by Kay Kim, staff reporter
As a part of their annual tradition, EXO has released another Christmas album featuring their song “Sing For You.”
The album, Sing For You- Winter Special Album, 2015, was released online and offline on December 12th at 12 AM, KST (Korean Standard Time). Upon its release, EXO held a live performance at Lotte World Garden Stage.
The music video hit over one million views within the first day of its release.
Unlike the visually colorful and vibrant music videos they have released in the past, the color scheme for this track was in black white. The members vanished and reappeared from time to time. There were scenes where the members got into a physical fight. Fans have shown different interpretations of the music video and what everything could possibly mean.
“They [EXO] really think the girl means a lot to them. They won’t forget about her. They don’t want to lose her,” seventh grader Angela Kim said.
On the other hand, there were people who thought the music video was not based on a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
“I don’t think this is a song for a girl, but for the members. Personally, I think it [music video] is about [the members] having each other and keeping each other sane and happy,” senior from Westmoore High School Michelle Seo said.
EXO is a K-pop boy band signed with one of Korea’s most well known music agencies, SM :Entertainment. This band is divided into two subgroups, EXO-K (EXO-Korea) and EXO-M (EXO-Mandarin). Members of EXO-K include Suho, BaekHyun, ChanYeol, D.O., Kai, and SeHun, while EXO-M members include Chen, Xiumin, Tao, Lay, Kris, and LuHan.
EXO-K focus on album promotions in Korea, while EXO-M does their album promotions all throughout China. Identical albums are released together on the same day and time. The only difference is that the albums released by EXO-K are in the Korean language, while EXO-M’s songs are sung in Chinese. They both made their debut in 2012 with the title track “What is Love.”
Then, in 2013, the two groups combined together to put on a performance as EXO for the first time. Instead of releasing albums and performing on two different stages in two different countries, all 12 members were on the same stage, promoting their album mostly in Korea. Currently, there is a total nine remaining members, after Tao, Kris, and LuHan from EXO-M have left.
EXO-K and EXO-M have once again merged together for their winter album. There are two discs in the album. On the first disc, the songs are sung in Korean and the second disc is the Chinese translations. The overarching theme of this album is making a confession to a female friend.
That theme can be seen in the title track, “Sing For You.” Even though the man in the song has loved a girl for a long time, he never had the courage to confess his feelings to her. But today, he picks up his guitar to express his feelings as he sings for her. This time, he follows his instincts, even if their relationship may become awkward again the next day.
“Sing For You” is a mellow pop ballad song that consists of only an acoustic guitar and vocals. This is quite different from the music that EXO usually sings because there is no choreography or any rap sessions. Despite the change, the guitar and the members’ voices create a sweet array of sounds.
Fans have generally agreed that the title track gives off a melancholy mood.
“The melody sounds sad. It’s painful for us fans to listen to, yet the pictures are so beautiful. The lyrics make me think that they’re saying to the fans that we are okay; thank you for your support and love; we will continue to sing for you. I miss Kris, Luhan, and Tao. This song kind of reminded me of them,” junior Renee Choong said.
On a cheerful note, “Unfair” is a song with a faster beat. It is the story of a man who finds it unjust that his crush flirts with him since she does not have feelings for him. Through this song, he asks that she will develop feelings for him.
In “Girl x Friend,” EXO asks their childhood female friend to become their girlfriend. The piano and drum create a lively mood. Bells and chimes in the background create a lovely and wintery atmosphere.
The lovely ambience of the tracks is continued in the song “On the Snow” as the man in the story follows his crush’s footprints left in the snow. Love has become the pathway leading to where the girl is.
Album promotion will continue for the next month or so through various live shows, such as Music Core, Music Bank, Inkigayo, and live radio broadcasts.
