EXO: K-Pop Superstars

EXO

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

Michael O’Mara Books Limited

9 Lion Yard

Tremadoc Road

London SW4 7NQ

Copyright © Adrian Besley 2019

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78929-114-8 in paperback print format

ISBN: 978-1-78929-115-5 in ebook format

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www.mombooks.com

For Nora, whose love of EXO and K-pop is boundless

CONTENTS

Introduction

One: The Plan

Two: Debut

Three: Kisses and Hugs

Four: Suho

Five: Showtime

Six: Xiumin

Seven: Success and Shock

Eight: Lay

Nine: The Lost Planet

Ten: Baekhyun

Eleven: We Are One

Twelve: Kris, Luhan and Tao

Thirteen: The EXO Wave

Fourteen: Chen

Fifteen: EXO Go USA

Sixteen: Chanyeol

Seventeen: Dancing Kings

Eighteen: D.O.

Nineteen: Reservoir Idols

Twenty: Kai

Twenty-one: In Full Bloom

Twenty-two: Sehun

Twenty-three: Power Play

Twenty-four: The Nation’s Pick

Twenty-five: Upping the Tempo

Glossary

Acknowledgements

Picture Credits

Index

Illustrations

INTRODUCTION

There’s absolutely no doubt that when EXO exploded on to the stage to perform ‘Power’ at the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, their high-energy performance made an incredible impact and won the group legions of new fans. However, EXO were already stars – not just in their members’ home countries of South Korea and China, but across the world too.

Their hit singles ‘Growl’, ‘Call Me Baby’, ‘Monster’, ‘Ko Ko Bop’, ‘Universe’ and ‘Tempo’ have topped the charts everywhere from South East Asia to the Americas, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, and each of their five albums has sold over a million copies; their most recent, Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, went to number one on the iTunes album charts in forty-six different countries.

EXO are hugely popular, but they weren’t an overnight sensation. They’ve had to deal with disappointment, hardship and even scandal, but their success is a result of their wealth of talent, their willingness to work hard and the continual support of their management company, SM Entertainment. However, as EXO themselves are the first to admit, none of their triumphs could have happened without the love and dedication of EXO-Ls.

These are the fans who stood by them during their dark days, who sell out their concerts in record time, and who chant, wave their light sticks and hold up banners declaring their love at every performance. These are the fans who send video view-counters into the millions and EXO’s music to the top of the charts. There are now more than 4 million official EXO fans worldwide and, via social media, EXO-Ls have come together as a genuine community. They help each other, support charities in the group’s name and make lasting friendships as they follow the boys’ ongoing success.

Every EXO-L has their ‘bias’ (favourite). For some it’s the charming and articulate Suho, the group’s leader; for others it’s the maknae (youngest member), the eternally stylish Sehun; or the rapper and multi-instrumentalist Chanyeol, the self-appointed ‘happy virus’ of EXO. His fellow ‘beagle liners’ (a K-pop term for mischievous band members) – the ultra-handsome Baekhyun, and Chen with his infectious smile – have more than their share of devotees. Other fans favour lead dancer Kai, who just oozes sensuality; D.O., who has the softest eyes and perfect heart-shaped lips; Lay, the sole Chinese member, who just slays with his killer dimples; or Xiumin, the eldest, who, once considered a cute boy, is now a ruggedly handsome man.

However, as is evident in interviews and TV variety-show appearances, each of these boys has his own unique charms, and all are supremely talented individuals, rated among K-pop’s very best vocalists and dancers. Some are songwriters in their own right and some are also acclaimed actors, while others have had hits as soloists or duetted with other artists. In dedicated chapters covering each of the nine members in turn, this book captures the personalities and achievements of each one.

EXO have a reputation for pushing boundaries. They are musical chameleons with a sound that is impossible to pigeonhole. Their recordings feature elements of R&B, EDM, hip-hop, tropical house, trap and pop music; and on their albums emotionally charged ballads sit beside funk-fuelled stomps, with melodious tracks enlivened by exquisite harmonies, catchy choruses, refreshing raps and, occasionally, unusual chants and yells.

