As the clock strikes midnight in Korea today April the 8th 2022, the famous boyband from SM Entertainment, EXO achieves another milestone: celebrating their 10 years since their debut. The members, songs, choreographies, and fan content ushered in a new area for K-pop.
Look back on their 10 years of innovations and achievements.
Unusual debuts – unusual group
If EXO officially debuted on 8 April 2022 with “MAMA”, teasers for the new group have started to be released more than 3 months before, on 23 December 2011. SM Entertainment built a lot of anticipation (maybe too much?) by releasing 23 teasers with the members – which was never seen before in the industry.
At their debut, 3 MVs have been released, highlighting the group’s potential in dance and vocals: “MAMA”, “History” and “What is Love”.
But as many assume that EXO became popular straight after their debut, this idea is far from true.
“MAMA” was not well received by Korean citizens and the group received a lot of negative comments. The group went on hiatus starting June 2012 and only came back 11 months after with “Wolf” which marked their first victory at the Music Bank:
Two months later with the hit of their repackage “Growl“, EXO successfully made their mark in the K-pop industry.
Making their own trend
The 12 member-group, has been distinctly divided into two units since their debuts, EXO-K and EXO-M illustrating their agency strategy to extend the K-pop influence over the Chinese market. If sub-units are a normal happening in K-pop nowadays, having a group separated into 2 from the start was quite revolutionary in 2012. EXO-K and EXO-M were releasing the same album at the same time but in different languages: Korean and Chinese.
Later in their career and with the departure of three members KRIS, LUHAN and TAO, the distinction between the two sub-units will be diminished and the members will all perform together under the name EXO.
As for all K-pop groups, where dancing is often the main focus EXO’s choreographies were not left behind. From the “tree” choreography for “Wolf“, to the sexy “The Eve“, EXO’s choreographies have always been in the past 10 years creative and unique.
For every comeback, the group is constantly stepping out of its comfort zone to try something new and experimental. They don’t follow the trend but set themselves what the trend is, experimenting with various musical genres. Fans may remember the dark and upbeat atmosphere of the MV “Monster” versus the colourful reggae universe of “Kokobop” the next year.
By pushing boundaries, EXO made some gems like the single-take MV of “Growl” or the outstanding acapella part in “Tempo“.
Achievements after achievements
Their fans, the EXO-L, often say that EXO‘s biggest rivals are EXO themselves. During the past 10 years, EXO continuously broke their previous records and delivered beyond expectations. Among their achievements, EXO detains the fastest ever selling concert in the world by selling 120,000 tickets in 0.2 seconds.
EXO‘s popularity grew beyond South Korea’s borders over time making them the first-ever k-pop artist to be featured on Dubai’s fountain show and Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Their most recent memorable achievement as a group was their performance at the closing ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics with their hit songs “Growl” and “Power“.
Solo successes
By trying different genres over time, each EXO member started to do more solo activities suiting their liking in the last 5 years. From the R&B mastered style by BAEKHYUN to the powerful ballades by CHEN or the catchy rap from EXO-SC (SEHUN & CHANYEOL), all the musical styles are covered by the group. Each one of those solos topped the charts at their release and some of them even won several awards.
With half of the members currently serving in the military, EXO’s activities have been more focused on solo nowadays with the release of KAI’s “Peaches” ast November or the brand new solo of SUHO’s “Grey Suit“.
But EXO’s solo activities aren’t just made of music. XIUMIN, SUHO, CHEN, LAY, BAEKHYUN, CHANYEOL, D.O, KAI and SEHUN fully describe the “idol” terminology by all having successful careers in music, entertainment but also acting and modelling. By creating a lot of content for the public and being on all the fronts for the past 10 years, EXO made their path in K-pop and is nowadays considered one of the most influential boybands in the industry.
If their debuts haven’t been easy, and their career full of unexpected surprises, everyone can agree that EXO made it this far through all their hard work and the support from their fans, the EXO-L.
Happy 10 years anniversary!
Journalist: Julie,
Translator: Julie,
Source: EXO SNS
