This must be my first time here talking about EXO in general and not in secrecy as I have in my poems and hidden words. When I first created this blog, it was dedicated for KPOP but I guess time was never a good friend to me as I was well occupied with homework and school and best friends. Almost a few months ago, I deleted all of my existing posts that I had gradually posted under this blog which was formerly known as niasm.blogspot. I thought I needed a change of environment as I have been reading a lot of poetic and classic books after I graduated from high school. I have always been a book worm since high school but with so much work as a student, books were just a company and never a lover to me until a few years back when I have enough time to spend on reading book and finishing it in a few days. So, I thought of using this new blog to post my own poem under n.m as my initial and a few of my admired poems from my favorites poets. As far I remember, I have created almost 17 lousy poems under n.m and they were from various genres if I can put it in that way.
Back to the previous topic where I begin my post with the introduction of EXO, I bet most of my readers if there is any; are not so familiar with EXO, as a lot of my friends too. So, don't worry because you are not alone. Two years ago when I was basically frustrated and depressed with my college life, I was thinking of finding something fun for my life even though we all quite know how boring my life can be even if it is accompanied by the funniest stuff ever. I think there is no way to change that. How poor. I was a KPOP lover for almost five years now. A friend of mine introduced me to Super Junior and I remember me falling head over heals with Kyuhyun. He was very charming despite being a new member and the youngest of all.
But then, he leaded me to Kibum, the second youngest from 13 members. He was this quite and good looking, and he was pointed as the visual for the group. Seeing all that in him, I couldn't help but falling harder for him especially with his mysterious personality. He didn't talk much as I could recall from my memories. Usually, in interviews, he stood behind his brothers and listened to their talk and never said a word unless it was requested by the interviewer.
Liking Super Junior in general and Kibum and Kyuhyun specifically, was a really good memory to me. They gave me an insight of what KPOP is all about, even it if is only on the surface and not as a whole big picture. I laughed and cried with them, with their wittiness and fondness towards each other. How after five years, everything has changed and they are no longer a 13-members group. Gradually, too much problems came up and people who stay are still there but a few of them has subsided into their own ways. Kibum, for example, despite being quite and mysterious is becoming a great actor on his own. With all rumors saying he is no longer a member of Super Junior, I still believe he belongs to one of them until today.
Through Super Junior, I got to know 2PM and 2AM but I have to admit that I was more into 2PM than 2AM, mostly because they reminded me of Super Junior's wittiness and fondness. A seven member group was introduced by JYP Entertainment, one of the big three along side SM Entertainment which Super Junior belongs to and YG Entertainment. Park Jaebum was my ultimate bias from this group and they were funny and talented. They were introduced as 'Beastly Idols' and acrobatic dance styles became one of the main focus in their choreography. They came up like a storm as they stroke a million hearts from various ages in a very short time. Two years premier to their debut, a controversy swiped away Park Jaebum, the former leader of 2PM from his spot in the group. Personally, I thought the controversy was ridiculous to begin with. If you google it you should know what I am talking about. But who cares, Park Jaebum makes his return in KPOP on his own as Jay Park and becomes successful under a new company called Siduq HQ where he can compose his own song and dance and is not tied to company's genre of music at all. So, cheer up.
So, since that moment, I believed in nothing KPOP music industry has to offer me. I listened to a few KPOP songs but that was all. I have been focusing more on kdrama and kvariety like Running Man which I believe is known to a lot of people here in my country. But then, EXO happened and I am still not sure if their existence in my life is needed or not for the time being.
This is a very long post and I am sorry but after a very long introduction, I am about to have a real talk about EXO.^^
And again, I want to highlight that EXO HAPPENED to me two years ago. Truthfully, I did checked out on KPOP once or twice a month when I was in my frustrating years over the withdrawal of Jay Park from 2PM but there was this one time when I was on Youtube and a video was uploaded on my what to watch or timeline or whatever it was called, and it was a video of SM's new trainees so I kinda got interested who was the new ones and I clicked on the link and there were these two guys crossing the street; one in a denim jacket and pants and the other one who I thought was a kid and apparently he was until recently though. I came to conclusion that it was such a weird video but then I got curious to know who was the one in the denim jacket cause he looked so attractive and mysterious and quite but he also had this looked that he would take care of everything so just calm down. Like leadership or the likes. They were both rumored to be in a new group debuting under SM Entertainment but then that was it. I got busy with my college as I was in my final year of foundation study and I needed to get good result and thank God, I passed. In that time, their teasers came out and there was rumor saying that they were going to have two subgroups of EXO namely EXO-K and EXO-M, each with six members, where they both actually belong to one group but the only different was that they were going to promote in two different languages and regions; Mandarin and Korean, China and South Korea. EXO-K is composed of all six Korean members but EXO-M has four Chinese members in the group and two Koreans. I thought that was a very surprising new strategy brought by teacher Lee Soo Man. I wondered myself if this new strategy was going to work and obviously it did and I worried for nothing. When I saw all of 23 teasers, I was most attracted to Tao's teaser when he did his martial arts; wushu and it was very strange to my thinking for a young man who practices martial arts in his life to debut as a singer and dancer but I was wrong about him, of course. Teacher Lee Soo Man would never have brought someone with one talent into his company and again I was worried for dust.
