Exo pick up tempo on album
‘Don’t Mess Up My Tempo’ marks the group’s first Korean release since 2017 EP ‘Universe’
Exo has returned to the music scene at full force with a muchanticipated fifth full-length album, Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, on Friday. Led by hip-hop dance track Tempo, the album consists of 11 songs that represent each member’s ‘supernatural power’. Ranging from electro-pop, reggae to R’n’B ballads and Latin pop, Don’t Mess Up My Tempo marks the group’s first Korean release since 2017’s winter-themed EP, Universe, and Lay’s return to the group since 2016’s For Life.
As soon as the group’s album dropped on iTunes, it climbed to the No 1 spot on the Top Albums chart in the UAE and 45 other countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Bahrain, Oman, Philippines, Thailand, Greece and Turkey.
Recorded in Korean and Chinese, Tempo topped multiple real-time charts in Korea and the local iTunes Top Songs chart. Other tracks such as Ooh La La La and Oasis, which American singersongwriter Bazzi helped compose, were seen in the Top 10 of the songs chart.
Along with a team of international music producers, member Chanyeol is credited with writing the lyrics for Gravity and With You.
The nine members adopted a biker concept for the sumptuous music video for Tempo.
Exo broke their own record, surpassing 1.1 album pre-orders of their latest album as of October 30. This declared them as a quintuple-million seller as all of their previous releases — XOXO, Exodus, Ex’act and The War — have hit the milestone.