But all this would stand for little without the stunning performances that bring the songs to life. Each time EXO reveal a comeback on the Korean TV music shows their singing is pitch-perfect, their incredibly complex choreography is completely on point, and they look awesome. That doesn’t happen without weeks if not months of preparation, but EXO always give their all. This book highlights some of their famous live routines, which you can find on YouTube and other online video sites.

A concert is all this multiplied by a hundred: a two- to three-hour extravaganza featuring thirty or so songs, dazzling dance moves, solo performances, multiple costume changes, amazing backdrops and lighting, specially made videos and stage sets that enable the band members to walk right out into the crowd. The audience are part of the show too, their co-ordinated light sticks casting waves of colour across the venue. It’s an emotional rollercoaster for everyone as the group genuinely bond with the audience, fooling around, playing games, chatting to them and picking out their favourite banners.

This book tells the extraordinary story of EXO. A story of how hardworking trainees were launched as a group of aliens with superpowers, transported to Earth from a far-off world called EXO Planet and split into two units: EXO-K and EXO-M. It tells of the merging of the two groups into EXO, the years of hard graft, all the way through to the impact of that Winter Olympics performance in front of a global TV audience of millions and a long-awaited comeback at the end of 2018. We follow them from debut through their setbacks and their successes, chronicling the relationship between the group and the fans.

EXO-Ls have certainly embraced the mythology, and perhaps some really believe EXO are extraterrestrial beings – the group are definitely super-talented enough – but there is one aspect of the story that EXO-Ls all agree on: EXO are truly out of this world.

ONE

THE PLAN

Former musician and producer Lee Soo-man had been creating hit K-pop acts for his company SM Entertainment since the late 1990s. His success rate was unmatched in the K-pop industry.

He had launched acts such as H.O.T., Shinhwa and the solo artist BoA, as well as Super Junior and Girls’ Generation. However, since SHINee had arrived on the scene in 2008 and f(x) a year later, SM had failed to successfully launch a new act. Some said Soo-man had lost his touch…

Lee Soo-man knew how K-pop worked. He had all but invented the genre. When he returned from a spell in the USA in the late 1980s, enthused by Michael Jackson and the MTV revolution, he found a South Korean pop scene that was beginning to change. Koreans were embracing American music – hip-hop, R&B and pop – and acts were integrating these genres into traditional Korean popular music. Lee Soo-man was the right man at the right time and he devised a system for creating (some would liken it to a factory and say ‘manufacturing’) pop stars that would also be adopted by SM’s main rivals, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, and other K-pop music companies.

Lee Soo-man knew how K-pop worked. He had all but invented the genre.

The system works by recruiting the best young talent in South Korea (and beyond) and bringing them to the SM headquarters in the capital, Seoul. These teenagers live in dormitories with other hopefuls and undergo a gruelling boot camp of dancing, singing, exercise, diet regimes and English, Chinese and Japanese lessons. They are expected to keep up their education too, sometimes attending new schools in Seoul.

K-pop groups often have more members than their Western equivalents, because they offer fans a complete package of skills. They have specialist rappers, vocalists, dancers and even ‘visuals’ – members included for their good looks and magnetic stage presence. The management company selects their acts from their pool of talent and some trainees (EXO’s Suho being one example) face long waits, watching their friends and sometimes new arrivals get chosen for debut ahead of them.

A leader, responsible for conveying the company’s instructions and representing the band to the public and to their management, is appointed for groups. This is often the eldest (although that isn’t the case with EXO’s Suho) and each group also has a maknae, or youngest member. In EXO, that’s Sehun. Maknaes are like the baby of the family and are looked after by the other members. They are cute and adorable – and, like younger siblings, can get away with being cheeky and mischievous.

The company also assembles songwriters, producers, choreographers, image consultants and managers. When trainees are selected to be launched as a soloist or a group, these professionals take over and attend to every detail. The official launch is known as the ‘debut’. This can take place at a special showcase, but often happens on one or more of the TV music shows.

