EXO - REVERXE
released, listened and reviewed January 19th, 2026
4.4/10
2026 K-Pop started off on a bad foot - CHUU's underwhelming and utterly disappointing "XO, My Cyberlove", KATSEYE's 2nd attempt at TikTok virality with "Internet Girl", ALPHA DRIVE ONE's almost unlistenable debut "EUPHORIA" and the only somehow enjoyable EP - "<yesweare>" by idntt.
EXO continues the streak of bad releases with this new project "REVERXE" taking a very noisy and not-so-enjoyable musical direction, especially on the first three tracks - "Crown", "Back it Up" and "Crazy" . All of these feel very different to what they have done in the past, and while experimenting with musical styles isn't a bad thing necessarily, here it doesn't feel like it was needed.
"Suffocate" and "Moonlight Shadows" are 2 nice R&B cuts, even though I felt like the first option was a little too empty for my liking, "Moonlight Shadows" is a highlight here.
"Back Pocket", "Touch & Go", "Flatline" and "I'm Home" are very typical boy group filler tracks - they bring absolutely nothing to the table, the only thing they do is mostly ruin the album experience for me.
I'm not surprised this ended up this bad - after all, they unfairly excluded Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin from this comeback, who were a key part to the group's existence. Also, it's been nearly 13 years since their debut, and a group has to release an unlikeable piece of media at some point of their career. Favorite song: "Moonlight Shadows" Least favorite song: "Crown"














