Exo (Korean: 엑소; stylized as EXO) is a South Korean boy group based in Seoul. Formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2011, the group debuted in 2012 with twelve members separated into two subgroups, Exo-K and Exo-M, performing music in Korean and Mandarin respectively.
Exo's first album XOXO (2013), which contained the breakthrough hit "Growl", was a critical and commercial success, winning both Disk Daesang at the 28th Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards. It sold over one million copies, making Exo the best-selling Korean artist in twelve years. Subsequent albums and EPs continued with strong sales, and Exo were ranked the most influential celebrity by Forbes Korea for the year 2014 and 2015. They have been named "the biggest boy band in the world" by media outlets, saying that "EXO are at the forefront of pop domination, with knife-point choreography seamlessly gelled to songs crafted by some of the world’s most gifted writers and producers, honed by their myriad of personalities and talents."
In May 2014, Kris filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to be removed from the group. Luhan followed suit in October 2014. In April 2015, Tao suspended his activities and subsequently followed suit in August 2015. Following their departures, Exo carried on with nine members. In July 2016, it was announced that the lawsuit between Luhan, Kris, and S.M. Entertainment had been settled: the two idols will maintain their contract with SM until 2022, S.M. Entertainment will contract out their work outside of Korea and Japan. to their current Chinese agencies—and they will "share related revenues with S.M. Entertainment."
History
2011: Formation
In May 2011, at a Hallyu
business seminar held at Stanford University, Lee Soo-man spoke about a
strategy of debuting a new boyband, in which they would be divided into 2
subgroups, promoting the same music simultaneously in South Korea and China by
performing songs in both Korean and Mandarin. After several changes, in
December 2011, the group finalized their name to Exo, taken from the word
exoplanet. They are divided into two subgroups, Exo-K ('K' for Korean) for
South Korea and Exo-M ('M' for Mandarin) for China. They debuted their first
televised performance at SBS's annual Gayo Daejun event on December 29, 2011.
2012: Debut and
Mama
Exo at SM Town Live World
Tour III in Singapore in November 2012
Exo-K and Exo-M's prologue single
"What Is Love" was released on January 30, 2012, in mainland China
and South Korea. The single peaked at number 88 on South Korea's Gaon Single
Chart. On March 9, the group released their second prologue single
"History", which was written and produced by Thomas Troelsen and
Remee. The single peaked at number 68 on the Gaon Single Chart and number six
on China's Sina Music Chart.
A concert for the group was
held in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on March 31. Approximately 3,000 fans from
8,000 applicants were selected to attend. A second concert was held in the
Great Hall of the Beijing University of International Business and Economics on
April 1.
Exo-K and Exo-M released
their debut single, "Mama", on April 8 followed by an EP Mama, on
April 9. The two sub-groups would be promoting the album separately in two
countries. On April 8, Exo-K performed on South Korea's music program The Music
Trend, while Exo-M made their debut in China's Top Chinese Music Awards on the
same day. The mandarin version of Mama reached number two on China's Sina Album
Chart, while the Korean album peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and
number eight on the Billboard World Albums Chart. The mandarin version of
"Mama" music video reached number one on Chinese streaming websites,
while the Korean version reached number seven on YouTube's Global Chart. In
late April, Exo-M performed as a guest act for Super Junior's Super Show 4
concert tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In November, Exo won Best New
Asian Artist Group at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Exo-K received three
nominations at the 27th Golden Disk Awards, winning the Newcomer Award. Exo-M
received the Most Popular Group Award at the 2013 Top Chinese Music Awards.
2013: XOXO,
commercial success, and Miracles in December
Exo with South Korean
President, Park Geun-hye in China on June 28, 2013
The group's first studio
album, XOXO was released on June 2013 with two versions, a Korean-language
"Kiss" edition and a Mandarin-language "Hug" edition.
Unlike Mama era when Exo-K and Exo-M had separate promotions, XOXO was jointly
promoted; mainly in South Korea. Exo recorded together for the album's lead
single, "Wolf", but the rest of the album tracks were recorded
separately. The two versions collectively peaked at number one on the Billboard
World Album Chart a week after release.
A repackaged version of XOXO,
titled Growl, was released on August 5, 2013 with three additional tracks. The
reissue's lead single, "Growl", was released on August 1, 2013.
