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My Analysis (EXO-K Version Only)

1. Call Me Baby: After the rumors and demo spreading around for "Call Me Daddy," when I finally heard the CMB teaser at EXO'luXion, I was... unimpressed. Especially since the CMD back-beat and arrangement was sooo hot and everything I wanted (not the lyrics thou, they are horrendous). Then 2 days before album release, the full song gets leaked. I listen and I like it better, but it's still not really my cup of tea. FINALLY, the MV drops with HD sound... and I fall in love. While it's definitely one of those songs that is made better by the performance, it IS such a bop; once it's in your head there is no getting it out. And the lyrics are just wonderfully poetic towards EXO-L, especially with the previous year as context: "Baby girl, even among all the greed and all the words... You showed that you believe in me. Even if everyone changes and leaves me, you are my lady... All I need is for you to hold my hand." So precious! I also particularly love the line distribution of this song; everyone gets at least a few moments to take center stage and have the attention, both in vocals and dance. While this is not my favorite promotional track, I love that it allows the members to step outside of what they normally do, and in my mind, it finalizes EXO's rebirth into who they are now.
2. Transformer: From the opening drums, I knew I was about to have an awesome time. From the person who brought us Wolf (YES, seriously), this time we get something far more coherent, while still retaining that hip hop, EDM style. I really enjoy all the rapping in this, love seeing especially SeKai take multiple rap parts throughout the song. And on the bits when Vocal line takes over, and the song shifts to more EDM. UGHHHH YESSS DATS MY SHITTTTT! That chorus is SO MUCH FUN to sing along to, and I love that the lyrics go into the ever changing, almost conflicting sides one person can have. WE KNOW THIS PAIN WELL, EH EXO L? ANYTIME OUR BOYS GO ON STAGE TO OFF STAGE IS LIKE GETTING WHIPLASH FUCKING HELL UGHHH! While it sucks that this song has no live performance (CAN THAT CHANGE FOR EXOPLANET #3?), this number is perfect to blast on a car ride, where you can really appreciate that sub-woofer action. Overall? I love this song; great party jam and hypes me up like crazy.
3. What If...: Sort of standard R&B slow jam sad tune, which is a bit of a shame since EXO's shown they can take this genre and make it unique. This unfortunately feels uninteresting to me (especially compared to Moonlight & What is Love). However, I do like how calming it is, and it's placement on the album is exactly where it needs to be. Non-vocal line also gets a chance to show themselves off vocally, and Vocal line just destroys all emotions and hearts (I'm mainly thinking of Baek's soaring high note over the final chorus). I also really love the add on bit after the final chorus, where it's sort of a vocal chant that just repeats into fade.
4. My Answer: While it is my least favorite on the album (because slow, sad, simple ballad), I will give this song props because of how stripped back it is arrangement wise. It's just SuBaekSoo vocals with piano, which would be an issue if you had less talented people performing this; there's nothing to hide behind if a mistake is made. Thankfully, it's SuBaekSoo performing this, and performing it beautifully. All the emotion, pitch perfect, and harmonies just kill my heart. AND BAEK ON PIANOOOO UGHHHHH MY FEEEEEEELSSSSSSS (SM WHEN ARE WE GETTING EXOLOGY SO I MAY HAVE THE EXTENDED PIANO VERSION???)!
5. Exodus: When I first heard this during the EXO'luXion audio-stream, my first thought was "... this sounds like it was on NSYNC's No Strings Attached album HOLY SHIT TAKE ME BACK TO '99 WHY DONCHA???" Especially with their concert styling omg... but yeah, this song represents everything great about late 90s/early 00s pop: jumpy beats, crisp vocals, and DRAMA. I LOVE the lyrics on this one; so creative and the concept of trying to escape a toxic significant other but finding yourself trapped anyway... god that would be a great music video (WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS SM???). And I LOVE LOVE LOVE watching EXO perform it because you can just tell they are having a blast with the choreography. Overall, Exodus is just a solid high energy pop track done right, and the only negative thing it has going against it (because this leads to me skipping it a lot) is that it comes before...
