[ALBUM REVIEW] EXO’s XOXO Re-packaged album – Kiss Edition
EXO‘s long awaited full-length album marks a huge stepping point for the group, with over 300,000 pre-orders before its release. Playing on the success, the group released a repackaged version with a new lead track titled ‘Growl‘, along with a new track XOXO, the track that corresponds with the album title. With two different versions for the repackaged – like it did in the original, one for EXO-K (Kiss edition) and EXO-M (Hug edition) – the twelve boys of EXO aims to bring different kinds of charm through all 14 tracks.
THE LOOK: A Glimpse of the Packaging
As compared to XOXO, which resembled a notebook, the re-packaged album is no doubt bulkier and heavier. Consisting of a 104 page photobook, it was probably worth the buy as the photos in it resembled a lookbook for street fashion, displaying the charms of individual members.
A flip into the pages of the album and the first thing that caught my eye were the hand-written messages on the back of each members’ page, something that really fits the whole school concept. A flip till the end and you will definitely notice the hand-written lyrics, which undeniably showed the extra effort the EXO members placed in it since it is definitely not easy to write it out that neatly.
THE SOUND: Album Review
♫ 늑대와 미녀 (Wolf)
(Watch the music video)
When Wolf was first released, it brought in mixed responses. At first glance, the title track was gimmicky, playing on the theme of Beauty and the Beast but less of a fairy tale and more of modern teen fantasy of Twilight‘s Bella and Jacob. The song itself, is actually a pretty good extension of SM’s change in the direction of its SMP (SM-pop) with an infused quantity of dub-step and electronic sounds. But unlike its previous experiments Wolf managed to stand out for its good inclusion of high notes that allows the group’s vocalists to show off what they can do – after one gets past its questionable chorus.
That said, Wolf isn’t a song that one could plug in their earpieces and enjoy it on a loop without any visuals. The point of Wolf is its dramatic flair and theatrics in terms of its choreography, which is exceptional in terms of organization and fits true to the concept. Ultimately, this is a track that one have to watch to enjoy it fully, and not one track that is popular with the general masses.
♫ 으르렁 Growl
(Watch the music video)
The new promo track Growl is no doubt a Part II to Wolf; while Wolf talks about the fatal attraction to a girl that one couldn’t control, Growl took a more mature approach by warning/challenging any admirers for attempting to woo the girl they are after. In other words, it is the Growl of a Wolf finally marking his territory and making his advances. If Wolf is middle-school kind of puppy love, raw, aggressive but yet immature, then Growl is the high-school, hot-blooded teenagers fighting it out for a chance with a girl they admired.
The new promo-track takes the dub-step down by a notch, instead including a more hip-hop and R&B beat at various points, making this song more smooth and groovy than its counterpart. The choreography, while retaining its vigour, shifted its focus from the dramatic flair to something that emphasis on smooth transitions and groove, making use of a creative 360-degree approach to add variety. More importantly, Growl is a song that one can enjoy better with or without a choreography as a soothing mainstream pop song – and it seems to stick better with the masses too.
The rest of the album has a good mix of ballads, bubblegum pop and dance tracks, all linked, inspired and infused with different styles of music, along with interesting beats to play on the mystic theme of the overall album.
Baby Don’t Cry is definitely one of the more popular tracks on the album, and it’s not hard to understand why. The ballad track is beautiful to listen with headphones plugged in, the piano instrumental playing at the back is not overbearing and adds a light touch to the song. What makes this song amazing is the amount of ad-libs added, the lead vocals belting out to the high notes at the end of the lines is just amazing, and the transition is smooth, smooth, smooth.
As a personal favourite, I would specially recommend Heart Attack, Black Pearl and Peter Pan as tracks to listen. All three played the mystical theme well; both Heart Attack and Black Pearl are tracks that incorporated a darker theme in terms of tune and beats, and stand out from the average ballads we are used to hear in K-pop. While they’re not particular strong tracks, getting kind of repetitive by the end of the song with the lack of variety and climaxes, these two songs are the type of songs that I believe SM can work on to give EXO its unique sound.
