EXO’s EX’ACT Review, Part 3: Album

Both the Korean and Chinese versions of EX’ACT have nine tracks plus two instrumental versions of “Lucky One” and “Monster”. At first I wanted more tracks for the full-length album. EXODUS had ten, its repackage Love Me Right had fourteen, but nine tracks feels right.

EXO’s EX’ACT Review, Part 2: Lucky One and Monster Teasers & MV’s

EXO-L’s were getting two new title songs for this comeback – and with it two teaser concepts and two music videos. Taking off from the puzzle-like “Pathcode” teasers from 2015’s “Call Me Baby” comeback/EXODUS promotions, EX’ACT was shaping up in the same cryptic vein. The official SMTOwn Global microsite for EXO featured a countdown that eventually revealed two brand new logos, the change a signature of every EXO comeback.

EXO’s EX’ACT Review, Part I: Let’s Talk About Leaks

Days before EXO‘s scheduled comeback, a dance practice video leaked, featuring the current nine-member EXO lineup in what appeared to be a brand new practice studio inside the SM Entertainment building. The track playing over the video was a demo of the rumored comeback track titled “Monster”.

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 6

Finally we have come to the last installment of this series! So far, I’ve shared with you about thirty tracks that I was obsessed with this year and to round things up, here are the final ten ❤

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 5

 

I’m beginning to realize that I may have overestimated the K-pop tracks I really loved in 2015. I listened to hundreds of them, thought I loved about a fifth of the total, but in the end, I really could only stand to write about half that number. So what I said in the beginning that this year-ender would be comprised of about a hundred tracks give or take? It’s leaning towards more towards “take” now.  It’s time to be honest and unmerciful.

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 4

 

(*art taken from “Air-raid Alerter” by Jang Eun Kyong, 2008)

I’m a little excited about this next part of my list because it includes several tracks from one of my Top 10 K-pop mini-albums of 2015, something from a much-anticipated Korean comeback of a top tier group, a couple from my top nugu boy group of the year and finally, another one from my babies!

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 3

In the spirit of being authentic, I am excluding songs that were obviously huge this year that I didn’t much care for. K-pop stans might notice a glaring lack of certain groups and tracks from this series. I may have listened to the excluded songs once or twice, they may have been masterpieces for all the tracks are worth, but if they didn’t really matter to me this year those won’t make it on this list. After all, biases are everything in K-pop.

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 2

I’m rushing, rushing, rushing to get this list done before the year ends but not really because I may just use this excuse to include a last-minute comeback onto my 2015 music list.

There’s still so much though…!

What I Listened To In 2015 – Part 1

Sometimes I think this blog exists for the sole purpose of hosting annual lists such as this one, and you know what – I am totally okay with that.

This was meant to be a “50 Favorite K-pop Tracks” but as I write, there might still be comebacks to look forward to before the year ends. I’m thinking I might still be working my way up until the last day of the year because cut-off’s are my style aniya.

So fuck it – here are the one hundred(-ish, give or take) K-pop tracks I listened to this year, the ones that I loved to pieces, the ones I looped, included in playlists, the ones that scored real life memories in the making and the ones that to me, mattered. I didn’t rank the songs according to importance, but rather to keep things simpler, the titles appear in the order of release in 2015.

2015 kicked my ass for sure. This just might be my least favorite year in recent memory as far as IRL developments are concerned. I got burned out, quit my job, went back to school in Q2. In Q3 my apartment got robbed, and now at the tail-end of Q4, a family member unexpectedly got sick. Did I reach my quota? I’d say so. However, despite the bitterness, disappointment and mind-numbing drudgery 2015 dragged me through, there were always pockets of solace I found in these pop songs.

So instead of talking about each track in a critical way (though I guess there would be a little bit of that), I’d rather talk about specific ways these tracks sort of got to me.

The Guys Next Door

With two shows under the group’s belt – 2013’s “EXO’s Showtime”, a reality show centered around various group activities, and last year’s “EXO 90:2014”, a moderated talk show featuring individual members’ recreations of seminal K-pop music videos, it became quite clear that doing variety shows does not come naturally to EXO. Having all the members in a single frame without choreography became a directorial challenge with a group as large as theirs. Some were bound to draw more attention than the others. Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who are confident spouting adlibs and shedding inhibitions on-cam have considerable variety skills. The rest of the group seem to fall a little short when it comes to showing their charm through unscripted series.