EXO-M: Black shadow knights, shaking with rustles
Heroes are always afraid of loneliness, they worry for that single short moment when their own powers will disappear, this type of strong heroic plot is none other than the knights who are loaded to go out at any time within the castle, they stand on the pinnacle of loneliness, having the cruel wind hit against them in the dark night, nodding and smiling, gazing like fireworks, persistent, arrogant, modest, they will always jump up immediately once they are given an order, their out of the world charm explodes.
Who are they?
EXO-M, they are musicically talented kids who accidentally came from a planet that is outside our solar system, this Chinese-Korean idol group was first pushed out to the public’s eyes on the 22nd of December in 2011 and there were non-stop online promotions, and before they even officially debuted, they already had a group of fans. Since their debut date of 8th April to now, in a time of not even half a year, on Weibo, they’ve already received 518, 112 hearts of the fans, many fans have also gathered outside their shooting stages, even fans who come from all sorts of places.
Then are not groundless, but premeditated. Instead of keeping to a typical idol group’s style, the men kill the entire audience in a single second with the handsomeness of their different styles. They’re known as a Chinese-Korean mixed local group that focuses on Chinese people, four of members are mainland Chinese men, Kris, whose ancestry comes from Guangzhou’s Kris, Qingdao’s Tao, Changsha’s Lay and Beijing’s Luhan, in addition, the two Korean members, Chen and Xiumin, they are a mixture of Chinese-Korean culture and they bring about a sense of impact that has fresh yet curious visuals. This is a skilful dance group that was introduced by Korea’s biggest entertainment company, SM, after training them for many years, they have spent quite a lot of thinking before introducing the group out; EXO-M focuses on attacking the Chinese market, while there is the sub-group, EXO-K, that focuses on the Korean market. These two new groups will promote on the same day, the same time, promoting the same song but in Chinese and Korean respectively; Separately debuting in two different countries, this fresh method has attracted everyone’s attention.
Even though they have many members, please remember every member’s name, it isn’t difficult and on stage, you’d be able to find each member’s specialty easily. Cool and serious, silently looking at the surroundings, it has to be leader Kris; Luhan, this bright and sunny child, cute even when he’s answering questions; Tao, who has the impression of a thinker, and compared to his biting cold wushu skills, before speaking, his thoughts are mature; funny and direct Lay, who will calm down once he’s on stage, a bright kid who speedily replies questions; even though Chen’s Chinese is not too good, he converses as though he knows the language well and he will look at you directly in the eyes; and also, when told that he looks similar to Wonder Girls’ Sohee, Xiumin will give a rather awkward smile.
Off stage, the six of them still look like shy and innocent men, but they have already made their footprint in China’s pop music billboard charts. As they trained in Korea for many years, every single member has their own powerful skills, not only that, the chemistry they have with one another continuously grows deeper. On the outside, they are teammates but on the inside, they are brothers. The cultivation of their chemistry has to be from conversing with one another in their daily lives, communicating with one another, expressing their opinions when they meet something, everyone expresses their views; If the leader can’t make the decision, then, it’d be left to the Manager to decide.
“Unite”, is the most important quality in Kris’s ideal group. “We are one”, is a team’s soul.
Building their dreams on the group
When they sang the first note on their debut stage, when they danced the first dance move, the infinite amount of sweat that they once had, the infinite amount of lost days and nights were finally fulfilled on their debut stage on the 12th Music Billboard Annual Ceremony.
If the power of one is tiny, one’s abilities are not sufficient to grasp such a huge dream, then if it were six men, a group, then, you can make the dream become infinitely bigger.
Every song in the mini album, are their dreams coming true., as the mini’s title song, in their interpretation it received an incisive and vivid display, “This song succeeds our company’s SMP style, strong, mysterious, domineering, it shows our bravery and determination when it comes to music,” the leader introduces. “‘If you look at the content of the lyrics, you will know the story inside of it. Apart form the style that is filled with manliness, there are also many dance moves that ought to be mentioned, Lay confidently showed off their signature dance step in .
Heroes are always afraid of loneliness, they worry for that single short moment when their own powers will disappear, this type of strong heroic plot is none other than the knights who are loaded to go out at any time within the castle, they stand on the pinnacle of loneliness, having the cruel wind hit against them in the dark night, nodding and smiling, gazing like fireworks, persistent, arrogant, modest, they will always jump up immediately once they are given an order, their out of the world charm explodes.
Who are they?
EXO-M, they are musicically talented kids who accidentally came from a planet that is outside our solar system, this Chinese-Korean idol group was first pushed out to the public’s eyes on the 22nd of December in 2011 and there were non-stop online promotions, and before they even officially debuted, they already had a group of fans. Since their debut date of 8th April to now, in a time of not even half a year, on Weibo, they’ve already received 518, 112 hearts of the fans, many fans have also gathered outside their shooting stages, even fans who come from all sorts of places.
Then are not groundless, but premeditated. Instead of keeping to a typical idol group’s style, the men kill the entire audience in a single second with the handsomeness of their different styles. They’re known as a Chinese-Korean mixed local group that focuses on Chinese people, four of members are mainland Chinese men, Kris, whose ancestry comes from Guangzhou’s Kris, Qingdao’s Tao, Changsha’s Lay and Beijing’s Luhan, in addition, the two Korean members, Chen and Xiumin, they are a mixture of Chinese-Korean culture and they bring about a sense of impact that has fresh yet curious visuals. This is a skilful dance group that was introduced by Korea’s biggest entertainment company, SM, after training them for many years, they have spent quite a lot of thinking before introducing the group out; EXO-M focuses on attacking the Chinese market, while there is the sub-group, EXO-K, that focuses on the Korean market. These two new groups will promote on the same day, the same time, promoting the same song but in Chinese and Korean respectively; Separately debuting in two different countries, this fresh method has attracted everyone’s attention.
Even though they have many members, please remember every member’s name, it isn’t difficult and on stage, you’d be able to find each member’s specialty easily. Cool and serious, silently looking at the surroundings, it has to be leader Kris; Luhan, this bright and sunny child, cute even when he’s answering questions; Tao, who has the impression of a thinker, and compared to his biting cold wushu skills, before speaking, his thoughts are mature; funny and direct Lay, who will calm down once he’s on stage, a bright kid who speedily replies questions; even though Chen’s Chinese is not too good, he converses as though he knows the language well and he will look at you directly in the eyes; and also, when told that he looks similar to Wonder Girls’ Sohee, Xiumin will give a rather awkward smile.
Off stage, the six of them still look like shy and innocent men, but they have already made their footprint in China’s pop music billboard charts. As they trained in Korea for many years, every single member has their own powerful skills, not only that, the chemistry they have with one another continuously grows deeper. On the outside, they are teammates but on the inside, they are brothers. The cultivation of their chemistry has to be from conversing with one another in their daily lives, communicating with one another, expressing their opinions when they meet something, everyone expresses their views; If the leader can’t make the decision, then, it’d be left to the Manager to decide.
“Unite”, is the most important quality in Kris’s ideal group. “We are one”, is a team’s soul.
Building their dreams on the group
When they sang the first note on their debut stage, when they danced the first dance move, the infinite amount of sweat that they once had, the infinite amount of lost days and nights were finally fulfilled on their debut stage on the 12th Music Billboard Annual Ceremony.
If the power of one is tiny, one’s abilities are not sufficient to grasp such a huge dream, then if it were six men, a group, then, you can make the dream become infinitely bigger.
Every song in the mini album, are their dreams coming true.
Their first music recording. “Compared to saying that it’s fun, it’s better to say that when filming, it gives us a fresh and curious feeling.” Lay shared with us the situation of that day, when everyone faced so many cameras surrounding them for the first time, it caused them to feel extremely shocked; On one hand, they were extremely nervous, on the other hand, they were extremely curious. “When the fast dance moves are being slowed down, that sort of wonderful stagnation of time and space feeling can’t be helped”, even though it’s a short MV of just a few minutes, but it gave them a good enough opportunity to show off their performance, their expressions were spot on, the match of their lip sync, the beat was captured, all of their understanding was fully displayed as though being enlarged.
The reason why dreams are precious, it’s because of the complication on the road of realization, everyone trains themselves in order to fulfill their dreams and it’s those people who work hard, who will receive the support of everyone. On stage, they who are still young and tender, that will gain the recommendation of the audience and seniors. Like DBSK’s Yunho, he’d directly go to their practice room and tell them about his experience of performing, like how to change the camera lenses, making expressions, winking, and how everyone should coordinate in order to produce the best effect, he unhesistantly gives them his support.
You might be worried for the Korean members, Chen and Xiumin who are debuting in China, honestly speaking, their Chinese ability isn’t that good, we hope that they will continue to work hard and even though they can’t quickly reply in Chinese during Chinese interviews, but they will work hard to use the Chinese phrases that they know and give you a direct and honest response. The image of them working hard, we really want to shout a loud “Fighting” in our hearts.
Moving forward, the youth exploration team that is never threatened
Using their own works to speak is every artists’ largest bargaining chip, yet also every group’s persistance and hard work, using their own ability to perfect a song, every dance is the most dedicating spirit. This kind of stubbornness and perseverance, drives them to continue moving forward, no matter their ages.
This idol group that is born from a noble pop music company, have not yet faded from seniors include Dong Bang Shin Ki, Super Junior, SHINee’s honour, hence, since the beginning, they were already receiving everyone’s attention, accepting a review. When interviewed, they appeared to be slightly shy, but their ambition will be aroused when they are on the stage of youth. That’s right, when they are not threatened by youth, they will chase after their dreams, banding together like strings of rope, with the members they will advance towards adventure with a big bang.
In May 2012, SM Entertainment released a documentary of the artists in the company, in the movie, it included many Korean representatives that made a storm in the world: Kangta, BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki… It represented the pinnacle of Korean pop in different eras. In this documentary, as rookies, EXO-M, were lucky enough to take part in a part of the filming, looking at the persistence and what their seniors had to give during their journey, it left behind an unforgettable shock to them, as the representative of this generation, they felt very honoured. They are also looking forward to that one day, as they grow to become a successful group, and everything that they have given will be remembered by their fans, by everyone in the world; Even though that day is a long way ahead, they are not willing to give up at all during this journey.
When asked about a dream that they have dreamt of recently, the six members, all thought of the same thing, their dream is to get the Rookie Award at the end of the year; In order to achieve this dream, they have never stopped fighting since their debut, as rookies, they cherish every performance, every chance of promotions very much and they try to comply to every request to the best of their abilities, off-stage, they also don’t give up and they practice the dance moves that they are already extremely familiar with, over and over again. To them, the road that rookies have to work, is still very long but the rising space goes without saying, the continuous self-motivation and rallying cries is the motivation for each other, like, before they go on stage, the six of them would gather together and have their hands tightly clutching onto each others’, the electronic waves from their hearts will release and the slogan of “fighting!” will be released in a split second; “Let’s love!”, this is their special way of encouraging one another and it’s also a shout towards every challenge that they face, that they will not feel threatened.
The reason why dreams are precious, it’s because of the complication on the road of realization, everyone trains themselves in order to fulfill their dreams and it’s those people who work hard, who will receive the support of everyone. On stage, they who are still young and tender, that will gain the recommendation of the audience and seniors. Like DBSK’s Yunho, he’d directly go to their practice room and tell them about his experience of performing, like how to change the camera lenses, making expressions, winking, and how everyone should coordinate in order to produce the best effect, he unhesistantly gives them his support.
You might be worried for the Korean members, Chen and Xiumin who are debuting in China, honestly speaking, their Chinese ability isn’t that good, we hope that they will continue to work hard and even though they can’t quickly reply in Chinese during Chinese interviews, but they will work hard to use the Chinese phrases that they know and give you a direct and honest response. The image of them working hard, we really want to shout a loud “Fighting” in our hearts.
Moving forward, the youth exploration team that is never threatened
Using their own works to speak is every artists’ largest bargaining chip, yet also every group’s persistance and hard work, using their own ability to perfect a song, every dance is the most dedicating spirit. This kind of stubbornness and perseverance, drives them to continue moving forward, no matter their ages.
This idol group that is born from a noble pop music company, have not yet faded from seniors include Dong Bang Shin Ki, Super Junior, SHINee’s honour, hence, since the beginning, they were already receiving everyone’s attention, accepting a review. When interviewed, they appeared to be slightly shy, but their ambition will be aroused when they are on the stage of youth. That’s right, when they are not threatened by youth, they will chase after their dreams, banding together like strings of rope, with the members they will advance towards adventure with a big bang.
In May 2012, SM Entertainment released a documentary of the artists in the company, in the movie, it included many Korean representatives that made a storm in the world: Kangta, BoA, Dong Bang Shin Ki… It represented the pinnacle of Korean pop in different eras. In this documentary, as rookies, EXO-M, were lucky enough to take part in a part of the filming, looking at the persistence and what their seniors had to give during their journey, it left behind an unforgettable shock to them, as the representative of this generation, they felt very honoured. They are also looking forward to that one day, as they grow to become a successful group, and everything that they have given will be remembered by their fans, by everyone in the world; Even though that day is a long way ahead, they are not willing to give up at all during this journey.
When asked about a dream that they have dreamt of recently, the six members, all thought of the same thing, their dream is to get the Rookie Award at the end of the year; In order to achieve this dream, they have never stopped fighting since their debut, as rookies, they cherish every performance, every chance of promotions very much and they try to comply to every request to the best of their abilities, off-stage, they also don’t give up and they practice the dance moves that they are already extremely familiar with, over and over again. To them, the road that rookies have to work, is still very long but the rising space goes without saying, the continuous self-motivation and rallying cries is the motivation for each other, like, before they go on stage, the six of them would gather together and have their hands tightly clutching onto each others’, the electronic waves from their hearts will release and the slogan of “fighting!” will be released in a split second; “Let’s love!”, this is their special way of encouraging one another and it’s also a shout towards every challenge that they face, that they will not feel threatened.
Q. Today’s theme is an English-style, what is the impression of English-style that you have in your minds?
All: Gentlemanly, rich, polite, and slightly melancholic.
Q. Can everyone use a single phrase to describe yourself?
Kris: Fashionable
Tao: Charismatic
Luhan: Handsome
Lay: Casual
Chen: Stubborn
Xiumin: Baozi
Q. Talking about England, the English-style, what is the first thought that comes to mind?
Kris: The Beatles
Tao: The image that appears in my mind, is a magazine that I’ve seen when I was young, like English-style traditional clothes, checkered skirts and the organ (T/N: The instrument), etc.
Luhan: English soccer, Manchester United
Lay: The cities of the past, London, streets that are very pretty and stylish
Chen: Suits
Xiumin: English gentlemen
Q. If EXO lived in a castle together, according to your personalities, what kind of role will each of the member play?
Kris: (Who wants to be the King?) Haha, I want to be the King or perhaps, the Prince!
Luhan: Maid? No, I’ve changed my mind, I want to be a little prince.
Lay: Bodyguard, a bodyguard who knows how to cook
Tao: Assassin, I want to silently protect the castle; When Lay can’t do his job, then I will come out
Chen: A commoner who lives in the city
Xiumin: Butler, the housekeeper who takes care of the house
Q. A necessity that you need to bring out?
Kris: Keys
Tao: Mask, MP3
Luhan: Wallet
Lay: Wallet, phone
Chen: MP3
Xiumin: Wallet
Q. Tell each other about the following member’s good habits or personality?
Kris: Loves to read, calm and has a sense of responsibility
Tao: Persistent, hardworking
Luhan: Casual
Lay: In the group, at times, he’s the moodmaker
Chen: I like to eat rice (He said this in Chinese), his appetite is good
Xiumin: He loves cleanliness, a cleanliness that is recognised by everyone.
Cr:superzhaocaimiao
trans cr; hyerin @exom-trans