6. El Dorado: Unlike with the other new tracks at Seoul's EXO'luXion, I missed this one on the live stream (cause I set my alarm wrong ;_;), so I ended up listening to it later when I saw the full fancam. Just... holy fucking shit. LET ME TELL YOU A THING HOW MUCH THIS SONG IS MY EVERYTHING! It's the ONLY song I ripped the audio off a fancam before the album drop. It's my most MOST PLAYED song (listened to it like 5+ times just now for this review) in my iTunes library (THAT'S NOT INCLUDING CD, SPOTIFY, AND YOUTUBE VIDEO PLAYS). While the song has definitely evolved from it's original demo to the pre-debut teaser to now, I've honestly loved every single version for completely different reasons. However, since we are talking the EXODUS album version, I'll stick to that. Right away from those opening, iconic notes you know you are in for drama and mystery. This song's energy starts right at the beginning and continuously builds; it NEVER drops completely and just keeps culminating. The English lyrics I feel help with that; the "Sail Sail Sail Gotta Gotta Go Go Gotta Find the El Dorado El Dorado" is also like a religious chant. When you combine that with the percussion and background "bum bum bum" vocals in pre-chorus? It just leads to the song being MASSIVE and EPIC. And YES, let's talk about the lyrics because omg if you haven't already read the lyrics you are doing yourself a massive disservice. It's LITERALLY about their journey out of darkness (2014) to finding paradise/heaven/Eden (2015 and beyond). HELL, LET'S JUST TALK ABOUT CHANYEOL'S RAP: "In this dangerous journey, obstacles keep coming. But we’ve become one and have overcome everything. The light is getting bigger... No pain no gain, this is a world of mystery. Add all ten fingers to the circle above, WE ARE ONE!" ARRRRGHHH MY FEEEEEELS! But back to the energy aspect... it doesn't stop there: vocal line takes this puppy in bridge (with rappers building up the chant again in between) to final chorus, and EVERYTHING JUST EXPLODES! All that energy and build up finally releases AND YET SOMEHOW IT STILL KEEPS BUILDING UNTIL BAEK'S "I KNOW IT'S THERE" WHERE IT FINALLY LETS GO COMPLETELY. It just DRAGS you in/FUCKS you up and all you can do is hold on for this final epic ride. UGH... UGH THIS SONG... IS AN EDM RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE! I love it, I will endlessly defend it. The ONLY sucky thing about this version is the fact that it lacks the Gregorian Chant that EXO'luXion's version has (IDK WHY THEY DIDN'T INCLUDE THAT IN STUDIO VERSION SO DUMB). Overall... well... points to the above oh damn, I ended up typing an El Dorado novel... Oops... ^{SORRY NOT SORRY}
7. Playboy: FUCK YOU JONGIN I HAVE BARELY RECOVERED FROM EL DORADO I WAS NOT READY FOR THOSE OPENING MOANS! I think this was the first new song I heard at EXO'luXion (because me arriving late to the livestream) and my first coherent thoughts for this was probably something like "Uggghhhhhhhh wtf is this hot beat? Honestly, I am just feeling so attacked right now... it literally sounds like they are groaning and whispering RIGHT IN MY EAR I CANNOT HANDLE SUCH CLOSE PROXIMITY TO SEXY!" In case you couldn't tell, this song was written and composed by SHINee's Jonghyun. YEP, IT MAKES SENSE NOW, DOESN'T IT? Rappers nail the swag levels (OVER 9000!!), and vocals just sound like fine wine (especially Kyungsoo UGH). Not only does the arrangement and vocals/rap just DRIP with sex appeal, let's talk about the lyrics! "Don’t pick up your ringing phone, let’s leave it alone. There’s no need to tell anyone but us two..." "When you think it’s too late, you’ve already fallen for me, it’s out of your control (isn’t it?)..." "like whiskey you’ve swallowed by mistake I’ll make you hotter, more excited..." ARRGGGG ADD THAT TO THE LIVE DANCE AND YOU CANNOT EVEN PRETEND THIS AIN'T ABOUT SEX; THIS SONG IS STRAIGHT UP AUDITORY PORN AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT!
