#but also im so glad i listened to chen's album now?

[wooahaes]

If you're still in need of some EXO recommendations, I got you! Enjoy the following ask that definitely isn't way too long didn't take me way too much time to put togetherbecause I couldn't decide on just a few songs

(before getting to the list tho, I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your writing and it's helped me through some hard last weeks, so thank you for that 🥰)

So, first of all, fitting to this season, I can really recommend the whole universe album (I especially enjoy Fall), Sing for you and miracles in december, 10/10, always great

Then, we've got the classics - Baby don't cry, Mama (their debut, still hitting strong), Overdose

The title tracks obviously as well, but I especially really really love Tempo, the acapella part in the bridge is just out of this world good; also Lucky One is a really really good one (that I feel often gets overshadowed by Monster)

Now I could list a lot of side tracks, but I'm gonna try to keep it to two per Album ^^' and go through them chronologically

Playboy and Hurt, Promise/Exo 2014, Artificial Love and They never know, Can't bring me down, Boomerang, The eve (obviously, you definitely have to watch the dance practice too), walk on memories and touch it, ooh lalala and smile on my face, Jekyll and Groove, Paradise

Now coming to the solos and subunits, I'll just go for one each, because this is already way too long 😶

Baekhyun - UN Village

Kai - Nothing On Me

D.O. - Rose

Chen - Beautiful Goodbye

Suho - Starry Night

Xiumin - Brand New

EXO-CBX (Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin) - Hey Mama

EXO-SC (Sehun and Chanyeol) - What a Life

And last but not least: Lay - Lit this song is just so so so good, it's honestly one of my all time favourites

hii nonny! ive been meaning to get around to listening to all of these but im just gonna answer this one ask (since other ppl have suggested the same songs) and listen through rn!!

also tysm!! i'm glad i was able to help you through hard times. i hope things are better for you now <3 december has been weird for a lot of us i think, but we're getting through it. 2023 is just around the corner!!

i'm gonna go into this mentioning that the only EXO songs i know are love love love, tempo, baby don't stop, ko ko bop, and el dorado. there's probably more i've heard snippits of, but those are the ones i'm most familiar with >:3 (love love love was one of the first songs i listened to (outside of shinee) back in like. 2014-2015ish when i was originally into kpop tbh!!)

i'll come back to sing for you + miracles in december since universe has been a lot slower/calm winter vibes which is great but im admittedly in a weird spot rn ksdhfsdf but i do enjoy universe!! the winter vibes are great, just not what i need in this moment <3 (i'll def try to return to these later and give them a proper listen-through)

baby don't cry is like... oddly cozy in a way i can't describe? but ugh their voices layer so nicely here. also wait wtf this was 2013... how...

OH IVE HEARD MAMA. lets see how many of these songs i already know. it absolutely hits strong how the fuck is their debut??? some groups rly do just have debut songs that will always slap. also hehe they look like babies on the album cover. their vocals literally are so strong tho what da hell... how old were they at debut...

oh they were all upwards of 17. yeah that'd probably make sense.

know im also looking at songs on color coded and what the HELL kai's voice..... wack.

this answer is gonna be really long as u can tell.

OH ive also heard overdose. same album as love love love apparently :0 wack. overdose also slaps. i feel like im just gonna go through every song like "yeah this slaps" but tbh everything so far has slapped

im listening to tempo and im like wow. more guys <3 also the squeaking is the only cursed part of this song. i read a reddit thread once that mentions there was Someone who kept using the sound in songs??? the cursed SM era. song still slaps tho <3

i have reached lucky one. this one i haven't heard before! :D oh wait i lied. i was abt to be like 'idk where i heard it' BUT I'VE HEARD THE CHINESE VERSION.... probably in the rhythm smtown. im blanking on the name. but i do recognize the chorus lmao i was like hm why does this seem a lil off and its bc i've heard it in chinese lmao

good song tho!! its fun <3

OOO PLAYBOY IS ANOTHER I KNOW and love a lot. i mentioned once that i love the exo version but i always wished there was an official recording by jjong since both have different energies. i could go into it but i think jjong's live version he did once felt more... smooth? while the exo version feels a lot more playful and teasing. both are so good in different ways. it works so well with their voices imo but god i can only think of jonghyun when i hear it. it feels like such a Him song to write. i'll stop talking abt him but know that i do love the way EXO did the song.

hurt i don't think i know? we'll know when we hit the chorus. ok i dont know this. but :0 i have no idea how to talk about music despite taking classes for that lmao but!! the drawn out 'hurt' in 'you hurt me' just... flows so nicely?

can i say i rly do love baekhyun's vocals. like idk i think i usually notice his voice above the others at times. im saying this while listening to promise/exo 2014. also forgive me if its the wrong word but chanyeol has like... a slight rasp to his voice? its SO nice to listen to tbh idk if thats the right word but its like. texture. it scratches a brain itch.

ooo artificial love i also know primarily from the chinese version. it also slaps idk what else to say here sdfkhsdf it Does

they never know is another im unfamiliar with. i am repeating myself when i say i think everything slaps but there's something like... SO soothing abt this one while i can kinda bop to it as well? exo can do it all-

ok im gonna start making comments when i actually have them. if i don't say i dislike something, then assume its gonna be the usual 'this fucking slaps yo???'

