Welcome to the World of EXO- Part 1

Sometimes, I don't understand myself; one day I could hate something and then I could love it the next day! Does this mean I'm bipolar, because at first I was very dubious towards EXO, but now I'm really interested in them. I suppose the reason for this being a combination of boredom and curiosity, and evidently, I have succumbed to both. I have looked at EXO, to what I think is, two different perspectives: the "Like Them" perspective and the "Don't Like Them" perspective, so here's what I think and my other initial thoughts on this group.

The two "faces" of their groups. How cute!

First of all, I'm going to address all my complaints and concerns in this post, so I'm sorry for all you Kai biases out there, but way back in EXO's "teaser" stage, I noticed a lot of Kai here, Kai there, Kai everywhere! Hey, I have nothing against Kai, he's a pretty cute Taemin look-alike and super talented, but there's a reason why Kai was the only member in EXO that I knew. SM made an obvious effort to promote Kai, but what about the other members? So, this goes without saying, but Kai is definitely a visual, or "face" of EXO. If you've read my other posts then you'll know I'm not a big fan of the "face" concept, but sometimes, it just happens, like when a member is recognized more because they happen to be on shows or dramas often (i.e. SNSD's Yoona or Infinite's L). This, however, is not the case, which is mainly what bugs me about SM. It's like from the get-go they decided to make Kai the "face".

Teaser No. 1278342 JK! I like the teasers!

My other complaints, not uncommon among netizens, is the whole "prologue" song thing. Let's not get all fancy and start calling songs prologues. Does this mean I should expect an epilogue song too? SM shouldn't make things too complicated.  At first I couldn't keep up with all the teasers, but now I see the necessity of having them. With all those members it's hard to memorize, so individual teasers introduce each person, but there were so many repeats of people. For example, I saw a lot of Kai, Lu Han, and Se Hun in teasers - not that I object, since I happen to like them-, BUT I think they should have kept it simple and straightforward: introduce all the members with one teaser each, and then maybe do some extra teasers on the side with EXO all together etc.  For me, all the teasers were overwheming, and I think the main problem with SM is timing. As they say, timing is everything, but SM waits a long time when it comes to marketing. Again, how long did we have to wait for Shinee to make their comeback? EXO took forever to debut; SM needs to know when to build hype and maintain it too.

Probably my favorite teaser!

Another thing, I have a love/hate relationship with the whole EXO-M and EXO-K thing. I love both groups, and I think it's great that SM wants to promote themselves more in China especially after the success of Super Junior-M and such. However; I'm worried that EXO-M might be neglected, because they're mostly going to be promoting in China, and their music industry is different from ours. Basically, I just want equal exposure for both groups; I would hate to see EXO-K more receive popularity or more advantages than EXO-M, because in comparison to the Korean EXO showcase, ,the Chinese EXO showcase had a smaller stage. Plus, their showcase wasn't even posted on SME's YouTube channel. It's unfortunate that most of my biases are in EXO-M too, so trying to find concerts and subbed interviews are going to be a bit harder to find.  Hopefully, SM has thought ahead, and knows how to make this work; otherwise this might pose a problem.

Leeteuk and Kai! Also cute!

With that said, we can't forget SM's reputation. Yes, it's an amazing company that has produced some of the most famous, most successful, and the most talented idols in the buisness, but as netizens, we all know the DBSK and the Super Junior scandals, so hopefully, SM has learned from some of their mistakes and hopefully EXO won't experience, if not the same problems, but at least different problems and less of them.
Lastly, the thing that pains me the most to say, is that with every beginning there is an end. I just became an ELF but I feel like EXO is for lack of a better word outshining Super Junior. This is to be expected because no K-pop group lasts forever, but that doesn't mean that Super Junior will ever be replaced by EXO or otherwise. They are legends that will always be loved by ELF's everywhere around the world. But this doesn't mean I don't like EXO because of this; rather EXO's debut makes me sad because it's another sign that Super Junior is getting older, age wise. So don't be hating on EXO just because they're the new kids on the block. We can equally love both Super Junior and EXO too. Love them as they are and as always, have an open mind.


PLEASE NOTE that I mean no offense to SME, EXO fans, or EXO; rather I am merely stating my opinion and my thoughts in this post. I make no judgments against them, and if you think I'm being critical, that's ok, but at least await my second one where I talk about all the things I LOVE about EXO. 

-A