8. Hurt: Talk about an opening that sounds like a carnival of horrors... Okay, so if Exodus was from No Strings Attached, Hurt is from NSYNC's Celebrity album. Such a harsh mechanical (almost like clockwork or machinery) back-beat, but it totally works for the subject matter and vocals/raps; this song just sounds perfectly creepy and uncomfortable. I ADORE the drama and intensity going on; so much agony in the lyrics. As usual, Vocal line just sells this, and Rapper line are wonderfully breathless; I like that they didn't go with powerful and instead went with whispers that makes them sound lost and confused. But I want to bring special attention to Jongin, who SINGS EVERY ONE OF HIS PARTS IN THIS NUMBER, AND FUCKING NAILS THEM! I LOVE his opening lines; you can hear how much he's improved and he sounds so much more confident! The amount of emotion and passion he throws in (like in everything he dances) fucking blows me away. Other notable awesomeness in this song is the instrumental breakdown after the second chorus HOLY SHIT YES! AND WHEN VOCAL LINE TAKES THE BRIDGE AND SOO TRICKLES DOWN AND BAEK DOING THAT SLIDE UP AWWWW YAAAAS SLAY, BOYS, SLAAAAY! Overall, I adore this number and I'm pretty sure the rest of the fandom is with me on that.
9. Lady Luck: At first this song's intro really confused me, with the beat sounding a bit like musically pitched raspberries. In fact, this song is a bit clashy in styles, so it really didn't mesh with me at first, but after the first few listens suddenly it started to click. I really like how the music sort of sways (the guitars really drive that feeling); it sounds really hypnotic and oddly romantic to me. I especially came to really love the pre-chorus and chorus (both vocals and instrumentals), and I am so confused WHY THERE IS NO PERFORMANCE FOR THIS! I can easily see a tango style for this number, but honestly I'll take anything because this song deserves it (THERE BETTER BE CHOREOGRAPHY AT EXOPLANET #3). The lyrics are not really poker or casino lingo/subject oriented, surprisingly; they are more about anticipating knocking boots with a long distance lover (I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING GUYS, THIS WHOLE ALBUM IS SEX). Some notable excerpts: "You shine and in that moment, you ecstatically come to me"... "You’re getting closer (I wait for you all night)" "The moment the entire world falls asleep, You fly to me." And when you follow that with Britney fucking Spears samples where she sounds like she's having a greeeat time in the instrumental bridge breakdown like WTF ELSE COULD BE HAPPENING THERE? Hee hee, our boys have become such lusty men... but anywho, I REALLY love this song, and I REALLY want this to be performed live because just imagine that body rolling action aaaawww yes you know that will be legendary.
10. Beautiful: Honestly, I was not anticipating this once pre-debut teaser turned Suho TLP solo evolved into full studio song. I liked the sound of it, but on average I'm not really into the slow numbers that much. But this surprised me how much I DO like it. Beautiful comes right at the point in the album when you need something more calm and comforting, after all the excitement (tee hee, excitement) of the previous songs' high energy and intensity. Also, this song succeeds to me because there is no other song like it on the album sound-wise; there are other slow songs, but none as happy and positive as this one. There is such a wonderfully wispy and ethereal vibe to this song's arrangement; makes you feel like you are walking through a dream. And the lyrics definitely reflect that, and are just overall precious and feels inducing: "In between your soft hair, Your eyes shine on me like starlight"... "The moment your breath touches me, your scent colors me in"... "Your body movement resembles a flower petal. I worry that you will break, so I can’t even hug you all I want, my dazzling love"... and my personal favorite (sung by Kai) "When my name touched your lips, I used to be meaningless but now I’m special." Everything about this song is pure romance and love. Vocals are just magical, with all the various harmonies and layering going on. SO MUCH SEKAI SINGING (ESPECIALLY SEHUN OMG), and I am SO GLAD that Suho keeps his soaring adlib parts in the end. I would have been SO PISSED if that went to Baek or Soo, because despite the fact that it's now a full length song, THIS IS STILL SUHO'S SONG at its core. Overall, this song is the perfect calm finisher to a spectacular, mature album, and I'm so glad (even though I didn't initially want it) that we finally got Beautiful officially added into the EXO discography.

1. El Dorado
2. Transformer
3. Hurt
4. Exodus
5. Playboy
6. Call Me Baby
7. Lady Luck
8. Beautiful
9. What If...
10. My Answer