OH YOO??? the like... contrast between "무너져 가는 Wall / 니 별은 이미 Fall" like. w wall and fall being much deeper? it is delicious. i am consuming this. its also in the different "down"s at the end of lines. tht contrast though UGH <3333 its so good

im gonna take a sec to mention that i really like the different exo album covers and like. the different way their logo is made. i just think its neat :)

im watching the dance practice for the eve. why are men hot. anon why would u do this to me. NOOO WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!!! I UNDERSTAND WHY U SAID I HAVE TO WATCH IT is this allowed. in my good christian minecraft server. i need to stress my 'why are men hot' was said within the first like 10 seconds.

ok i finally did something smart and just queued up everything else so i dont have to manually search.

walk on memories + touch it are both good! i don't have any real comments haha

have i mentioned i rly love how their voices mesh when singing together... bc i do...

jekyll slaps. i feel the need to mention it specifically. also groove is such a like. 180 from how intense jekyll was. 11/10 i love that.

ooo i rly like paradise :0 idk what abt it gets me but it scratches a certain itch and im into it

ok im gonna do the solo ones faster. baekhyun good and i already know this (i've heard some of his solo stuff and also his voice is just... so cozy. let him out of the military rn.

i put these out of order by accident so kai's song is after xiumin's--anyway YOOO I KNOW D.O'S SONG its on my lovey playlist hehe (the english version is i mean). solid song, makes me smiley <3

beautiful goodbye: makes me want to cry. good song <3

starry night: ooo... cozy. kinda sad. very pretty tho.

brand new: absolutely not what i expected ngl but im already into it. his voice reminds me of someone and i don't know who?? im boppin tho

nothing on me: kai is also someone who's solo work i've heard before--in terms of like... the big ones (mmm + peaches) and vanilla. his voice is so nice. idk how else to describe it, im running low on brain juice and im gonna make food after i finish out the last few songs

hey mama!: ooo this is fun <3 truthfully at this point i think if u tell me baekhyun is in anything, i'd probably listen.

what a life: ngl i wasn't sure if i'd be into it but the chorus slaps and i def enjoy it more after hearing the first chorus. random comment but i have to wonder if vernon has listened to this before. something about the way it flows, esp at the chorus, make me think of him and the way he makes music

lit: oh. oh. this gave me chills (in a v good way)

i'd give final thoughts but i think the general "exo fucking slaps" is all i can manage rn

ty for the long ask (even tho im getting to it a lil late) i hope u are having a good day <3

[yumatual]

april, and a flower by chen and/or city lights by baek!!

believe me or not i finally heard both albums just now, literally seconds ago, so here i am (based only on first listen and possibly second listen since i might. re-listen to them while answering)

april, and a flower (chen)

cover: i’m not usually a fan of entirely drawn covers in general, so i don’t love it, but it’s okay! i like the april version much more than the flower one, though. i like the choice of colours, especially the beige for the part that’s not. the image!

favourite song(s): flower and love words!! i’m pretty sure i heard flower a while ago, but it felt totally different this time around?? i was genuinely surprised that the song was this good!! i’m glad, because sometimes when i listen to ballad albums, i end up disliking all of the songs if i’m not in the right mood.. but i think today was the day. and i really liked love words and i. don’t know why. i just. really liked it for some reason,,

least favourite song(s): maybe it’s because i was getting impatient as it was the last song before i knew i’d start writing this answer, but portrait of you didn’t sit as well with me as the other songs? i didn’t dislike it, though!

underrated song(s): i don’t see anyone ever talk about this album in general, so i have no idea,, but i‘ll be there didn’t have much of a reaction from me for the most part until it just suddenly surprised me with that high note somewhere in the middle (or at the end, i can’t quite remember)

city lights (baekhyun)

cover: not my fave, like, ever, but definitely nice!! i like it!! i like how the day and night are really.. opposites like, not only in the colour aspect but! how the day one has only a bit where the,, what seems to be paper is like “torn” whereas the night version is mostly without the,, paper-seeming pattern with just a tiny bit of it in a corner. i feel like i’m not making sense but anyways i like it. i like the day version more, though!! but that’s because i’m not the biggest fan of the picture in the night version enfke i don’t like hats. ALSO the digital cover is interesting? i oddly like it!! i think it looks really nice and it also has kind of an evening vibe which is funny,, it’s like.. between day and night..

