It has been a tradition for nine members boy group, EXO, to have a Christmas release every
year. They began with mini album Miracle
in December in 2013 and special single December,
2014 (The Winter’s Tale) in 2014. This year, they continue the tradition by
releasing mini album, Sing For You
on December 10.
Compare to others, EXO Christmas releases are exceptional, meaning
that they don’t just release festive songs to fulfill Christmas theme. They
maintain solid releases while still fit the sweet winter theme. That is why
people are always curious about their Christmas release. This time, will they able
to maintain the quality or will it just become another typical holiday release?
Find out more on the next paragraphs!
EXO has two title tracks in this album and the first one is Unfair. With this song, EXO brings us
back to 90s boy band era with the pop music and catchy chorus. It also has
keyboard melody and drum beat that resembles old school R&B songs. It’s
easy listening and it shows EXO signature style through its pop-R&B influence
music. But, that’s just it. Unfair doesn’t
bring anything new to the table and it sounds like a mix of their past songs
like The Star or Tender Love, but it lacks of punch. Also, not really a fan of the
lyrics, which is about how unfair to be pretty like you. It’s too cheesy
hahaha.
The next title track, Sing
For You, continues their winter ballad release. However, it shows something
new since all the members get to sing, not just their main vocalists like previous
ballads. The vocal is the highlight since Sing
For You only has acoustic guitar sound as the instrument throughout the
song. Surprisingly, all of them nail it where they bring distinct vocal colors
and complement each other well. The differences on their vocal create dynamic
to this song from Chanyeol heavy and
raspy voice to Xiumin and Lay soft and delicate voice. I also
love when Chen, Baekhyun, and D.O sing
the same chorus in turn, but it sounds different between one another. All of
these avoid the song becomes boring despite the simple and repetitive
instrumental. Through Sing For You,
each member shines on their own, even Sehun
finally gets a decent line.
The music video is quite simple too with its black and white tone
and limited setting. The tone gives dramatic effect to the song along with the
cinematography and the snow shower. Meanwhile, the limited setting makes us
able to focus more on the song and storyline. The storyline relates with the
lyrics, which is about how you should tell others that you love them before
your regret it. Instead of emphasizing on love story, EXO takes a rare approach
on the storyline about friendship. The music video shows the boys spend their
time together from playing basketball to drinking beer. But everything starts
to crack when they fight and isolate from their friends. Their friends start to
disappear, but they come back at the end. These scenes are parallel with
Sehun’s journey in outer space. He goes around alone until he finally
encounters the whale at the end of his journey.
There are many interesting interpretations about the music video.
However, I will just stick with the simplest theme since I don’t have much
background information about the theory and story. The most important theme
that Sing For You wants to convey is
friendship. No matter how far you go just like Sehun, how lonely you are just
like Kai or how many fights you have
just like Suho and Chanyeol, you
will always need your friends even it comes from a strange place like the whale
in outer space. It also shows a strong message about the group, which is about
how they should stick together, hold each other tight, and sing for fans
despite many obstacles. Both of the song and music video emphasize EXO as a
unit, a team.
Girl x Friend gives us a glimpse of EXO boys’ youthful feeling aside from their
mature attempts. It’s another medium tempo R&B track with strong beat just
like Unfair. However, the playful
piano melody on this song makes the song sounds more light and cheerful. There
is also an addition of bell sounds to match the Christmas theme.
Beside that, the youthful vibe can also be seen on the lyrics
about confession. It feels like they’re telling story to their best friend
about how we spend most of our times together since we were a child and how I
want to be more than just friend with her. It’s simple, yet direct. I also like
the way they deliver their vocal and exchange the singing and rap part to
emphasize that they’re telling a story. D.O shines the most in this song with
his ability to change his vocal between strong and tender on different part.
On the Snow is a mix between Unfair and
Girl x Friend. We get a hint of EXO
more serious sound on the verse with minimalistic piano and R&B beat along
with their deep vocal. But it changes during the chorus where the trumpet and
bell sound make the song livelier. On the
Snow doesn’t have any rap part and focus more on the vocal with its
beautiful harmonization.
In contradiction with the cheerful chorus, On the Snow actually showcases the sense of longing through the
vocal delivery and lyrics because it’s about they’re getting left behind by
their girlfriend, but they will always here for them. I find the lyrics to be
interesting because it tackles different aspect of losing. Someone is getting
too far and they cannot keep up with that. It’s kind of a mirror on their big
success; how they hope that someone will still hold them and not leave them
despite getting a sky high popularity.
The last track, Lightsaber,
is a bonus track and special track to celebrate the release of newest Star Wars film, The Force Awakens. EXO is Star Wars brand ambassador in South
Korea. Prior the release of this song, they also released a music video, which
tells a story about the journey of Kai, Baekhyun, and Sehun. Sehun goes around
with his motorcycle, Baekhyun destroys a supermarket while Kai gets hurt in his
hotel room. These three are in times of desperation, which also represented by
the gloomy tone of the music video. However, there is a glimpse of light in every
scene and at the end, they begin to use their own lightsaber. This relates with
the song lyrics about the representation of lightsaber that will take everyone
away from darkness.
As for the song, Lightsaber
is a typical SM Entertainment upbeat
song with its heavy electronic music and dubstep dance break. The EXO members
don’t sing much, but their vocal part sounds nice and fits the song, especially
D.O, Kai, and Suho. It actually doesn’t go well with the rest of album that is
full of R&B inspired songs, but Lightsaber
provides a breath of the fresh air for this album. Oh…and who else love the
snippet of Darth Vader iconic breath
in the beginning?
EXO delivers another solid Christmas release through Sing For You. They already found their
signature R&B style while still give refreshing element with the medium
tempo songs from a group that is more known with their upbeat and
performance-centric type of song. Their vocal improvement is impressive in this
album too. My only problem would be the similarities between most songs in this
album that could make us bored. Also, the title winter album seems more
appropriate since this album doesn’t sound like a Christmas album.
My Favorite
Songs : Sing For You, Girl x Friend, On The Snow
Ratings : 3.5/5
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