SM's EXO-K & EXO-M

     We've seen glimpses of some of the members in DBSK's "Hahaha" video four years ago, and now, with looks and thin frames hardly changed, EXO is making their debut as two subgroups. With a total of 12 members, 6 are under the subgroup EXO-K(orean), and the other 6 are to promote in China under EXO-M(andarin). After debuting and making wild successes out of groups like SNSD (Girl's Generation), Super Junior, SHINee, and recently, F(x), fans are anticipating the debut of SM's newest boy group. Teasers have been released through SM's channel "SMTOWN" on YouTube featuring each of the members. 

                                          DBSK "Hahaha" ft. EXO trainees

By far, the individual teaser that has stood out to me the most has been EXO-M's Tao, who displays impressive martial arts skill. I had expected him to wave a stick around and be a wannabe ninja, but if no wires were used in the video, homeslice got some major air-kicking skills. That's not to say the dancing solos weren't great in the other member's teasers, but there are 11 other members- I think I've seen enough dance solos.

           This guy's eyes could kill. It helps that he has the skills to do it too. Haha, JK!

SM released four music videos prior to debut over two songs, a track called "History" and a ballad called "What is Love?", each in Korean and Mandarin by their respective subgroups. In the least, both songs were catchy, but I couldn't help but compare EXO-K and EXO-M. Through their dance practice videos, it feels like EXO-K is a bit more vigorous and comfortable with dancing. Their moves transgress smoothly and they dance with enthusiasm. EXO-M's dancing seems more rigid; every move seemed correct and distinct, but they didn't have the slight swagger that natural dancers seem to integrate into their steps. The result was a bit robotic and unexciting; one can tell that they were taught to dance, but were possibly not dancers prior to training. Still, dancing abilities can be enhanced with experience and practice, so no doubt they'll be seamless in no time. 

      It's admittedly a hard dance, but you feel a little less "oomph" in EXO-M's performance.

As for "What is love?", EXO-M's audio version was more emotionally convincing. Given that all the members are around 17-20 years old and probably were so busy training for the past few years that dating would have been physically impossible, they emphasized the angst and sultriness quite well. 

                                               EXO-M's "What is Love?" MV

Apparently "History" and "What is Love?" are just precursors to an actual debut, as SM released their official debut song, "MAMA" a few weeks after. My reaction to the name was mainly confusion. Are they singing about their moms? Is it an acronym for something?  Knowing the K-Pop industry, it's probably the latter, so I'm still waiting for someone to put English subs onto the music videos. Until then, the music video itself is entertaining, yet perplexing. First, you have an almost irrelevantly long English intro that can basically be summed up as, "The tree of life and a new world will thrive only if these 12 forces (members) that were split into two subgroups and divided into different parts of the world are reunited again." The visuals are nice, and so is the commentary, but it's so wordy that I'm sitting there wondering if this is actually a movie trailer. When we do see the band, they appear in black monkish-hooded robes that can either be cool or a tad ridiculous. They start chanting "Careless, careless" and "anonymous, anonymous" and I start getting really confused. The enjoy the strong catchy bass of the song until I realize that it sounds very much like every other epic SM song: SNSD's "The Boys", DBSK "Keep Your Head Down", Super Junior's "Superman." The boulder/dry dirt/crater background also looks like the thawed out version of SNSD's "The Boys" dance background. In conclusion, the heavy-bass song and epic theme of the music video feels like it's been introduced... and overdone. On top of that, I don't know if I should blame Korean's standardizing plastic surgery wave or SM's bias to pick people that resemble their most popular current artists (SNSD's Yoona and F(x)'s Krystal, trying to remove tom-boyish Amber to resemble SNSD's girlier image), but one of their members, Su Ho, looks like the younger doppelganger for Super Junior's Choi Si Won in one of the screenshots. Some are even saying that Tao looks like Si Won as well.

EXO-K's Su Ho

Super Junior's Choi Si Won

K-Pop is notorious for being fashion forward and breaking boundaries, but did you really have to clothe the front-most dancer with skinny metallic silver pants, join the two legs with black fabric, almost to his KNEES, AND in both videos? I understand being progressive and futuristic, but did you have to forgo flattering leg lines? 

Does your crotch hang low, does it shine and does it glow... wait, WHAT?

The one distinctive concept is that they've given each member a super power, which is great, but I then the flames start reminding me of Rain's "Rainism" MV, where his royal sexiness control fire, water, and dabbles in telekinesis. The MV for Rainism was much more effective, he was supposed to be sexy, people were supposed to worship him. But for EXO, what am I supposed to think? That they are otherworldly? They have superpowers? Are a highly selective cult? Either way, it was fun to watch, and my favorite cinematic scene was where someone jumped backwards off the building.

                   This slow-motion style of filming makes this scene breath-taking.

Rain possessing god-like powers in "Rainism" MV

There is so much hype and time alloted for the presentation of the environment and backstory that that it starts overshadowing the actual members. I favored EXO-M's version more, because it was more distinctive in highlighting each member, and the superpowers appeared more impressive because because the content was more varied. I had expected something more original for their official debut MV, but I still had moments where I think, "Okay, that's cool..." Despite that, select scenes were particularly eye-catching, enjoyable to watch, and I'm looking forward to seeing their true "superpowers" on a live stage.