favourite song(s): oh my gosh.. this whole album was so amazing.. i love it.. but if i really had to choose, it’d be un village, betcha & psycho!! (though ice queen is really good too..) i loved un village ever since i first heard it!! i really hoped baekhyun wouldn’t go for a ballad for his solo debut but chances were big that he would and that really bothered me when i first heard he’d be going solo..  mind you i was very late to listen to this song, but i heard its intro a few times and that.. literally shocked me so much,, it was a whole another direction i didn’t even imagine?? and it really threw me off when i finally heard the song because.. it was definitely not what the first few seconds made me expect.. but it was the same exact direction i originally wanted a baekhyun solo to go!! so i was (and still am) extremely pleased with it! and betcha... surprised me in the best of ways.. i thought i wasn’t going to like it as much (stay up was just before this and.....damn stay up was good) because of the overall mood in the instrumental? but then the chorus started and i was proven wrong. and psycho was basically everything i expected it to be from how the rest of the album sounded and from its title.. and it was GOOD so i am thoroughly satisfied

least favourite song(s): hmm probably diamond!! not because it was bad HELL NO, the entire album is amazing.. i love it.. one of my favourite albums from last month,, but compared to the other tracks, i think i liked this one the least still definitely gonna be played on repeat for hours

underrated song(s): i have no idea, i don’t see anyone talk about this album either.. although i did see people mentioning betcha but nothing else? so i don’t.. really know??

[103oclock]

[FULL ENG TRANS] 2020.04.20 W Korea’s May edition : Stay happy, cool and strong (Baekhyun)

 EXO Baekhyun’s strong identity is driven by his happiness in enjoying music.

We’ve met before through an interview with EXO, many years ago. I clearly remember something you said then, which was, ‘Before entering SM, I thought I was the best singer in Bucheon.’ Baekhyun at that time did say that (laughs). He had so much ‘confidence.’

Thanks to what you said then, when I see you slowly improving ever since you said that, I think about those stories where a kid who is good at studying enters a science or foreign language high school* and becomes crestfallen after realising where he ranks in the whole school, so he studies with all his heart and becomes the top in school.  Ah, my trainee days was when my confidence took a big blow. It just felt like my song would never get picked since there were so many other people who could sing so well. When you enter as a professional, you can’t be sloppy for even a second, and they will demand for you to be perfect, even down to every detail. I stopped thinking that singing is my specialty, and I had to reevaluate my thoughts on music. *=Science or foreign language high schools are prestigious schools in South Korea.

Even when you were discouraged, at some point your confidence would come back again, right? That’s right, to some extent. Also, I’m not the kind to let someone else dampen my spirit just because they said so (laughs).

I’m aware that you are planning to release your solo album soon. Because of the current situation, changes were made to the initial plans which could make things a little vague now. There are several activities I was scheduled to do but now can’t, but this situation now is not easy for everyone, and there are many people who are working very hard. There are still more to be done in several aspects, album-wise, but you can look forward to it as it will be different from the previous solo. 

Did you have any desire or goal when you were working on your first solo album <City Lights>, which was released in summer? Since a long time ago, I’ve been wanting to do songs with city pop vibes. Also, it is meaningful to have the album comprised of just my voice. I hoped for people to hear the album and at least think, ‘So this is the kind of voice Baekhyun has.’ I’m glad it received such a good outcome.

What do you mean by ‘good outcome’? I got a lot of positive feedback. There were people who recognised the effort I put into the voice and vibe I wanted to express. The album sales were also good thanks to my fans. 

What kind of voice did you want to express? Something that’s a little dreamy (laughs), and I guess I wanted there to be sexy vibes even with just my voice?

I was a little dubious when I first heard that the title track was called ‘UN Village,’ because it’s the more luxurious version of ‘Samsung Raemian’ (laughs). However, after listening to it, it seems like ‘luxurious’ was the keyword that was the main theme of the entire album. Even on stage, your performance is relaxed and doesn’t require much of an angle (as in a certain kind of look/style/theme), it looks like you wanted to portray that sort of laidback appeal.  Oh, that’s very accurate. Because EXO has themes and we do powerful performances, I wanted my solo to be different. I wanted to pull out something I think of as my weapon, something that is relaxed rather than strong, and more focused on my voice itself.