SM Entertainment have created act after act with on-point choreography, stage presence, stunning outfits and good looks. All have been designed to impress, not only on the music shows but also on Korean TV variety shows – which sometimes involve interviews and performances but more often focus on amusing challenges that highlight artists’ character, skills, humour and all-round ability to entertain.

Lee Soo-man is an astute marketeer. He creates a receptive audience for his acts’ debuts, preparing the ground by releasing teaser photographs of members, setting up social-media accounts, posting preview performances and communicating with new fans. Then, if the debut is successful, he masterminds their ‘comeback’ in the same meticulous fashion. A comeback doesn’t mean an artist remains dormant for a time or even necessarily takes a break; it’s the term for their next launch, which often has a new ‘concept’ – a subtle or even major change in image or sound.

In Korea, Lee Soo-man’s nickname is ‘The President of Culture’ because he spearheaded the musical aspect of the ‘Korean Wave’, or hallyu, the spread of Korean culture beyond the country’s borders, cleverly utilizing social media and the growing profile of YouTube to make SM acts accessible across the rest of Asia and around the globe. In 2010, with SM Town Live, he took the company’s star groups to perform in the USA, Japan, China and even France, and this was to be the basis of his new plan.

In 2011, Lee Soo-man gave a speech at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in California. To a packed audience he explained how Korean pop was beginning to appeal to audiences around the world. He talked about recent SM Town Live concerts and mentioned a new project. SM Entertainment were about to launch two groups with the same, as-yet-undisclosed name – one consisting of South Koreans and the other of Chinese members. ‘We plan to launch the group simultaneously in Korea and China,’ said Soo-man, ‘singing the same song in two different languages.’

SM Entertainment were about to launch two groups with the same, as-yet-undisclosed name – one consisting of South Koreans and the other of Chinese members.

Understandably, this created excitement online. SM were launching a new group! Rumours buzzed around the internet, but SM remained tight-lipped. It was months later, on 22 December 2011, that SM finally updated their official homepage with a twenty-four-hour countdown teaser featuring a hexagonal EXO logo, a galaxy of stars containing a planet emblazoned with the same logo and the words ‘From EXO Planet’. The following day the new acts, EXO-K and EXO-M, were finally announced. They were described as ‘new boy groups who will lead the world music industry from now on!’ and (as Soo-man had indicated) they were to debut on the same day, at the same time, with the same song, in Korea and China respectively.

On 23 December, a short YouTube clip titled ‘Teaser 1_Kai’ revealed a charismatic and handsome dancer performing sharp moves to a bluesy, R&B track, which was later identified as ‘My Lady’. Now fans sat up. Within forty-eight hours the video had amassed thousands of views. Four days later, Kai reappeared alongside another dancer, Luhan, performing to a track with more of a hip-hop vibe called ‘Time Control’. The next day brought Tao, who delivered an exciting and acrobatic martial-arts performance. In conjunction with each introduction, photos of the latest member were uploaded to the website. Fans were drawn in, but confused. Why were they seeing so much of Kai when so few members had been revealed? Were all these tracks going to be released at debut? Were martial arts going to be a feature of EXO?

On 29 December, another new member was spotted as Chen appeared with the three others in a cute photo of them lying together on a bed. Later that day, they were all seen on the annual TV show SBS Gayo Daejeon, which translates as ‘Korean Pop Music Festival’, alongside other more established SM stars. Tao once again stunned fans with his martial-arts dancing, performing alongside Victoria from f(x), and Kai and Luhan danced with SHINee’s Taemin and Super Junior’s Eunhyuk. Then, in the SM Orchestra section, Chen revealed his gorgeous vocal ability for the first time and all four joined the more experienced SM stars in a finale. Was this EXO? No one knew for sure, but they had certainly made an impression and, online, fans speculated that the debut would surely come soon.

As 2012 began, more Kai teasers emerged. He certainly seemed to be the face of the group. Although there was no doubting his dancing talent and good looks, some questioned SM’s fixation with him. The seventh teaser, however, piqued more interest, as Sehun was introduced alongside Kai. The pair danced, one in white trousers and a glitter jacket, the other wearing the opposite, and huge shadows followed their every move.

