Finns Feast on the Buffet: Reaction to EXO Tempo 엑소 템포
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- čas přidán 31. 07. 2024
- We watch EXO's most epic style salad yet. Xiumin's hair has us in agreement and Kay shops around for biases.
Join the journey: A K-pop addict shares her favorites. A non K-pop fan reacts for the first time.
#kpop #reaction #exo #tempo
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:13 Music video
05:14 Analysis & fan names
Edited by @JustEdits21 - Zábava
What kind of song has acapella and a bed spring sample?? Only the *best* song! The acapella is absolutely stunning. I love it when they flex their vocal chops. Chanyeol has such a vibe. Phew. Am I the only one who like Xuimin's hair? It made him look soft. Kay welcome to the EXOLs. I finally got the light stick last month, so I'm officially in. And the bed springs???? Well why not? LOL
I know, right?! I love that there are so many surprises and that things are genuinely delighting me! But seriously, it's not the light stick that makes you be officially in - it's liking the hair! :D -Kay
True fan, a person who appreciates the hair. I called it the Electric shock hair when the song came out.
The song is called "Tempo" and the album is named Don't Mess Up My Tempo, so, the tempo is intentionally a prominent part of the song. I think the tempo is also supposed to mirror the uncertainty and unsteadiness that EXO are feeling within the storyline in the MV and be the driving force spurring them on in the story.
However, if you read the lyrics, you see that in the song they are talking to a girl and they are telling her, "Don't mess up my tempo." And yes, part of the tempo in the song is created by the squeak of what is thought to be bed springs. (The underlying theme of the song is a tongue and cheek reference to sexual innuendo.) On the surface, the song and MV is meant to be enjoyed by the casual watcher and listener like you would any song on the radio, but if you want to delve in deeper and explore EXO's storyline, then there is so much more going on.
As an SM Entertainment group, it shouldn't be a surprise that EXO are amazing vocalists -- hence the acapella part in the song. SM is known as the vocal powerhouse, so all of SM's artists are outstanding vocalists. Fun fact: There wasn't supposed to be an acapella section in the song. The members were just messing around in the recording studio riffing with each other and the sound engineer loved it so much that they decided to put it in the song. EXO are known as the "Vocal Kings of Kpop" for a reason.
"Tempo" came out in 2018, so there are 9 members in this MV. (Only 8 members are in the group scenes.) This is special because it's the first time we have seen Lay, EXO's Chinese member, participate in anything with EXO since 2016 and you won't see him again in another EXO project until their "Don't Fight the Feeling" MV in 2021. However, although Lay was in this MV, you won't see or hear him sing or dance because you watched the Korean version, and at this time, because of the political issues between China and Korea, the Chinese government only gave him permission to appear in the Korean version, but he wasn't allowed to participate in the song. If you want to hear Lay sing you will have to watch the Mandarin version.
To understand the choices being made in this song and the story in the MV, you have to be aware that everything EXO is involved in, and I literally mean almost everything, is connected in some way to their concept and storyline. EXO's MVs are kind of like a movie -- it's a movie that has been going on for the past 11+ years -- since pre-debut -- and it has no sign of coming to an end any time soon.
EXO debuted in 2012 and from day one, the group's concept is that they are aliens from planet Exo and they came to Earth with superpowers to protect the Tree of Life from the evil Red Forces. As otherworldly beings, each of the members has a superpower that is unique to them.
The aesthetic of the "Tempo" MV is centered around the color red because the setting is supposed to be depicting the members under the Red Forces' control. What fan theories think is happening in "Tempo" is it's showing the members of EXO all trapped in separate dimensions. Each of those rooms, could possibly be a different dimension and that is why you see the glitches and why you hear Xiumin and Baekhyun with that computerized voice, because they aren't all in the same place at the same time, so their voices are being distorted as they try to connect between dimensions, etc. (Which could also explain Xiumin's hair.)
They also still could be trapped in different rooms within the maze, like what we see them in their "Overdose" MVs. For several of EXO's MVs we believe they are still trapped within the maze and they are continuously trying to find their way out. The maze seems to affect their connection to their powers and it clouds their minds and dulls their senses, so not only are they fighting the Red Force and X-EXO, but they are also struggling to break free from the fog the Red Force has them in. That's why we see some of the members just lazily sitting around and kind of blankly staring off into space at times.
Baekhyun is the one that is singled out in the MV and he is the one standing above everything looking down, so this is one example of where we think that maybe he is the only one who has avoided the Red Force's control and he is observing everything that is going on from the outside.
We see Chanyeol (one of the main rappers) being interrogated by Chen with the inkblot test and that is thought to be the members trying to figure out who are the real EXO members and who are the evil X-EXO members created by the Red Force -- or who are the real members and who are the clones. At this point everyone is suspicious of each other and no one can be trusted.
