[MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW] EXO - Exodus (2015)

2014 was such a roller coaster year for EXO. Despite winning various awards, this group has to lose two of its Chinese members, Kris and Luhan, who left the group due to overwork and discrimination issues. At the same time, they have to deal with their first dating news on the same year. EXO Baekhyun was caught dating with his senior, Girls’ Generation Taeyeon.

Because of all those controversies, EXO promises to come back stronger with their new album, Exodus, which just released on March 30^th 2015. Then, do they nail it? Check out the Korean version of their album review below…………………..

The title track of this album, Call Me Baby, is such a fresh opening for this album. Different from Overdose that heavily dominated by electronic music, Call Me Baby has a full band instrument that is more into jazzy R&B vibe. This sound is refreshing since Korean boy group rarely done this kind of approach.

The beat is catchy, it will makes you dance to it. I personally love the trumpet sound since it gives the song more fun vibe. Also, the vocal dynamic is gorgeous in this song. Baekhyun, D.O, and Chen easily played out those improvisations and high notes. 

However, the minus point of this song is their repetitive chorus. They sang the chorus about four times for each part. It makes me feel like the song could not end and only repeated at certain parts. Also, there are too many “Call Me Baby” words.

As for the music video, it offers nothing new. It also does not match with the song lyrics, which is about wanting the girl to pick them as their boyfriend. It’s quite disappointing that they back in the box, car garage to be exact, after shooting their album teasers overseas. Beside that, they are back with one take music video too. SM Entertainment should stop does this kind of shot for all of their music videos. It was cool when they first done it for Growl in 2013, but it’s getting boring when they kept done it to almost all of their music videos after Growl.

What makes Call Me Baby still looks appealing is EXO itself. The boys work the camera with their expressions and sleek choreographies. This added with the good styling on their hair, makeups to outfits where it showcases more of their rebel side. I like how each of them has different outfits. It makes each of them stands out on their own. Also eventhough it’s actually getting boring, the one take shot worked on this music video. It gives anticipation for each scene.

The second track, Transformer, opens with suspense music like action movie sound effect. Then, it followed by Chanyeol, Kai, and Sehun’s rap along with hip-hop beat. This song is another surprise for me because of its hip-hop/rap vibe. It’s quite rare for SM Entertainment’s groups to take this kind of approach.

Unfortunately, the rap is kind of weak here. The three rappers could not really carry this song. Their rap sounds draggy and lack of variation, which is a bad thing for a rap song. Kai and Sehun are definitely improving, but it still not good enough. As for Chanyeol, I feel like he kind of toned down himself in this song. He could do much better than this.

In terms of lyrics, I still think it is a weird metaphor to describe a girl as transformer. Still, Transformer has a catchy chorus, which will easily makes you sing and dance to it.

The third track, What If…, is a medium tempo R&B song. It reminds me with old school R&B songs with its piano, synthesizer, and beat. What If… is very chill and pleasant listening. I love their harmonization in this song; it’s beautiful.

Baekhyun and D.O easily eat up this song since their voice suits well with R&B songs. But, the most surprising thing in this song is that Kai’s singing. His tone matches this song too.

The strong point of this song is the lyrics. It tells a story about how their girlfriend is now happy with other guy and they can only see it from a far. It’s really sad and I’m sure many people could relate to it.

My Answer is the only ballad song in this album. The song instrumental is very minimalistic with only piano sound. But, this is good to focus more on Baekhyun, D.O, and Suho’s vocal. And yes, they do not disappoint. Their vocals could carry the song dynamics and complement it each other. It makes the song far from boring.

Also, I could really feel their sad emotions in this song. It’s like they are really waiting for their girlfriend like the song lyrics. However, I was actually expecting more Suho on this song. Still, My Answer is one of my favorite tracks on this album!

We’re back with up beat song through Exodus. The music of this song reminds me with Michael Jackson’s songs. I love the piano melody that kept playing throughout the song. It’s gorgeous and effective to build up the song.

Exodus has high potential to be a title track beside Call Me Baby. It has catchy hook, good song dynamics, smooth flow, and strong vocal. Once again, Kai along with Chanyeol surprised with their vocal. Chanyeol sounds lovely during the bridge.

The lyrics matched well with the alluring music too. It shows how the boys attracted to the dangerous girl and they have to escape from her. Exodus itself means mass departure, which represents their escape. Beside that, I love the poetical lyrics, especially at these parts, “You’re like a castle wall made of clear glass sparkling like a jewel as you trap me inside of you” and “In your sweet arms, I’m a weak king”. It’s good to hear this kind of lyrics still exist in K-Pop songs.

