EXO is back with their third album, EX’ACT on June 9th. Their third album gained much
anticipation because EXO has successfully achieved various records on their
previous albums.
Their first and second full album sold one million copies each,
making them double million seller artists. It’s a huge achievement for K-Pop
idols especially with the shift of music platform into digital nowadays.
Double-million seller is not just an empty title for EXO. This
nine-member boy group has managed to put out a solid album on each release.
On its third album, will EXO manage to come up with solid release
again? Check out my review for EX’ACT below………………………………………………………………………………..
EXO tries out something new in EX’ACT by having double title
track. Both title tracks, Lucky One and
Monster offer two opposite charm of
EXO. Check out my review for Lucky One and
Monster here!
Artificial Love is an electronic dance track with catchy beat. There is no hint of
funk or R&B element on this song like in Lucky One. Artificial Lover sounds
very current, meaning that this type of sound often can be heard in foreign
songs nowadays.
Artificial Love has a unique structure because of the interchange between singing
and rapping part. Kai, Chanyeol, and Sehun shine this time with their singing/rapping part. The lyrics
are also interesting and pretty straightforward, which is about how they have
to deal with the type of love that is fake and artificial.
It’s quite surprising to hear EXO tackle this kind of genre and
surprisingly, they nail it!
EXO members feel like they are on the sky whenever they are with
their girlfriend on the fourth track, Cloud
9. This song opened with
electronic sound and robotic voice, which also appears in the chorus.
But for the verses, EXO showcases their smooth vocal on top of
R&B beat. I love how they play out with their vocal on verses. It’s the
best part of the song while the electronic sound is the weak point of this
song. Their attempt in mixing electronic and R&B sound unfortunately don’t
work well here because it sounds disjointed.
EXO is back with old school R&B sound with Heaven. The strong beat reminds me of
their previous winter release, On TheSnow. But, Heaven adds piano
melody on it, which makes it sounds more romantic. This is also one of the few
songs in this album where the line distributed fairly between each member.
Heaven is actually quite cheesy from its music to its lyrics. Chanyeol
takes part in writing the lyrics where he falls deeply in love with a girl and
compliment her. But somehow, Heaven works
well.
It’s a breath of fresh air among previous electronic sounds. Heaven is simple yet catchy. You will
enjoy listening and singing to this song out loud.
Forget falling in love because EXO is now missing their girlfriend
in White Noise. This is another song that mixed R&B and
electronic sound. However, this song is different from Cloud 9 where the electronic and R&B sound changes between one
another. Both sound, represented by synthesizer and strong beat, comes in
parallel.
This unique combination has a potential to make White Noise becomes interesting.
Unfortunately, the combination itself makes the music a bit noisy and
overshadows the vocal. The constant similar beat that appears throughout the
song also could make people bored. Fortunately, the rap part adds more kick to
the song and save it.
One and Only is an interesting song. This song has a strong hip-hop beat for
its music. But, EXO members sing this song with a soft vocal. It’s a contrast
that works well.
EXO vocal once again shines in this song. Their softness vocal and
synthesizer effect gives off a dreamy vibe that fit the song lyrics. One and Only tells a story about how EXO
just only want to be together with their girlfriend.
I like the ending chorus too where the vocal line sings different
lyrics at the same time. Also, Chen owns
this song. His clear vocal suits this type of light song.
Despite of the recent sampling issue, They Never Know remains to be one of my favorite tracks in this
album. This song just screams “EXO style” for me because of its strong R&B
beat. The members also show gorgeous vocal along with harmonization, especially
Baekhyun. The lyrics itself is
pretty interesting, which is about how people will never know about what EXO
members feel about their girlfriend.
The similar beat throughout the song has a chance to make They Never Know becomes boring. However,
EXO play it out a little bit by putting an exotic beat drop after chorus. This
is another attempt from them to try something current.
The last track, Stronger is
the only one ballad track. This song reminds me of old school R&B tracks
from artists like Boyz II Men. It’s
because of the soulful vocal and harmonization. Chen, Baekhyun, Suho, and D.O once again show their vocal capability here.
Stronger also reminds me with their previous ballad track, My Answer because both tracks have
lovely piano melody. However, the harmonization and vocal makes Stronger has more interesting dynamic.
The lyrics add plus point for this song too. It talks about how
their girlfriend gives them strength during hard times. This is quite relatable
to EXO itself if you remember several hardships that they face for these past
several years.
EX’ACT let EXO takes different direction on their music. They
still keep their signature R&B sound while wrapped it in more current
electronic sound. All tracks in EX’ACT are enjoyable to listen for a long time.
Every EXO member also shows vocal improvement, especially Sehun and Kai, while
Chen shines brightly in this album.
Despite being enjoyable, most songs in EX’ACT lack of something
that makes them stand out. You can easily point out the stand out songs in
their previous album, EXODUS and
imagine the live performance. But, it’s harder to do this in EX’ACT. The
similar sound throughout the album contributed to this too. I also notice that
most of the songs are not really performance type of song.
Still, EXO keeps their consistency in releasing solid album with
EX’ACT even though this album still below its predecessors.
My Favorite
Tracks: Lucky One, Monster, Artificial Love, Heaven, One and Only, They
Never Know, Stronger
Rating: 3.5/5
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