Read my song review for What is Love? by EXO-K
EXO, the new band from SM Entertainment, is back with their second prologue song--not that any of us were sure what a prologue was the first time around. "History" is a dance track that features all six members of EXO-K, and compliments their previous ballad "What Is Love?" nicely.
The song starts with some interesting technological sounds, like an alien invasion with spaceships bleeping and landing. Then there's a kind of tribal or Caribbean beat, which fades quickly into the background as the vocals start. The tune is easy to sing along with, but the chorus is a little too monotone, like it's almost yelling without enough intensity to really be a shouting song. The vocals are solid and the rapping is good, though, so that counteracts the one-note chorus somewhat.
Themes: I think EXO has a planetary theme going on in their concept, because their whole band is technically referred to as EXO Planet and their first music video featured a lot of shots of the sky, sun, eclipse, etc. There's definitely some type of globe-planet-sky motif going on, probably because the band is supposed to be this pan-Asian force that promotes in Korea and China at the same time. The lyrics reflect this planetary theme and talk about traveling around the globe, making history on planet earth, and they include a lot more "earth" and "sun" imagery. These are kind of advanced lyrical themes for a dance track, so I'm pleased.
English: The first full line in English is okay, if a little too ghetto for EXO's image: "My heart be breakin'." Some K-pop artists can actually deliver lines of English slang with perfect attitude and confidence, but those artists (CL, G-Dragon, Tablo) are almost all with YG Entertainment, and SM Entertainment artists like Girls' Generation seem to have a tougher time pulling off this kind of phrasing. The next English line really doesn't work at all: "My pain be creepin'. " It's okay, EXO--I still like you. It's not your fault if you get assigned unusual lyrics.
Name bonus: The rapper in the band demonstrates how you actually say EXO's name: "Ex-Oh," whereas I had been pronouncing it "Eee-Ex-Oh" by sounding out each letter. With K-pop band names, you pretty much have to guess at how to say them until someone makes it clear.
Conclusion: Unlike their first song "What Is Love?" I don't think "History" is one that I'll keep turning to and hunting down on Youtube. I felt like "What Is Love?" was the kind of song you'd want to keep hearing over the course of a few months, but "History" probably isn't a song that will have listeners going, "You know what I'm in the mood to hear? EXO's "History"." This song is really quite good, but in my opinion it doesn't have that same unique and compulsively listenable quality as EXO's previous prologue.
My grade for the song: 3.5 of 5 stars
Watchable bonus: Here's the audio for "History"
And here's the MV. It doesn't have a wacky concept or a cool storyline; it's just your basic video of closeups and dance sequences, so it's not quite clicking with me. I'm think I'm about ten years too old to appreciate this:
Questions: So what do you think of "History"? Do you like it more or less than "What Is Love"? Are you keeping tabs on EXO-M, the version of the band that sings in Mandarin, or are you like me, just following the Korean half of EXO Planet?
Song Review: History by EXO-K Link Free Download