It’s rather difficult to be relaxed if you don’t do a lot of preparation. Between what you do best and what you like best, which of the two do you think is closer to the composition of your first album? At first I matched the make up of the album to what I like, but I think it slowly became what I do best as I practised and did my studies. I’m always like that. I always do what I like instead of what I do best. There is almost nothing you are good at from the start. It starts of as ‘This is so hard, but I like it’ and at some point when I get familiar with it and master it, it feels really exhilarating.  

This is sudden but it’s always fascinating to me when I see singers like you that start off with the position as a vocal, and become a dancer that does dynamic performances on stage. Could it be because SM is originally known for it's unrivalled training system, or is it because that person actually has dance DNA but simply never had the opportunity to draw it out? From the aspect of whether one knows how to use their body and muscles, it looks like I have the influence of the DNA. From moving your chest to doing several other movements. For example, there are people who find it hard to do detailed movements like ‘lift your right shoulder, and then pop your chest, bring down your right shoulder and lift your left shoulder.’ On top of that, SM’s environment, which has many people that started off as choreographers and have a command of high quality dancing in nature, also contributed to my progress. Looking around at my surroundings, I followed suit so my abilities got better, and there were many things I could learn and many things I was motivated by. 

Soon it will be the 8th anniversary since EXO debuted so shall we talk about the time that started history? How did you feel at the start when you had to digest and do difficult dance moves even though you were a vocalist? I just had this desire. ‘I don’t want to remembered as the person who can’t dance.’ Thankfully, the members taught me and Chen, who entered the group late, until the wee hours of the morning. Kai took care of Chen, and Sehun took care of me. All the while competing who taught better, and who mastered the dance better. I improved a lot during the time we practised together. 

Looking back, after debuting, was there a critical period where you felt like you were growing too fast? Around summer 2016 ‘Monster,’ my performance skills definitely improved. Choreographer Shim Jaewon hyung actually included a solo performance for me at the start of the song. There wasn’t supposed to have a solo performance but he said, ‘Baekhyun, you have a talent in dance too, you just have to work a little bit harder, let’s start building up your confidence now,’ and he choreographed a solo performance and encouraged me. From then on, I thought, ‘So I’m not someone who can’t dance,’ and I gained confidence in expressing myself through my body while doing my best for that solo performance. What I never knew, or what I suppressed, up to that point, I then started to express naturally.

Oh, that was around the time the special cover edition ‘EXOclusive’ you did with <W Korea> was produced! Was there a period where you were in a slump, music-wise?  At the start of EXO’s activities, when we’re going from ‘MAMA’ to ‘Wolf.’ I achieved the reality of debuting and suddenly received a lot of attention, so the kid that was full of confidence became scared of singing. I doubted myself, that my singing might be weird. It was around then that my interest in vocalisation peaked, and I studied a lot. As I did that, my fears disappeared little by little and I started to anticipate how my voice would sound like when I sing live. I put in a lot of effort in ways like thinking if I should do it a certain way this time so it could sound different, and if I like the sound of my tone in a certain song, I could apply a part of it to another song. 

Then before EXO, when did you first vaguely feel that you had something similar to a talent?  The first time I ever went to a karaoke. Might have been grade 6 of elementary school.

What song did you sing? It was Yarn’s song. What was the song called... Can I quickly search it up?

Yarn’s songs are one of the tests for high-pitched power, and have made many guys fail miserably in karaokes.  Exactly. Yarn’s ‘Run.’ Weirdly, I sang the song comfortably as how I heard it, and my friends’ reactions were huge. Ever since then, I thought ‘Oh? I didn’t even learn how to sing yet everyone says I’m good? This must be my greatest strength!’ and I started to like singing. 

Your audience then reacted to your mic and your acoustics, which made that the moment you became a celebrity. So that’s how the history of ‘Bucheon Prince’ came about (laughs).  My friends wouldn’t sing songs that are high in pitch. So I thought, ‘Huh? Why?’ I was still young then so I didn’t even know what a vibrato was, I just thought that the note was “vibrating.” When I hear that the end of the note doesn’t vibrate, I would think, ‘Why don’t they do the vibration thing? Isn’t it kind of flat?’ It was a time when I was young and ‘snobby’ (laughs). 

If you were to introduce a distinct characteristic of your vocals, how would you say it? Um. Smooth yet at the same time robust.

You possess everything good...  Hehe, I don’t have an entirely beautiful voice but I have a kind of baritone voice that is saturated with tenderness. So it is an advantage that I don’t have to limit myself to one genre and can challenge myself extensively. 

