After a year of waiting, Exo have finally made their comeback with their new track, Wolf. Awoooooooo…
Concept
Similar to their debut track, Mama, Wolf sees Exo coming back with a very strong, yet unusual concept. Considering the concept is, well, wolves, a lot of things about the video and song are harsh, strong and aggressive. As a whole, Exo does this concept wonderfully, and it’s very memorable. I think even if people don’t like it at first, they’ll remember it well. It seems like the kind of concept that would grow on you after a little while.
It has taken me a few days to post this review seeing as initially after watching the MV, I had thought that there were going to be two versions of the MV seeing as one of the teasers had contained clips of what looks like the members fighting over a girl. I thought it made sense to review both at the same time, so I waited. But nothing else has been explained about those scenes in the teaser. Some people have been speculating that those clips could in fact be for a video for another song, and seeing as nothing official seems to be have been released (at the time that I’m writing this) about a second version of the MV for Wolf, I’m not really sure what will happen.
So today, I’m just going to talk about the MV that has already been released, which focuses on the members dancing. I might have thought that seeing as the concept is wolves, they might have spent some time in the MV outside in the wilderness or something, but in typical SM style they’re inside fairly empty rooms. Granted, this time around the rooms are a little more elaborate than usual with some fancy archways and architecture, which gives a very dark, Romantic, and Gothic feel to the video, an almost sinister vibe which matches the sound of the song very well.
So, while the video setting in itself isn’t particularly groundbreaking, we do get to see some pretty cool CGI effects of a few of the members as wolves at certain times in the MV, which was unusual and an interesting concept to add to the video. The addition of the member’s red eyes at certain points of the MV, whether done by contacts or post-production editing, was another little eye-catching concept they added which I think works really well. I gives the MV another little bit of edginess and works well with the overall concept.
I was quite pleased to find that all things considered, the style and clothing used in this video was actually quite toned down from what I thought might have come with a wolf concept; I was happy to find no fangs in the MV or massively over the top clothing. The style used isn’t out of place with the type of concept as it is mostly quite dark clothing and stylishly messy hair, but it doesn’t seem to have much cohesion to it or a common theme among the members. I say this because we see Kai looking urban with cornrows and baggy clothing, but then we see members like Chen and DO with more typical boy band blazers and slacks, and even Luhan with his mesh and feather top. The style seems to suit each member, but I fail to see how it all fits together apart from that the colour scheme tends to be similar. I suppose this isn’t really a huge problem, it’s just that I can imagine that it might seem unusual if a non-kpop fan were to watch this video and see one member looking like he should be in a hip hop video whereas the others really don’t.
In a similar vein of thought, I don’t think that some of the fashion and styling would be the most suitable for UK potential fans, such as the aforementioned feather and mesh top. I have said it before, the UK is used to women dressing in outrageous outfits, but most male singers and groups tend to stick with blazers and shirts, so outlandish male Korean fashion might just be labelled as ‘weird’. This would probably be something they might want to tone down if they wanted to release Wolf in the UK. At least the makeup was fairly minimal in this MV and quite effective, as really obvious makeup would probably put off potential UK listeners. Some of the members also rock some manga-inspired hair which is also pretty cool.
In comparison to their debut and the usual splitting of the sub-units, Wolf sees all twelve members of Exo singing or rapping in the song together. Considering that this concept is about wolves, it’s actually a brilliant idea to keep them together as it might seem a little ironic to split up a wolf pack, and the members must appreciate being able to promote together too, as they often spend a long periods of time apart in separate countries. This might be a little overwhelming for non-fans seeing as there are so many members and that’s not something we’re used to here as most groups tend to be comprised of four or five people.
UK Potential: 3.5/5
Choreography
The choreography for this song is very visually impressive, and the large number of members in the group adds to this and makes some of what you see possible. For example, the points in the video where they are running around and jumping over each other, it seems like they have really become wolves and taken on a pack mentality with the way they move around each other, and this wouldn’t look so striking if there was only half the number of people doing it. At times the dance feels almost violent, and most of the moves are aggressive, masculine and downright cool which matches well with the wolf concept.