The minus point of this song is that the music could be more rich and varied. I still feel like this song is still not complete because of the simple music.

It took us three years to finally listen to El Dorado. This song first made appearances on Chanyeol’s debut teaser and ever since then, people have anticipated the full song. And fortunately, it does not disappoint. El Dorado is easily the best track of this album.

Just like the title, the music of this song is very rich. It mixed of electronic music with its synthesizer and keyboard and Middle East music with the drum sound and people’s chant. The combination works well with each other. It adds the song dynamic.

Beside that, the vocal also adds interesting element of this song. Every one has done a good job in this song. But, Baekhyun basically kills this song! I love the ending part where he belts out his high note and electric guitar sound comes. It builds up the song climax.

Another interesting thing about El Dorado is the lyrics. It tells a story about how the boys have to reach El Dorado eventhough the road is not easy. El Dorado is a place where there is wealth in there. In this song, El Dorado represents the success that the boys need to achieve although it is hard. It’s really inspirational lyrics.

After the intense Exodus and El Dorado, we take it slow again through Playboy. It’s another mid-tempo R&B songs. This song composed by SHINEE Jonghyun. I can really imagine Jonghyun sings this song though haha.

Playboy is very laid-back and easy to listen. This song is dominated with acoustic guitar sound along with stick drum sound. The music is minimalistic on this song. Playboy has smooth flow and catchy chorus. Although the beat is the same throughout the song, the vocal improvisation by Baekhyun and D.O make this song far from boring.

As for the lyrics, I actually like how it flows like a story. The boy and girl meet at the beginning (the first verse), but it turns out that the boy is bad (the second verse). Still, he asks the girl not to leave him.

Hurt begins with the sample of classical piano before the strong beat kicks in. This song is dominated by drum sound along with electronic music. Beside Exodus, this is another song that has a potential to be a title track. It has good dynamic. The music along with the vocal placement could build up the song. Also, the beat and chorus is very catchy.

Kai continues to surprise me with his singing. He’s good in this song. Suho is also keep improving. Beside that, I love the poetical lyrics for this song about how the girl leaves and makes the boys hurt. I think one of EXO’s strongest point is their poetical lyrics; they should maintain it.

However, the random electronic music break in the middle of the song is kind of disturbed the song flow. They should make the transition smoother.

Lady Luck is another mid-tempo R&B song in this album. It is about how the boys want Lady Luck to come to them. EXO played out with acoustic guitar again with this song. However, they mixed it with strong beat and electronic music this time. The boys vocal are great in this song. It adds more layers to the song. D.O and Chanyeol shine the most in this song.

But unfortunately, Lady Luck sounds like a disjointed combination of several songs. The beginning of this song does not really go well with the rest of the song. Also, the electronic music break in the middle of the song is quite disjointed too. They should work more on it. Lastly, the girls’ voice during several parts of the song is quite disruptive.

The last song, Beautiful, is definitely a beautiful surprise. When I first listen this song during Baekhyun, Chen, and Lay teaser, I did not expect the final song to be this pleasant listening. Beautiful has a gorgeous piano melody along with R&B beat and synthesizer that keep appearing throughout the song.

The song is simple, but the boys’ vocal adds layer to this song. All of them sounds lovely throughout the song. The biggest surprise is Sehun’s singing in this song. Eventhough he only sings one line, it is still a big step from him. Hopefully, he practices and sings more in the future.

As for the lyrics, it is really sweet too which describes about how their love is beautiful. This song is definitely perfect song to close this album. It’s soothing, yet beautiful.

Exodus proves how EXO is getting more comfortable with R&B genre. There are huge improvements in the song production and vocal. It also shows more mature side of EXO.

It’s good that EXO already find R&B sound as their signature style. However, they need to be careful to not making their songs become similar with each other just like what happened to some songs in this album. It could make people bored. Beside that, they need to loose up a bit since I feel that the album vibe is “too serious”. I kind of miss fun songs like XOXO.

Still, they have done a good job with this album. Definitely stronger than ever!

My Favorite Tracks               : Call Me Baby, My Answer, Exodus, El Dorado, Hurt, Beautiful, Playboy

Rating                                      : 4/5

Categories: Album, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O, EXO, Exodus, Kai, Kpop, Sehun, Suho