don’t read if you don’t understand the concept of personal opinions
so this’s sort of a non-review of the recent exo comeback
Album
01 Tempo It has an interesting mix of genres but I’m not sure if I like it or not. Sometimes I listen to it and think “it’s too produced” but other times I’m fine with it as it is. The chorus is so catchy but once you hear the bed squeaking, you can’t unhear it and it became all i can hear smh
I was really surprised by CY & SH, the rapline stepped up their game esp SH. He is the center of this song.
02 Sign so good, so fuckin good esp the “molah, keman” part
03 닿은 순간 (Ooh La La La) oh, my! now that’s what i like. so chill, so seductive. Everything sounds much coherent than the title track. All of their parts are clear & isn’t overpowered by the background music. out of all the songs’ rap parts, this one fits the best with the song’s flow. minseok’s part at the end was the perfect final.
04 Gravity I don’t like it.
05 가끔 (With You) chen’s & jongin’s voices sound gorgeous in this one but I don’t think I’ll be listening to it again. I don’t feel like it suits the album.
someone commented that it sounds like “a christmas song” and I hate christmas music so maybe that’s why lmoa.
06 24/7 hooked from the first seconds!
07 후폭풍 (Bad Dream) not bad lol but I won’t give it a 2nd listen.
08 Damage I love how aggressive this song is! the chorus is so good! The choreography is probably gonna slap in this one. I can’t to see kai performs it.
09 여기 있을게 (Smile On My Face) such a sweet ballad. Everything about it is pretty & dreamy.
10 오아시스 (Oasis) the moment kyungsoo opened the song I knew I’d like it & I was right. it has magical sound to it. the rap wasn’t needed tho. it kinda breaks the feeling.
small detail: I just found out that the English title was “run”.. they should’ve just kept it, it fits better than “oasis”
General Impressions
- the songs I’ll have on repeat: sign, oh la la, damage & oasis.
- sm produces strong vocalists but weak rappers but this time the rapline was solid. CY’s flow has gotten better & SH really impressed me in this album. Not just in the title track but the entire album, his parts were so good & the highlight of a couple of songs.
- jongdae’s voice is just as gorgeous as ever. Just when I thought that he can’t get better, he does. I’d love to see him singing rock ballads in the soon future.
- kai’s vocals are developing beautifully, solo album here we come!
- the album needed more ballads. exo’s strong point is their vocals so ballads are what they produce best.
- this’s more like a universal kpop problem which is inserting unnecessary rap in every song but I noticed that that the production team worked on collectively making the rap parts fit better than the previous albums.
- this’s a biased one ‘cause kyungsoo is my favorite vocalist in exo so naturally i wanted him to have longer parts.
- I felt like the whole album was designed to suit the non-vocal lines, a subunit is in the making. I don’t know if you remember but since 2016 (?) there's this rumor that SM will debut an exo subunit called SKY (= SH/KAI/YEOL). I did speculate before that SM could be debuting SH & CY in a subunit but if they needed a vocalist it has a high possibility of being jongin (MS&SH have to enlist in 2019, BH&JD have the unit CBX already).
- out of all the members, I was impressed by the development of jongin’s vocals & SH’s rapping skills.
Music Video
I don’t usually watch MVs, let alone like them & this one is no exception. The only thing I like about it is the holy crop top. exo’s best music videos so far are “universe” (all these nudes!) & “lucky one” (jongin dancing in the face of danger will never not be funny). This’s my fav transition shot, it was so smooth.
Concept
“power” didn’t have a concept, or at least not one that I picked up on lol. This one is much better as everything is cohesive. The motorbikes were a cliche but the uniforms were so good!
the beret alone won me over, i love it so much!
ksoo’s looks are captivating, he usually gets stuck with boring outfits but this time he was the best. just take a look
