Don’t mess up EXO’s tempo. That’s basically what SM’s boy group was telling you in their latest comeback ‘Tempo.’ The MV and album was recently released on November 2, 2018 and the showcase for the comeback was also held on the same day.
This is EXO’s comeback after a year since their last project together. They released ‘Ko Ko Bop’ in July of last year and then released ‘Universe’ later in December. There’s been so many memes and jokes created by fans with the hiatus and fans sure did wait a long time for EXO’s comeback. Thankfully, it definitely did not disappoint.
Watching D.O.’s drama ‘100 Days My Prince’ reignited my interest and love for EXO so me being the fangirl I am, I stayed up until 2AM just to watch the MV. Upon watching the music video and listening to ‘Tempo’, I immediately liked it on my first listen and listened to it all night until I fell asleep. While I think the arrangement of the track was a bit messy and chaotic and spontaneous at times (I was not expecting the acapella bridge), the song also sounded cohesive in a way. There were many things going on in the song, but everything managed to mesh well and the song managed to make things work so I enjoyed it. There’s no doubt that EXO’s vocal line are one of the strongest vocal lines ever in K-Pop so I really enjoyed listening to all the beautiful harmonizations, ad-libs, and falsettos in ‘Tempo.’
Maybe the thing I enjoyed the most about the song was that there weren’t any random beat drops (sorry Ko Ko Bop, you’re a decent song but I’m not a fan of that beat drop no matter what). I was also surprised that Sehun actually got a decent amount of lines in this song which is another strength of ‘Tempo.’ However, I was not a fan of Chen’s mullet (that hairstyle/trend needs to end) and I’m a bit sad that Xiumin didn’t get many lines in the song.
EXO also released a full-length album titled ‘Don’t Mess Up My Tempo’ consisting of eleven tracks overall. I generally enjoyed the album and also found the album to be cohesive, stable, and consistent throughout. After giving the entire album a listen, my favorites based on my first listen would be ‘Tempo’ (of course), ‘Ooh La La La’, ‘Damage’, ‘Smile On My Face’, and ‘Oasis.’ Lay featured in the Chinese version of ‘Tempo’ and starred in the Chinese version of the MV so that was nice to see.
It might have taken a year for EXO to return with another comeback, but the long wait was well worth it. The album was impressive and cohesive and ‘Tempo’ proved to be a worthy title track. Of course, the more EXO the better, but I wouldn’t mind a long EXO hiatus if that meant more quality music videos and albums from EXO such as ‘Don’t Mess Up My Tempo.’
Watch EXO’s live performance of ‘Tempo‘ and ‘Ooh La La La‘ on KBS’s Music Bank~
MaryMeKpop 