Also notice how the inkblot looks like it's shaped like a butterfly. The butterfly is also an important part of SM's Culture Universe storyline. We see a butterfly in EXO's debut "Mama" MVs in 2012, which is thought to be connected to the colorful butterfly that is Ningnig's symbol in aespa's story, so you will see it all the time in aespa's MVs starting in 2020 as she navigates through the digital world. You also will see a butterfly appear in several of SM's other groups' MVs, which is often used as a metaphor to represent a woman -- possibly representing a connection to the heart of the Tree of Life from EXO's storyline -- in each of the MVs, as a way to connect all of SM's storylines together. For example, there is also a white butterfly in NCT-127's "Favorite (Vampire)" MV from 2021, which is meant to represent the "vampire" woman that they are singing about, and it's even thought it could be connected to the white butterfly in SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong" MV from 2009. It also could be the white butterfly that helps aespa navigate through Kwangya in aespa's "aespa ep. 2 'Next Level' - SM Culture Universe" video in 2022, which would explain why we see a similar butterfly in all of SM's storylines. The butterfly appears to help everyone as they travel through Kwangya. (Everything SM does has to do with Kwangya -- even SM's new building where everything is created and produced is called Kwangya. Kwangya is the metaverse that all of SM's groups' and artists' concepts, and most of their MV storylines revolve around.)
Therefore, the butterfly inkblot could be used as a way to try and break the control the Red Force has over EXO and to remind them of the fact that they need to find their way out of the maze and to not forget what their mission is, etc.
Halfway through the MV Chanyeol's eyes and hair change color, so some think that this is either showing two different versions of Chanyeol who appear in two different time periods or dimensions, or one is Chanyeol the EXO member and one is Chanyeol the X-EXO clone. Often, when you see a character in one of SM's MVs with blue eyes or different eye colors this usually means they are not who they appear to be.
The silhouettes we see behind the lighted white wall or box also could be connected to the silhouettes you will see when you watch EXO's live remixed version of their song "Wolf" in concert. The silhouettes could represent the fact that EXO are battling with X-EXO for control. (And, now, it also could be connected to the silhouettes we see behind the white wall in SHINee's new "Hard" MV.)
The "Chess game" is thought to be supernatural EXO chess, and I don't think it's a game they are playing, but I think maybe it's something they are using to try to decipher a clue or figure out a way out of wherever the Red Force has them trapped at the moment. It's unclear right now what that scene is really telling us, but I have a feeling, things will become clearer in the future as more of EXO's storyline is unveiled in future MVs and as SM's SM Culture Universe storyline continues to evolve.
At one point we see them take those "chess" pieces and put them together to form a larger cube shape, which is thought could possibly be a model of the maze in which they are trapped in. And I think this also may be connected to the cube/labyrinth maze we see floating in the air in WayV's "Love Talk" MV in 2019 and the similar cube we see blocking aespa's way as they travel through Kwangya in aespa's ep. 2 video. And I think it might even be connected to the cubes we see in the sky in Kai's solo "Mmmh" MV in 2020, as well as the labyrinth cube we see SHINee's Key standing on top of in his solo "Gasoline" MV in 2022. (Baekhyun and Kai from EXO, Taemin from SHINee, Taeyong and Mark from NCT, Ten from WayV and Lucas who is a former member of WayV, are all members of the Kpop supergroup SuperM, which I think is why SM is creating connections between all of their groups' storylines, because it's all part of the same story. Plus, everything aespa does is connected to the SM Culture Universe.)
In SuperM's "One (Monster & Infinity)" MV, we see the members using a map to navigate through what is thought could be the maze that the EXO members are trapped in, as SuperM is coming to rescue EXO from the Red Force's control. And it could even have something to do with the fact that we see in SHINee's teaser video for their Hard album, that they are also trying to solve a maze, which -- because Taemin is a member of SuperM -- could possibly be SHINee trying to help EXO as well.
We also see EXO's Sehun (EXO's other main rapper) on the motorcycle in "Tempo", which I now think is connected to the scene where we see him driving a motorcycle in EXO's "Lightsaber" MV and sitting on the motorcycle in their "Don't Fight the Feeling" MV.
In the very last scene in "Tempo", that is Baekhyun with that glass cube. I am not sure what that means, but I am sure it's foreshadowing something to come in the future with EXO's storyline, and it probably has something to do with the fact that Baekhyun is the one that is singled out in most of EXO's story. (We also see Chanyeol with a glass cube, similar to the one Baekhyun has, in their "Love Shot" MV.)
Yesss, the red was so prominent there and I was so proud catching that it was a part of EXO world, so to speak! Loved the 'caught in dimensions' vibe, so good. -Kay
Just a TMI if you listen to the song in Spotify at exactly 00:45 there is an adlib that sounds like someone is roaring/screech (ackkkkk) Chen just recently shared that it was him who recorded that adlib 🤣🤣 in this video it’s the adlib at 2:01
Never noticed that adlib until he pointed it out just recently 🤣
No way 😂 Love that craziness! -Kay