Still, is there anyone’s vocals that you wish to have? Kim Bumsoo sunbae. Recently I am realigning my vocals. From my breathing to my vocalisation, I am remodelling everything. So I think about vocals a lot, but when I hear Kim Bumsoo sunbae’s songs, I feel that he has quite the stability. I think of stability as a power that allows the audience to listen comfortably and enjoy the song, and to people who sing, as players of the game themselves, would either want to show off or have the freedom to express a bar of the song any way they want. He has amazing stability, and he has a great voice, and he possesses several different tones. There are many things to look up to him to. 

Instead of changing just one vocal aspect, you’re changing your style from the basics. It’s going to be a tough process. It’s not easy. I’ve been learning from my current vocal teacher for about a year now, but luckily, he’s like a saviour to me. Singer Im Hanbyul hyung introduced him to me. He not only teaches me vocal skills, but also helps me to find peace mentally. He’s like a doctor that does a full check-up on whatever I am uneasy about. He’s really grown up. [A/N: there’s no pronoun for Baekhyun’s vocal teacher but I used a standard pronoun for ease of reading]

Do you have any aspirations as a member of SuperM? We began our activities last fall and we were the first of Asia Artistes to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with our debut album. I’ve said ‘We will show you another kind of K-Pop’ in an interview in The States before, but there is another meaning behind the face value of what I said. No matter how I look at it, isn’t now the era to turn the impossible possible? It’s the same for SuperM. The fact that members of different groups have come together to form another group is entirely a whole new system. We were the pioneers to give it a shot, and that in itself is a step that creates synergy. With this in mind, I have the desire to make K-Pop widely known. 

In the 2000′s, K-Pop started to gain popularity when SMTOWN was having their world tour, and in the recent years, K-Pop has once again taken another leap. Have you ever felt that it’s true while you were on tour?  Of course. When we do interviews overseas, journalists would say things like, ‘If we were to define K-Pop, we can’t forget about the perfectly synced dance choreography, right?’ The style of group dance choreography, which has been around since long ago, is what shaped K-pop and I think of it as K-Pop’s important trait. When they know and point out that aspect, I feel proud and grateful. 

SuperM brings EXO’s Baekhyun and Kai, SHINEE’s Taemin, NCT’s Taeyong and Mark, WayV’s Lucas and Ten together in a team. How is it like when you’re all together? They’re all really, honestly, very nice and innocent kids. They transform on stage but when I see how they’re like together off stage, I wonder how they could be that innocent. I want you guys to know that side of the boys before showing you our music and performance.

Are they like innocent boys behind the cool and handsome men that glare when they sing ‘We will burn on this stage’ during the performance? These guys also possess everything good...  Superheroes normally conceal their own identity and show a mild appearance but when nighttime comes, they apprehend bad guys. Ever since I was young, I’ve always thought that somehow that was what true justice was (laughs). I feel like if the duality of how the boys are like daily and how they are like when they concentrate on stage was known, all the members are able to shine more brightly. 

In today’s photoshoot, you went from bright and impeccable Baekhyun to Baekhyun with a dark charisma. And Cartier’s jewelry shone just like EXO Baekhyun, who symbolises ‘light’ (laughs). If you were to have dual personalities, what would it be?  Though I am mostly nice and well-mannered, I am the type to be straightforward and be firm when I think ‘This isn’t right.’ Even when people who think ‘this person belongs to me,’ when they treat them badly, my firmness will appear. When that happens, I will step in and say something. 

Listening to your stories, you seem like a person who is motivated by yourself.  That’s right. I always find faults in myself. Whether it is on stage or my treatment towards other people, I frequently think about whether I had any drawbacks. I always think about questions like ‘Why do I keep doing the wrong move these days,’ or ‘Am I not focusing, or am I lacking practice for that part?’

What is something you need in order to continue and live a long life as an artist that has debuted in an idol group? First of all, I think the answer to that is finding out what you really want to do. Because if you don’t go through that process and simply follow the trend or what other people want, it’ll be easy for you to be left behind as an artist. If you look at idols who have been in the industry for a long time, their own colour is very clear no matter what. I could also soon become Baekhyun version 2. A life where I find out whether I can succeed with just my voice.

Would you have a (however) big ambition inside of you?  Ambition, I definitely have it. There’s a saying, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound’ (laughs). However, I’m not the kind that is full of fighting spirit and think I have to achieve a certain goal. I do not want my huge desire for success to eat me up. To me, doing things happily while laughing is most important to me. That level of ambition would be more like ‘I hope they recognise my hard work’ I guess? When you work hard on something, it will still shine no matter what, and no matter how bright. And I want to show off what I am good at anyway so, hehe.

Translation by 103oclock (Source)