"Growl" achieved 10,554 points on The Music Trend charts, setting a
new number one record on the show. "Growl" reached number one on all
four of Korea's major music programs, winning a total of ten trophies in three
consecutive weeks. The single peaked at number three on Billboard's Korea K-Pop
Hot 100 and number two on the Gaon's Singles chart. As of December 2013, all
versions of XOXO have collectively sold over 1,000,000 copies, making Exo the
first Korean artist to sell over a million copies of one album in twelve years
and breaking the record for being the fastest-selling K-pop act. XOXO was named
Album of the Year at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making Exo the youngest
ever boy band to win the award. XOXO is the best selling album in South Korea
of 2013, winning the Disk Daesang Award at various award ceremonies like the
Golden Disk Awards and Seoul Music Awards.
Exo's second EP Miracles in
December was officially released December 9, 2013 as a special winter album
through South Korean commercial outlets and online music stores. Exo
jump-started album promotions through their reality show Exo's Showtime, which
premiered on November 28, 2013 on the cable channel MBC Every 1. Baekhyun,
Chen, and D.O. performed the EP's lead single, "Miracles in
December", at M! Countdown on December 5. Luhan also joined the trio on
stage for the lead single's promotions on other music broadcast programs.
Exo ended 2013 with six
albums in the Gaon's Yearly Top 10 Best-Selling Albums, including all their
2013 album releases in both the Korean and Chinese version as well as their
debut EP Mama.
2014: Overdose,
Kris' and Luhan's lawsuits, and first solo concert
Exo at the 16th Mnet Asian
Music Awards in December 2014
Exo's third EP, Overdose, was
released on May 7, 2014. Originally scheduled to be released on April 21, the
album was delayed due to the Sewol Ferry Accident on April 16. Overdose was
promoted similarly to Mama, with Exo-M promoting primarily in China and Exo-K
in South Korea. The album reached 660,000+ preorders before its release, making
it the most pre-ordered mini-album in history. The Korean edition also peaked
at No. 2 on Billboard's World Albums Chart, and No. 129 on the "Billboard
200", making Exo the highest charting Korean male group act on the
Billboard 200. Overdose became the best selling album in South Korea of 2014
and was the first mini album to top the yearly charts and win the Album of the
Year Award at Mnet Asian Music Awards. By the end of the calendar year, Exo was
Japan's biggest-selling K-pop artist of the year.
On May 15, 2014, S.M.
Entertainment confirmed that Exo-M's leader, Kris, had filed a lawsuit against
the agency to terminate his contract, stating violation of human rights as the
main reason. On October 10, Exo-M's Luhan also filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment
to nullify his contract, because of health issues and being treated differently
than the Korean members, therefore having no promotions.
S.M. Entertainment announced
that Exo would continue to promote with 10 members. The group held their first
solo concert "Exo from Exoplanet ＃1 - The Lost
Planet" starting May 24 at the Seoul Olympic Gymnasium. Tickets for the
concert sold out in 1.47 seconds, breaking the record for the fastest sold out
concert by a Korean artist.
2015: Exodus,
Tao's lawsuit, Japanese debut and Sing For You
Exo at the 24th Seoul Music
Awards in January 2015
Exo's second solo concert was
announced in January 2015 entitled Exo Planet ＃2
- The Exo'luxion. Five concerts were held in Seoul at the Olympic Park Stadium
starting March 7. 1.2 million fans had attempted to buy tickets online. On
February 4, 2015, S.M Entertainment filed a counter-suit against Kris and Luhan
for illegally continuing their promotions in China. The lawsuit was to stop
their acting and advertisement under the use of the S.M trademark.
Exo's second studio album,
Exodus, was released on March 30, 2015 in both Korean and Mandarin versions.
Domestic pre-sales for the album surpassed 500,000 within 24 hours, setting a
new record for pre-sales. The title track "Call Me Baby" was released
early on March 27, due to leaked versions of the song. The music videos were
released 4 days later, with the Korean version later becoming the most wached
K-pop music video in the first half of 2015. Exo also starred in their own mini
drama series titled Exo Next Door, which became the most watched Korean web
drama in 2015 until later being surpassed by member Xiumin's web drama, Falling
for Challenge. "Call Me Baby" proved to be successful, winning
eighteen times on music shows, making it the second most awarded song of all
times. The album's Korean version also broke records after staying at number
one on the album chart for four consecutive weeks. Exodus eventually went on to
sell over a million copies, and is the group's second album after XOXO to do
so. It was named Album of the Year at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making
this the third consecutive win in this category for the group since 2013. In
May, Exo broke the record on U.S. Billboard 200 as the highest ranking Korean
artist, topping at 90th place. Exo also entered the Canadian Billboard Hot 100
chart at number 98, making them the first K-pop group and second Korean artist
to enter the Canadian chart.
