EXO 'Obsession' Album Review
EXO-Ls, let’s obsess about EXO’s ‘Obsession’ comeback! By Seul Back on November 27, EXO returned with their first comeback album in nearly a full year! The 11-month...
EXO-Ls, let’s obsess about EXO’s ‘Obsession’ comeback!
By Seul
Back on November 27, EXO returned with their first comeback album in nearly a full year!
The 11-month wait might have been just a little bit painful, but it was SO. WORTH. IT! Fans were treated with a whopping 10 brand new songs, a beautifully packaged album in two unique versions, and not to mention, so much teaser content!
First, let’s dive in to the crazy concept of this comeback. Officially, the concept is called ‘#EXODEUX’. In this story, the members are attacked by the evil influence of the red force, resulting in the split of their inner personalities into two sides! Basically throughout this comeback, the real, ‘good’ side of EXO has to fight against alternate egos of themselves, the ‘evil’ version known as X-EXO.
I mean this concept is seriously really cool, and also a little bit scary. Initially, it reminded me of the recent horror film ‘Us’. Has anyone seen it? Because I haven’t. I can’t watch scary movies at all, but I came across a trailer for it once and… it looked really scary.
Now since I haven’t actually seen the movie I mentioned, I can’t say for sure how similar the two concepts are. But I for one prefer the ‘good’ version of EXO a lot more over the ‘evil’ X-EXO, because I’m a pretty simple person. I’ve never been the type to sympathize with villains in movies or dramas, and I usually stay true to most hero stories by cheering for the main hero from beginning to end. So I’m definitely on ‘good’ EXO’s side again for this comeback. The whole point of ‘EXO from EXO Planet’ is that they’re heroes come together to win against the red force and save the universe, right?
By the way, did I mention that one of my absolute favorite parts about this comeback is ‘good’ EXO’s sexy hero outfits? Just look at these all-black, military soldier suits! Among the members, Chen and Sehun had some of the best styles.
On the other hand, it did seem like a lot of EXO-Ls are in love with the introduction of the new X-EXO alter egos to the storyline, because of their ‘tsundere’ characters. Normally, the EXO members are known for being sweet and courteous to their fans, but not X-EXO! These ‘evil’ X-EXO guys talk to the fans without honorifics (gasp!), and they generally ooze that ‘bad boy’ aura that I know drives tons of fans crazy. I mean, I get it ladies.
Okay, time to talk about the album tracks! EXO’s albums are usually full of so many different genres, and this album was no exception. My personal favorites were some of the slower, groovier numbers like “Day After Day” and “Butterfly Effect”. “Day After Day” in particular felt like a good R&B tune for cold, winter evenings lounging at home.
If you had to divide up the 10 songs from ‘Obsession’ into ‘EXO versions’ and ‘X-EXO versions’, how would you put them? For me, I’d say the tougher numbers like “Trouble” and “Jekyll” are definitely ‘X-EXO’ songs. The sweet, romantic songs like “Groove”, “Baby You Are”, “Non Stop”, and “Butterfly Effect” go in the ‘good EXO’ category. That leaves “Ya Ya Ya” and “Day After Day”, which I’d have to say fall in the ‘X-EXO’ side for me! For “Ya Ya Ya”, I would argue that the EXO members sing in a very confident, almost conceited manner in the lyrics. With “Day After Day”, it’s a beautiful song but it’s a song about farewell and regret, so I would choose to associate those negative emotions with the ‘X-EXO’ side. And then there’s the title track “Obsession”, which in itself is a monologue between EXO and X-EXO so it falls right in the middle.
With all that EXO vs. X-EXO goodness, this comeback was totally everything that EXO-Ls could have ever wanted, and more! Which just leaves one more question to be answered: Whose side are you on, EXO’s or X-EXO’s?