The song Peter Pan is a child-like fantasy piece that would easily put a smile on one’s face in all its youthful and hopeful attitude. Surprising enough, the two versions of Peter Pan are very different, despite the same tune and similar lyrics – EXO-K, with lower, huskier vocals, seems to be singing a story of an adult recalling the old memories, while EXO-M seems to be a bunch of high school students telling a story that is still ongoing.
New tracks XOXO and Lucky are extensions of the songs we’ve previously heard in the original album, but with a more groovy approach and something more liken to the new promo-track Growl. One can easily find that XOXO‘s tone to be similar to that of My Lady and Don’t Go, but infused with R&B beats. Lucky is another bubblegum pop with simple lyrics, and for some reason sounds like a song dedicated to their fans. Nonetheless, it brings out the playfulness of the boys that isn’t quite found in the other tracks.
Other songs like Jazz, R&B inspired My Lady, hip-hop dance track Let Out the Beast, bubblegum pop 3.6.5, ballads Don’t Go and Baby added variety to the album, making the overall album a pleasing one to listen to. The one year wait wasn’t in vain, as this album did made effort to showcase EXO’s vocals, with different members getting to shine in the different songs. Definitely an album that one can easily enjoy.
Album Rating: 3.8/5.0
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Giveaway on Monday Blast!
(x)clusive would like to thank eveRean for sponsoring the album for the review and we will be having a Monday Blast giveaway for you guys to get a chance to own this album! Do visit here for more information and hurry, as the giveaway ends on 22nd September 2013, 2359.
More about eveRean
eveRean is a Singapore based online shop dedicated to bringing in everything you are looking for from Korea at better affordability, and less worries. You do the shopping and they do the worrying!
eveRean’s Korean albums are purchased from Synnara, the established online albums distributor in Korea. All album sales are submitted through them, which in turn reflects in the real time charts. The prices at eveRean seems lower than normal since they have a partnership with one of their associates.
Do check them out on Twitter and on Facebook as they are a shop dedicated to bringing in everything you are looking for from Korea at a lower price!
GROWL 🙂
WOLF ~~ WOLF <3
LUCKY IS MY FAVOURITE SONG !
Baby, Don’t Cry <333
I LOVE BABY DONT CRY OMG THEIR VOCALS ;-;
Peter Pan <3
Definitely growl would be the best song for me! The dance and the Mvs are splendid and I had to watch it again and again to watch every member carefully!
I love Peter Pan too~ The contrast between the sadness of the lyrics and the mid-tempo melody really attracts me a lot.
Let out the beast!!
Black Pearl
favourite song would be xoxo ^-^
I can’t choose between Lucky, Don’t Go and Peter Pan ><
PETERPAN 🙂 ! ♡
Black Pearl is my fav song!
Black Pearl:)
Heart Attack! ♡
Me too!! Heart attack 🙂
And… Baby dont cry~
Their voice make me melt ♥
My favourite song is PeterPan! ♥♥
Fav song of all time is Baby Don’t Cry..their vocals is just so amazing and make me burst into tears :’)
Definitely GROWL. This song gave off a really cool vibe and when I first watched the MV I got really attracted to their dance and started learning their dance choreography. and I adore Chanyeol so much.
My favourite song would be Growl.^~^ ~Na eureureong eureureong eureureong dae~ xp
Baby Don’t Cry 🙂
definitely Lucky because it has beautiful lyrics and it’s a song dedicated to fans(:
Dont’ Go.
don’t go ~ is my favorite !!! e x o <3
My ultimate favourite song will be XOXO since during their Navercast show where they released their 2nd version of Growl MV , it was said the that song was dedicated to the fans . Me as an EXOTIC , feel honoured and touched . The song is pleasantly good and is forever on replay . It’s so relatable and knowing that it’s got EXO fans , i feel a sense of appreciation and thankful towards the boys .This album is the bomb and i really hope i would win it . Thankyou xoxo
My favourite song is definitely Baby Don’t Cry!
My favourite is Peter Pan ♡
My favourite song is Baby Don’t Cry 😀 The melodious voices of Baekhyun, Suho and D.O blend together really well! Not to mention Chanyeol’s sexy rapping hahaha <3
My favourite song is Lucky.. I feel so lucky when listening to it..