On April 22, member Tao's
father posted a letter through Weibo expressing his sentiments for his son to
withdraw from the group and return to China; due to lack of support concerning
individual career developments and health issues. Tao had previously sustained
several injuries which had not been properly treated that worsened and caused
him to be absent during promotions for the group's second studio album Exodus.
On April 23, S.M. Entertainment released an official statement saying that they
would be "seeking a solution in a developmental direction" by
negotiating with Tao and his father. Tao later confirmed that he had left S.M.
Entertainment and after failed negotiations, Tao filed an official lawsuit
against S.M. Entertainment on August 24 for the termination of his exclusive
contract.
On June 3, a repackaged
version of Exodus, titled Love Me Right, was released. This edition contains
the original tracks from Exodus and four new songs, including the title track
"Love Me Right". Due to Tao's absence, the group promoted the song as
9 members. On October 10, Exo became the first artist to hold a dome concert in
South Korea with "Exo - Love Concert in Dome" at the Gocheok Sky Dome
in Seoul. Tickets for the event went on sale on September 21, causing the
server to crash for over 50 minutes from high demand. In preparation for the
concert, S.M. Entertainment also released Exo's first official light stick,
which features a black wand topped with Exo's logo which displays a white
light. 20,000 fans attended the concert.
On November 4, Exo released
their debut Japanese single "Love Me Right ~romantic universe~",
which contains the Japanese version of "Love Me Right" and an
original Japanese song titled "Drop That". On the day of its release,
the single sold a total of 147,000 copies and reached the top of the Oricon
chart, becoming the best selling debut single in Japan by a Korean artist of
all time. As part of the Exo'luxion tour, Exo performed for 145,000 fans at the
Tokyo Dome from November 6–8, breaking the
record for the shortest amount of time since debut to hold a concert at this
venue. On November 9, Exo released a special single titled
"Lightsaber" to promote the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens ahead
of its release in South Korea, as part of the collaboration between S.M.
Entertainment and Walt Disney.
On December 10, Exo released
their second winter special album and forth extended play Sing for You along
with double title tracks "Sing for You" and "Unfair". The
album broke the record for the highest first week sales for a Korean artist by
selling 267,900 copies in its first week. "Unfair" also became the
first K-pop song to be featured in the "best of the week" playlist by
Apple Music, while Exo became the first Korean artist to be appear on the Apple
Music homepage. Part of the profits from the album was reportedly donated to
UNICEF's "Smile For U" campaign to support the musical education of
children in Asia. Near the end of 2015, prominent South Korean entertainment
industry leaders ranked Exo at number 7, the highest of any K-pop artist, in
the top ten pop culture leaders of 2015.
2016: North
American tour, Ex'Act, Kris' and Luhan's departures
Exo at the 16th Top Chinese
Music Awards in April 2016
In February 2016, Exo held
the North American leg of The Exo'luxion tour in Dallas, Vancouver, Los
Angeles, Chicago, and New Jersey. The same month, Exo were again ranked as the
most powerful celebrity by Forbes Korea for the year 2015.
Exo's third studio album,
Ex'Act, along with its singles "Lucky One" and "Monster",
were released on June 9, 2016 in both Korean and Mandarin versions. Domestic
pre-sales for the album surpassed 660,000, making it the most pre-ordered K-pop
album of all time. The album later broke the record for the highest first week
sales of a Korean album, breaking their previous record set by Sing For You, by
selling 522,372 copies in one week. The album also went on to top the United
World Albums Chart. "Monster" became Exo's first number one on the
Billboard World Digital Songs chart, while "Lucky One" debuted at
number 3. As part of their Ex'Act promotions, Exo and Korean fashion magazine W
Korea collaborated on "Exoclusive", a project to publish a 54-page,
nine-cover edition of the magazine. "Exoclusive" ended up recording
the highest number of sales as a fashion magazine in Korea after selling nearly
a million copies. On July 15, S.M. Entertainment and Putto Entertainment
released Exo's official mobile game Exorun.
On July 21, Kris and Luhan
officially parted ways with Exo as their contractual disputes with S.M.
Entertainment drew to a close. On July 22, Exo embarked on their third solo
concert tour, