EXO-SC On Tackling Hip Hop Genre In Debut Album, EXO Members' Reactions, And More

EXO-SC recently held a showcase for their first mini album “What a Life” and talked about various topics!

On July 22 at midnight KST, EXO-SC dropped the music video for their title track “What a Life” from their first mini album of the same name. Later, on the same day at 2 p.m. KST, the unit held a showcase that was hosted by EXO’s leader Suho.

The album features six hip hop tracks of various moods. Dynamic Duo’s Gaeko and hit composer team Devine Channel were in charge of the overall production, while hip hop group Rhythm Power’s Boi B, Hangzoo, and hip hop label AOMG’s producer Gray participated in composing the tracks. Sehun and Chanyeol also contributed two self-produced songs to enhance the album’s quality.

In particular, Chanyeol frequently visited the recording studio when it wasn’t his turn to record, showing his extraordinary passion and affection for the album. He said, “Until now, the members would come for their turn to record and go back to carry out their schedules because they were busy. This time, I had some personal time while preparing for the album. So whenever Sehun and Gaeko were recording, I always went to the recording studio. I wasn’t doing anything, but just sitting by them gave me a lot of good energy.”

Regarding the genre of their album, Chanyeol said, “There were many genres I wanted to try out, but I thought the hip hop genre was the best fit among them. I thought that the hip hop genre’s innate characteristics would be able to capture our lives more earnestly in a straight-forward way. We chose the genre to make an album that shows more of us. But instead of confining myself to hip hop, I opened myself up to [different options] as well and brainstormed a lot.”

Sehun and Chanyeol chose to form an unusual album with triple title tracks to show their diversity in music. The three title tracks are “What a Life,” which has bright and positive energy, “Faintly,” a song with a refreshing melody that goes well with the summer, and “You Can Call Me,” an emotional track.

Sehun explained, “The idea of having triple title tracks was not proposed by the company. While talking to Chanyeol, we were going to go with ‘What a Life’, but a week or two before the release, we thought the [other] songs were too good, so we actively pushed for having triple title tracks to our agency.”

Chanyeol added, “Personally, I had wanted to make all six tracks title songs. They all have different styles with various meanings, so I wanted everyone to listen to them based on their tastes.”

When asked if they wanted to stray away from the idol image while preparing the hip hop album, Chanyeol answered, “In my case, when my style as a singer was not firmly established at the beginning of my debut, I honestly wanted to be recognized by people, not be tied to my identity as an idol, and go somewhere higher. But as time went by, and when I was working on this album, I wondered why I had to escape from the fact that I’m an idol. We are idols, and I think we can do something new together as idols.”

According to reports, SM Entertainment’s founder Lee Soo Man gave positive reviews to the new songs. Chanyeol said, “Lee Soo Man said the lyrics were amusing,” and Sehun mentioned that they went to the album meeting because Lee Soo Man had invited them to attend if they were curious. Sehun shared, ‘[At the meeting,] as soon as he heard [the song], he said, ‘It’s so fun. It suits you guys very well. I don’t think we’ve ever had a song like this before at SM. The lyrics are funny, and they suit you.”

When asked about the reactions of the other EXO members, Sehun replied, “They weren’t jealous, and after they heard [the album], they said they really liked it. Yesterday, after the concert, Kai did a live broadcast on Instagram reacting to our music video. I watched it on the way here and thought, ‘EXO is the best. As expected, we are one.'”

EXO-SC also mentioned the future direction of their unit activities. Chanyeol said, “We want to show various aspects and not be limited to a single genre. I think we have a lot to show outside of music through [things like] fashion and performances, so we want to show our many sides.”

Chanyeol said, “It’s a little embarrassing for us to say this personally, but I think we are people who can have a big impact on our fans and those who love us. We want to make our good influence known more through music and other media. Our motto is to make [people] live a more pleasant life through us.”

In addition, Chanyeol talked about the public response he wanted to hear. He shared, “Of course, I hope you will love us. It’s a cautious remark, but we’ve worked really hard to prepare for [the album]. I hope you’ll see us without preconceived opinions. Of course, people can’t be 100 percent objective, but we, the people around us, and the company all said it was a great album. We want you to see us as we are without much bias.”

Lastly, Sehun added, “Whether the album is a success or not [depends on its performance on] music sites and music charts, but apart from that, we want people to be healed through our music and empathize with us. That’s all. It would be a plus if it did well and ranked high.”

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