Throughout the dance, you often see the group split into little sub-groups so not all the members are always dancing at one time. Even for a fan it can be a little hard to keep up with who’s coming and going from one part of the dance to the next, but the times when there’s only half the members on screen everything looks a little cleaner and sharp, but the times when all twelve of them are together makes everything look a bit wild which also matches the concept well. Considering there are twelve of them, they make the dancing look instinctual and effortless despite the way it seems like they never really stand still.
I think that one of the most notable moves would be during the chorus and they use their hands to make it look like they have wolf ears, this feels like it should look amusing, but it’s actually a really cool move. Many more of the dance moves are memorable, but I must say that some moves that also made me chuckle a little; there’s a move towards the end of the video where they slide one of their feet along the ground rapidly almost as if they’re a bull getting ready to charge which looks a little odd, and even some of the wolf jaw movements looked a little funny. Overall, the choreography is incredibly fast-paced and energetic and they genuinely look like a pack of wolves who are hunting or something. Exceptionally well done.
I think that even if some of the moves can seem a bit funny at first, I think it’s safe to say that many of them are begging to be recreated by people. I think if this song were to be released here in the UK, the powerful dance would really help the song be memorable to non-kpop fans, and even if they don’t like the song, they’d have to admit the dance is impressive.
UK Potential: 4/5
Song
As per usual with Exo, Wolf has both a Chinese and Korean version, but this time all 12 members have parts in each version. This song, like a few others that SM has recently produced, sounds like it could be a mash-up of a few different types of music; it’s an electronic track, heavy on the synths, and contains a mix of rapping, rap talking and singing. It has a very unusual and different sound that I think has made a lot of people unsure as to whether they like it or not; it seems to grow on people after they have heard it a couple of times. I have also found that it is an exciting sounding song for some, while others completely hate it.
There is powerful rapping, and layered, impressive vocals from the members, and the chorus is very catchy and it’s bound to get stuck in people’s heads. A lot of people also seem undecided on the howling and auto-tuned voice saying ‘saranghaeyo’, but personally I think it sounds pretty awesome. I can see why people would think it’s odd, but I don’t think that’s a definitive answer to whether the general public here in the UK would think that too.
Despite the title being Wolf, I was a little surprised when I read the translated lyrics and found out what the song was really about; essentially it boils down to a guy liking a girl but he wants to eat her because of these feelings. I don’t really know what I expected from this song, but I’m pretty sure a kind of cannibalism wasn’t it. But now knowing that this is what the song is about gives it a bit of an edge, and I kind of like it even more because it’s strange and a little dangerous. One thing about checking out the translated lyrics of the song is that many people think that the Chinese version has better lyrics, seeing as the Korean version contains lyrics about cheese and toenails. No, I’m completely serious.
There isn’t much English used in this song, in either the Korean or Chinese versions, but what little English can be found is the odd word scattered throughout the song. The most notable is the use of the word ‘wolf’ in the chorus, which has been pointed out to me that it seems to be being pronounced more like ‘olf’. If I’m honest, I didn’t really notice that seeing as the title of the track is Wolf and this is clearly what they’re saying. The only other English that I could really find was ‘situation’. The English used is pretty well pronounced in my opinion, but seeing as there’s so little of it, I don’t think it would be the end of the world if it wasn’t.
UK Potential: 3.5/5
Highlight: – Kai’s ‘raised by wolves’ tattoo is boss.
Overall UK Potential: 11/15
Seeing as right now, Wolf has an MV containing all the members for both the Korean and Chinese version, so which would they pick if they were going to release the song in the UK? Kpop has been put on the map by Psy, so the Korean version has an ‘in’ there, but the population of Chinese speaking people in this country will be much higher than Korean, so that could be the more logical option. But if a drama version of the MV is also released, would that be better suited for the UK? It’s hard to tell right now. What do you guys think?
With such a strong and powerful concept, this song and MV would be quite memorable if it were to be released in the UK, and the dance is no joke. I think at the very least, people would be impressed by the choreography.
What do you guys think of Exo’s comeback? Let us know!