I like Peter Pan <3
Baby dont cry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I definitely love Growl the most because it’s different from the rest of the songs and it’s really catchy!!! <3
XOXO ♥
PETERPAN♥♥♥ OT12 HEHE ♡
♥♥♥♥PETERPAN♥♥♥♥
baby don’t cry :3
Peter pan!! I feel like I’m in a wonderland and feel super blessed and happy when I hear D.O pronounce Cinderella and Wendy hehehee sound so sweet ahh I like their angelic voice in this song soo much~ ohh my peterpannn~~~
Lucky
I am torn between Baby Don’t Cry and Peter Pan. I always can’t choose between them.
While Growl and Baby don’t cry are strong contenders, Don’t Go is my favourite song! Hate that it’s often overlooked but its a beautiful song to me ^^
XOXO! <3
으르렁 Growl! ♡♥
Growl!!! GROWL!!!
Black Pearl.
Loved it ever since I heard it on Tao’s teaser when they were debuting. and they finally released it a year later :>
My favourite song would be xoxo! Since it is a song for us fans. Each time I listen to it, I get the feeling that the boys are sincerely singing and dedicating it to me and I really appreciate it and feel touched.
Actually i already commented but i just wanna do it again. My favourite is XOXO. And never in my life i had win giveaways, so pleaseeeee for once, let me win something! Let me win their album! I’m actually a new Exo fan, so if i win this i could get to know them more and familiarise myself with them and their songs and stuff. Also, who wouldn’t want that photobook? They are a bunch of cool dudes! ^_^
Hmm.. the first song i heard from this album was actually wolf, followed by growl 🙂 but the song that actually made me sit up was BABY DON’T CRY~ it’s jist…so beautiful. Even though im learning korean, i couldnt catch the lyrics, but the chorus part beginning with ‘so baby dont cry~tonight’ linger so long in my head!! That single phrase was enough to knock me off my feet and scrampled back up again to download the song straight away!! ♡♡♡ THEIR VOCALS ARE AMAZING!! It’s so strong so that when they sing a ballad, all the emotions feel so raw that you can feel it gushing all and engulfing you while you listen to it out loud or using your earpiece/headphone. Damn amazing song from a damn amazing band~ KYAAAAAA~~~ ♡♥♡♥♡♥
Growl<3
heart attack cause its really unique
Baby Don’t Cry
I really love LUCKY, it’s my fav song in the entire album! ♡♥
My favourite song is definitely 나비소녀(don’t go) 🙂 the harmony in that song was really a highlight!
My fave song is Baby, Don’t Cry. 🙂 I love the harmony of Baekhyun, D.O. and Suho’s voices and the soothing melody of the piano. Also, I really like the lyrics especially the line “You’re not the one to disappear into foam, something you never should’ve known”. This whole song especially this line reminds me of The Little Mermaid which is my fave Disney princess movie. 😛
My favourite song is Baby Don’t Cry! <3
Peter Pan! <3 it's such a beautiful piece of song.
My fav song in the album? Omg, their songs are so nice that I can’t choose one or two but a lot! Hmm, Wolf? Growl? XOXO? Baby Don’t Cry? Lucky? Baby? Hahaha I hope I’m not greedy! Cause these songs are repeating in my music playlist since they released the album! XP I <3 EXO as much as they <3 us! ^^
First of all, all songs are great !!! My favourite one is ‘Peter Pan’. It seems that when i listen to it, i can somehow relate the relationship between the fans with their idols…
I mean, the whole lyrics show that Peter Pan will always remember Tinker even though they’re not together. I always assume that the fans as Tinker Bell and EXO as Peter Pan…
In the movie, Peter Pan ended up marrying with someone else but when he needed help to save his children, Tinker Bell was there to help… Same like us.. We won’t particularly end up having a relationship with them but we always support them !! This relationship between the fans and the idols is very far yet so close…
Well, that’s only my opinion as a fan( fanatic but not sasaeng)… No bash please ㅋㅋㅋ
My favourite song is Lucky! ^^
Favourite song is Baby don’t cry 🙂
My favourite song is Growl <3 I just can't get over how catchy the tune is ^^
I absolutely love Lucky! It gives me hope that I’ll be able to meet exo one day 😀 Exo hwaiting!