Teaser eight, released on 10 January 2012, was a game changer. It was a Sehun teaser, but in a shadowy reflection you could see a group photo with twelve members. This was the first full sighting of EXO! What’s more, it had an instrumental backing track that fans flipped out over. Until now the music had been received relatively well, but people were waiting to see if, as SM promised, this new group could offer anything special. ‘Black Pearl’, an electro-bop that fans immediately begged to hear more of, was their answer.

Teaser nine upped the game again. Sehun and Luhan in an RV in a deserted world with two moons? There were vocals for the first time and again it was a song that connected immediately with those listening and ‘Into Your World’, which reappeared later as ‘Angel’, would forever be a favourite. Thousands were now locked into the teaser game. Each new clip was beautifully shot with a gripping soundtrack and seemed full of clues.

And they kept coming. Kai, Sehun and Tao reappeared, and by 24 January we had met Lay and Xiumin. Most groups have a handful of teasers before debuting. After a month, EXO had already posted twelve and we had made the acquaintance of only seven members!

Then, just as fans were becoming desperate, SM gave them something new to devour – a full track, complete with music video. The delicate and soulful ballad ‘What Is Love’ was released, as promised, in Korean and Chinese versions. Baekhyun and D.O., both yet to be introduced, sang on the Korean version with Chen and Luhan providing the Chinese vocals. ‘What Is Love’ really did the trick. Fans loved the soft ballad and, although some found the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi style of the video difficult to follow, they had fun picking out the previously unseen members. The Korean video even broke into the Top 100 on YouTube.

As teasers continued to appear every few days, fans couldn’t help but be impressed by the quality of the music they were hearing, even if it was only in two-minute tasters. There were future favourites ‘Two Moons’ and ‘Let Out the Beast’, as well as clips of songs such as ‘Phoenix’, ‘Emergency’ and ‘Metal’ that never saw release but made an impact at the time. Meanwhile, SM were also periodically introducing new members, with D.O. and Baekhyun revealed as the eighth and ninth members at the end of January.

Teaser sixteen, released on Valentine’s Day, saw D.O. and new face Suho in the most enigmatic video yet. In a desolate country setting, the two walk past each other apparently unaware of the other’s presence. Suho sits at a table (in the middle of nowhere) while D.O. flies a kite carrying the EXO logo. A solar eclipse takes place (a recurring theme in many of the teasers) and at that point they seem to acknowledge each other. Nothing was made clear, but SM’s inscrutable messages seemed to be deep and meaningful. The next day, Suho was introduced as the tenth member of EXO.

Now we met EXO member number eleven, Kris, who appeared alone in teaser seventeen – in which, as yet another eclipse unfolds, a god-like Kris, dressed all in white with a flowing cape, throws himself from the top of the building. On 21 February, Chen finally returned alongside Lay and Baekhyun, who appeared in his first and only teaser with another backing track, ‘Beautiful’, that demanded to be played on loop. Both of these featured more eclipses, but any complaints about confusing storylines were drowned out by those asking just how many cute young men SM could fit into one group – and how many great songs did they already have prepared?

There was one more member still to be introduced. The twentieth teaser was dedicated to Chanyeol and once again it felt heavy with symbolism, with him delivering a knowing smile as he experienced an eclipse alone in a dilapidated shed. Many declared the final member the pick of the good-looking boys, while many more were bewitched by the accompanying song, which was called ‘El Dorado’.

Three more teasers followed, including Kai dancing to ‘Baby Don’t Cry’, another song that would become a fan favourite. The line-up was now complete, even if there was still a lack of clarity about who was in which sub-group, but all soon became clear. Another pre-debut video was released on 9 March in two versions, with both the EXO-K and EXO-M versions featuring six members.

If fans had been getting tired of the endless teasers and frustrated by catching only snippets of potentially brilliant songs, ‘History’ wiped