Both subgroups released their two prologue singles alongside its music videos in two months time, titled What is Love and History and both are available in Chinese and Korean. When I watched Chinese version of What is Love, it took me, exaggeratedly, a thousand years to finally recognized the guy who was in denim jacket in the previous mentioned video was in it too. So, when their debut song, MAMA came out, they were introduced with a concept as people or aliens that came from exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system and they have superpowers and this guy which I got to know was named Kris as his stage name, was said to have the ability to fly.
I always think it is such a nice ability to be able to fly. There was a time when I wished to be a bird in my next life, that was when I was not mentally stable to be very honest. I started to find more information on Kris and it was said in his profile that he did not went under the knife for any parts of his face so he was naturally natural and I compared his before-debut pictures with recent ones and to my shock, he looks the same. I thought that was just a company statement on their artists' profiles. Kris also likes to read books, especially inspirational ones, which surprisingly same to me. He likes to draw and he convinces himself that he is the next Picasso when everyone, until now, still has no ways to convince him back that he is just a delusional Kris. I like to draw too, except maybe I draw better paintings than Kris. Sometimes, in spite being a leader to EXO-M, he doesn't really talk much. He usually does what it takes, introduction for example, and the next thing we all know, he stays behind his members and let them do all the talking. So, that was how I become interested in EXO and all of its small details. I heard nothing of them for almost a year or so, especially in addition to my busy college life.
But, this year around May, when SME decided to have a comeback for EXO after a freaking one year, I was more than just happy and enthusiastic that I got to see them again. They decided not to make a split promotion like the one they did with MAMA, instead they do the promotion together, mainly situated in South Korea with all twelve members, t o g e t h e r. I felt bad at first since we have Chinese members in the group and they were not going to be home for let us say five to six months. Given the time to me, I say, it is a very long period to refrain yourself from your family and parents. The subgroups collaborated for the album's, XOXO lead single, Wolf but the rest of the album was recorded separately given EXO-K and EXO-M. Both albums were then released with a Korean Kiss and Chinese Hug versions. Their songs topped in almost all charts after its release in South Korea and mainland China.
After just a month, SME decided to have another comeback of EXO and of course as a fan of them, I would be happy to spend my money again on them. That is of course a sarcastic comment. They made a comeback with Repackaged Album of XOXO with a song titled Growl (what a weird song title to choose). They are said to be charts killer nowadays especially with their 11th win for Growl yesterday and their first Triple Crown, they proove to be more than just a rookie group. But again, it would be really weird to listen to other rookie groups or their juniors calling them seniors.
Truthfully, I have spent almost RM400 alone on Growl and more to come especially with SM POP STORE's opening in Seoul last few months and Boy Who Cried Wolf (BWCW) STORE's opening last month. I would say, they are my money sucker, strongly supported with the fact that I am going to MTV WORLD STAGE this coming Sunday to actually see them in real life. Can you feel my excitement? And I am also planning to go to South Korea this year or next year with God's will to visit their stores and might bump into them for real. That is another thing to be excited about, don't you think?
It is almost their time to say good bye and it is decided by SME that both subgroups are going to have a split promotion again and I am dreading and I am both sad and happy that the Chinese are going back to their home land after a very long time even though they did went back for interviews and variety shows' appearances and that they are going for separate ways again. I hope this only lasts for a while since I want to see them together again especially my otps. They, being together are going to be missed.
I guess that is all for EXO from me. I am sorry that I have Super Junior and 2PM hidden among EXO's topics but it is my journey to knwoing EXO after all.
(n.m)