GROWL GOT TO BE MY FAVORITE SONG! 😀 It’s a very addictive song and has a catchy beat that makes me wanna groove to that song ! <3
Baby Don’t Cry 🙂 <3
Im sorry my english is poor 🙁 but i can a little :). i Love song tittle “Baby” because in this music baekhyun voice is so beautiful.
and i love chen sing so beautiful voice and very very love this song :). i love too song my lady D.o voice so good and so nice when he sing “she’s my lady” so Cute >< . i love chen voice so good ^^b
thanks 😀
Peter Pan~~!!! .< 在你的身边 心就像飞上云彩
我唯一的公主你比温迪更可爱~~~~ <333
My favourite song from the album has to be Peter Pen. The song is wonderful and meaningful.
I Want Thw Album soooooo Badd!!!!
My Favorite song would be baby ! The lyrics is crazily sweet If you keep a close look out to it :))
Favorite song would have to be “Baby, Don’t Cry”.
My favourite song is Peter Pan! It’s the kind of song that grows into you the more you listen to it; initially I liked it just fine, but after listening to it a few times I got hooked to it, and now I’m never bored of that song no matter how many times I play it. (:
My favourite song is definitely XOXO! It’s such a beautiful piece of song! I am totally enchanted by the amazingly written lyrics and it’s sweet melody! I promise, it would be a perfect piece of lullaby song! I listen it to sleep every single day. Not only so, it just puts a smile in my face whenever I listen to it when I am down, it just has the amazing effect of making a EXOstan smile. Simply imagine your bia singing that to you. Wow, that feeling is so so surreal. I can’t imagine that for long, I believe I would go crazy. XOXO is so beautiful that it touches the heart of every single EXO fan. Try to indulge in the love from EXO every single time you listen to XOXO. Coupled with the sweet lyrics, everything about this song is amazingly perfect! It has been so long since I last heard a song that is able to touch my heart so much!! I love XOXO as much as I love Exo, as much as Tao loves bathing with others, as much as Sehun loves Luhan, as much as Kris loves to draw, as much as Suho loves to apply facial creams on his face, as much as Xiumin loves to eat, as much as Lay loves to dance, as much as Chen loves to call himself Chen Chen, as much as Luhan loves bubbletea, as much as Kai loves his dark skin tone, as much as Baekhyun loves to be with Chanyeol, as much as D.O loves his heart-shaped smile and as much as Chanyeol loves to stare at the mirror. EXO SARANGHAJAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Hello! First of all, I would love to thank (x)clusive and EverRean for giving EXO stans such an amazing giveaway. I’m sure every Exo stan is as excited as I do for this giveaway, it would be amazing if we manage to get the album!! *screams* Anyways, my favourite song is definitely Lucky!!! I love the lyrics so much. Although there are some parts when I cannot relate myself to the lyrics (because I am not from Korea, but Singapore), I still find the lyrics very sweet and lovely. It is such an amazing piece of song, it is a requisite for every single EXO fan to have it in their phones. (I have to listen to it every day, I even put it on replay mode hahah) Not only is the lyrics beautiful, the tone and the melody of Lucky is wonderful! The melody makes it easier for international fans to sing this song, it’s neither too fast nor too slow: A perfect pace for international fans who are not inclined in Korean to sing!! 😀 I have been a proud exo fan and I love this giveaway as much as everyone else does! Once again, thank you so much for organizing this giveaway for exo fans! <3
My favorite song is definitely GROWL! The boys have made us waited for a year for their comeback, and I must say this: the wait is totally worth it! THEY ARE SO AMAZING!!! No doubt, Growl is the best song in the entire album and it lives up to the expectation of the title track. The fast-pace song, coupled with their vigorous dance, Growl is literally perfect. I am absolutely in love with how well the lyrics were written in a way that it conveys the message of how guys could transform into wolves (it is also relevant to their Wolf track so it is great!) whenever they feel that their girls need protection from them. As harsh as it could sound, it is actually pretty sweet from a girl’s perspective. I would love it when my boyfriend changes into a wolf to protect me! <3 Awwww. And I love the beat of Growl. It is very hyped and fast, making me feel very excited and thrilled whenever I hear it. What more, it is a perfect song to play whenever you need to workout. Trust me, it would motivate you to workout like a beast, or perhaps a wolf!
