Despite everything they have been through, EXO has always come back better and bigger. Having a comeback performance at a concert? Performing not 1, not 2 but 9 new songs? Something brave from a group that debuted just 3 years ago. The second installment of the EXO PLANET concert, EXO’luXion, a clever wordplay which is a combination of EXO and Revolution with the Roman number ten (X), showcases EXO’s resolution for their new tour with a unique and upgraded performance.
Having sold out their concert tickets as soon as sales started proves the popularity of the 10 talented performers. 5 shows in 1 venue, is an achievement to behold. EXO held their press conference in Seoul ahead of their concert, and K-popped! has the deets..
Question: How do you feel about your second tour?
SUHO: We never thought that we would have our second concert in a short span of time. I’m very happy that we were able to meet our fans again. With the concert, we’ll show that EXO has grown and improved. It will be very meaningful to us and the fans.
Question: EXO is the first idol group to hold 5 consecutive concerts at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, how do you feel about that?
SUHO: This is also the place where we held our first concert last year and this is also where we watched our seniors perform. We held 3 consecutive concerts last year, and 5 consecutive ones this year. I guess its thanks to the love we received from our fans and everyone else. We’re really thankful for that. Our seniors have been very hardworking, and that’s why we get this opportunity today. We’ll show everyone our best.
EXO leader SUHO
Question: Your concert tickets were sold out really fast. Any message to your concertgoers?
Chanyeol: When I heard that the online ticketing site crashed on the day our concert ticket started selling, and ticket sales were delayed, I was shocked. For our concert last year, tickets were also sold out very fast. We’re very honored to receive the love and support from the fans. Why do they want to see our concert so badly? (asking SUHO)
SUHO: Ah, firstly, I think our members have unique personalities. They’ll be able to see many things. We prepared stages that is a mix of ballad to fun and cheery for everyone to enjoy. There may even be tears in the end. (everyone laughed)
CHEN: I feel that our fans can only watch us on TV and wait for our comebacks. But its different with concerts, we are able to breath the same air as our fans and become closer. That’s probably the reason why the fans want to see us.
Question: Since this is your 2nd time holding a concert, how is this concert different than the last one and a few members cried during the concert, why?
SUHO: As to why they were crying, I would like to know too, Chanyeol-ssi?
Chanyeol: You’re asking me why I cried? Actually, I didn’t want to cry, I wanted to keep on smiling in front of our fans. But seeing their faces while singing Promise (a new song from EXO), I almost cried, but held it in. At the last moment, the fans were holding up banners and shouting ‘Thank you‘, I felt touched and many thoughts flashed through my mind and the tears just fall.
Chanyeol: I was touched, the tears just start falling
CHEN: For me, when we were singing Promise, a song which was created through a combined effort by our members, the song expresses our gratitude to fans. This was actually my first time crying in front of fans. I’ll work hard to keep the tears in in the future. This is also our second concert, although we have had charismatic stages last year, we’ve improved and prepared more unique performances this year. The stages for this concert showcases the talent of our 10 members.
Baekhyun: If last concert was a stage that complimented our performance style, this time we’ll create a stage where we can cry, laugh and experience the concert together with the fans. So I hope everyone who came will participate actively.
Question: The song Promise, was composed by Lay, with lyrics written by CHEN and Chanyeol. Please tell us more about the creation process.
LAY: I wrote the song last year, around October or November. After I created the track and melody of the song, CHEN helped by singing a demo. The song was initially completed but I somehow lost the USB, and lost the song. I was thinking ‘Owh no, what do I do?’, as a lot of people liked the song. The creation process was also very difficult and complicated. Fans gave me the strength to recover the data. Even though I never recovered the USB, I managed to recompose the song.
CHEN: When we were creating the song, I thought of all the words of gratitude that we always tell our fans. But just using our performances are not enough to express our feelings of gratitude to our fans. So I compiled all the messages that our members want to tell the fans as well as promises into the song. Since the title is Promise, I hope that when fans listen to the song, they would want to keep their promise to us that they made before.
CHEN: We just want to express gratitude to the fans
LAY: I forgot to mention, this song is also titled ‘EXO2014‘
CHEN: As we received a lot of love in 2014, we chose this as an alternative title as a way to show our appreciation.
Tao: I was the one who came up with the title
Chanyeol: It was a very sincere alternative title.
Question: Please introduce your new title song
SUHO: Its called Call Me Baby. C-A-L-L M-E B-A-B-Y (spelling the title song to avoid the misunderstanding of the once trending on twitter – Call Me Daddy). I actually wanted to show it to everyone as soon as possible. We have filmed the MV, so I want to show it to everyone. But if we reveal it now, the excitement won’t be there, so we’ll reveal 1 minute and 15 seconds at the concert. Its a song that shows that EXO has matured
Question: EXO has been around for more than 2 years, with female fans ranging from 10-30 years old, but there are also males and people who are 40-50 years old who are not your fans. Any plans on winning them over?
Baekhyun: I believe everyone will like it if we cover popular songs made famous by our seniors. We will work hard to portray that image.
LAY: To add to that, I believe the essence of a singer is music. If we have a song that touches the hearts of males out there, I think they’ll gain a greater understanding of our music and in return begin to like us more. We’ll work hard on our music.
Baekhyun: Also, if their children like us, I’m sure they’ll look forward to us too, right?
Baekhyun: We'll work hard to portray a better image
Question: Can you explain more on your web drama “EXO Next Door”?
Chanyeol: This is the first time all 10 of us managed to work as a whole group in a web drama, titled EXO Next Door. We filmed it with high spirits from the beginning until the end. The trailer was shown during our concert. Since this is our first web drama, of course there are room for improvement. I hope that everyone will accept that and enjoy themselves while watching it. We had a lot of fun filming, I’m sure everyone will have fun watching it.
Question: Could you tell us when you’ll be having your comeback and plans when the concert is over?
SUHO: We’ll reveal our post-concert plans soon. In our concert, we’ll be singing a few songs off our new album, and as for the new album, it will be released soon. When we have our comeback, we’ll definitely be promoting in Korea, and begin our activities in China as well as the whole of Asia. It won’t be just a one-off performance, as we’ll also be holding concerts, I hope everyone will look forward to it.
EXO-L, look forward to the new album and the web drama EXO Next Door. Also look forward to more exciting performances from EXO!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank SM Entertainment for inviting us for the press conference and concert.
We were also at the concert. Read on what happened during the show:
