honest, I prefer the dance practice to the actual m/v, although I do like the dance performance video as well.
This one is a little more produced, with the heavy backlighting and the camerawork, but it’s still pretty simple. What makes it special is that it lets the choreography shine.
To finish this post off, we’ll turn to something cute: Twice. The “TT” dance practice is how I learned all of their names, so it has a special place in my heart. And if we’re going to go for girlgroup choreography, Twice is one of the better groups. They’re the least self-conscious.
And the “TT” choreography is just as catchy as the song.
One of the things that I like most about Korean entertainment is that quite often they pull off tropes that would be tacky, cheesy, or otherwise embarrassing in a Western context. This happens in a variety of media – dramas, movies, music.
In this case, the hook for “Blooming Day,” the title track of EXO-CBX’s new mini-album, sounds AWFUL on paper.
Can I be your boyfriend, can I?
And yet, CBX make it work with their smooth vocals. The “ask” is over-the-top, but the presentation is low-key enough in the vocals and music (even the video isn’t overtly sexy) that the question sounds matter-of-fact rather than desperate.
My favorite part of this song is the bridge, which reminds me a little of “Forever” from The War album, the way that it goes full minor key and feels a bit inside-out.
As expected from SM and EXO, CBX’s second mini-album is full of complex pop songs. This album is built for grooving. Chill, but built on a layer of that 70s funk bass that permeated CBX’s first mini-album. Some of the music is super-nostalgic to me – really nice 80s synths – but coupled with modern beats so nothing feels like a retro throwback. It’s a really easy album to listen to. I’m especially fond of “Monday Blues,” “Blooming Day,” “Thursday” and “Vroom Vroom.”
As with their previous album, this one is tailor-made for working, single women – so much this time that there’s a track for every day of the week, from “Monday Blues” to a “Lazy” Sunday. SM continues its full-court press with the “virtual boyfriend” trope.*
This only works because of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin – the most flirty and shameless members of EXO. CBX are energetic and playful, so their subunit appropriately explores happier types of music that regular EXO would never try out. Regular EXO has a mysterious image to maintain, after all. (Can you imagine DO trying to pull this off? Never gonna happen.)
Anyhow, I enjoy this mini-album a lot. The aesthetics are great, and I’m probably going to do a post soon breaking down one specific set of outfits because I like them so much. The music is good. Most of the songs are good (and none of them are bad.)
It is impossible to be sad while listening to EXO-CBX.
And that is a good thing.
*I have a theory that SM is feeling a tad threatened by BTS aka the internet’s preferred virtual boyfriend. There’s been a lot more overt fanservice and fantasy-building in regular promotions, which was usually reserved for fans only in concerts and fan events. Specific examples include the choreography for EXO’s “The Eve” and the cringefest that is NCT 127’s “Touch.”
For those of you who find my blog through other means than K-pop, sometimes groups that have many members will release an album (or video or mini-album) with a smaller subset of members. This is called a subunit. Because these subunits are typically members who work well together both musically and in personality, these subunits are often more defined and pronounced in mood and concept.
EXO-CBX is one of these subunits. EXO as a whole is currently 9 members, with 8 actively promoting in Korea. (One member, Lay, is promoting in China.) As one of the biggest k-pop groups promoting today, EXO’s music (moreso their title tracks – the ones with music videos) tends to be very “classic.” [Edit: Lies! I just remembered that Wolf exists.] Even when the concept pushes boundaries – like Kokobop’s reggae-influenced drug fantasy – the concept has to be big enough to fit every member’s style and personality, from Suho the Rich Dad to Chanyeol the Creative Dork.
But herein lies the brilliance of CBX. As the three-letter acronym might suggest, CBX consists of 3 members:
Chen, a superb vocalist and lyricist
Baekhyun, another fantastic vocalist
Xiumin, arguably one of the better dancers in the group and, as we discovered on EXO-CBX’s first mini-album, a pretty good rapper with a unique voice
All three are positive, goofy people who can handle a “cute” image well. Chen and Xiumin border on cartoon-character levels of caricaturability, and Baekhyun is a complete chameleon when it comes to looks. They make a very good team that, while vocal-centric (not that anyone is disappointed with that), is quite balanced in terms of talent.
And – this is the part I like – their releases tend to mirror their personalities in being upbeat and a little bit funky.
I will not lie, I had their first mini-album, “Hey Mama!“, permanently on repeat in my car for entire month of November and again in February. You can’t not be in a better mood after listening to them sing at you, especially with SM’s fantastic musical arrangements in the background. SM is really great at funk-type music and sometimes they get a bass line going real good. I like that.
Anyway, EXO-CBX is in the teaser stage for their next comeback. If the music sounds anything like how the teasers look, this will be the perfect spring album.
I want to escape into a misty forest at dawn and run toward the light that spills through the trees. I want to cloak myself in velvet and swim into a glittering nebula. I want to discover the truth of God and the universe.
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