My favorite song is Growl
My favourite song is Growl 🙂 Their 360 degrees dance is simply amazing and captivating!! ^-^
Favourite song is Peter Pan ~^^
My fav song is ‘baby dont cry’!!!! I’ve been waiting for the full length song for so long and now that it’s out, no doubt it’s my fav song! 😀 <3
GROWL <3
Black Pearl~ 😀
My favourite song is Wolf. This is because I like this type of epic song, that is unusual and takes several listening to fully appreciate it. 🙂
XOXO ♥♥♥
My favourite song would be XOXO 😀
My favorite song is “Baby” , I dont know why I like this song, but when I listened to this song for the first time, I feel like my stomach is filled with butterfly, I feel like my boyfriend singing something sweet to me, it’s makes me really happy, and that song can brighten up my mood, and I dont know why but that song makes me blushing 🙂
Definitely Baby Don’t Cry. The way you describe it is so accurate! They sang so smoothly and you can’t stop but love them more! ❤
My favorite song is Lucky<3 cause i'm feel so lucky to be an Exostan/Exofans and have 12 awesome boys<3<3 EXO Fighting ^^9
Baby Don’t Cry ^ ^ Jjang 😉
Xoxo! It’s so catchy! 🙂
Peter Pan is such a nice song <3 and I actually fall in love with Baby Don't Cry wayyyy back in 2012 heheh 😀
GROWL is my fav song 😉
My favorite song is Don’t Go.
My Lady <3
The soft piano and gentle vocals really compliment each other. Most people would prefer My Lady and Baby Don’t Cry for it’s strong vocal power but Don’t Go is just the perfect song to hear on a rainy day while doing your homework. It keeps me going while I study for my promos and it showcases the vocals of the other non-lead vocalists in exo. Really increased my love for the band 🙂
Another favourite would definitely be Growl. After I was slightly disappointed with Wolf (thank god for the amazing choreography) Growl was such a surprise and I was so impressed by their MV. The simplicity of the video yet it really emphasise the hip hop-ish kinda vibe. The song was a-maz-ing~ Extremely catchy, very different from the usual pop songs yet showed off their vocals in a subtle way from Kyungsoo’s adlibs to Chen’s high note in the last chorus. It deserves all the hype it’s getting now and it’s the perfect song to party along with your friends or just jamming alone in your room.
My favourite song is Growl!! 😀
my favorite song is heart attack ^^
Baby Don’t Cry for my life.
I love all their song especially xoxo , growl and baby don’t cry ^-^
XOXO !! (:
XOXO~ 🙂
Baby Don’t Cry! I totally loved the melody of the song so I decided to play it on piano! It’s been a while- actually a long time since I played the piano. 🙂
Black Pearl is definitely my favorite track 😀
I have to agree that this album is very unique and very fun. I love how they used their own handwriting and creativity to decorate their album XOXO themselves and continue to use their handwriting to write the lyrics on the repackaged album version too. It does show their charms and love for fans. My favourite song has got to be 3.6.5^^
Favourite song – xoxo <3
Even though they promote Wolf and Growl, I personally like PeterPan better ever seen I’ve started to listen to their teaser cuts of each songs on YouTube. The song just soothing my ears and I really love D.O and Baekhyun’s part~
i’ve love my lady so much before.. but xoxo is ruined everything ! like you say my lady and xoxo have similar tone and oh my god i’m gonna listen xoxo almost a whole day when its released. yeah ! boh of my lady and xoxo such a good song :3.. love it
My favourite song would definitely be Peter Pan!
My favourite song is My Lady!
My favourite song is definitely Baby Don’t Cry!! ^_^
XOXO is my all-time favourite song!!!! ♥
my favourite exo song is growl:)))
growl<3
It was Mikao Usui who was known to have developed Reiki in 20th century Japan.
By cutting off the top and punching a few small holes in the bottoms of these containers for drainage, they immediately become excellent containers for growing vegetables.
A Reiki practitioner does not need to understand the human energy system in order to support it.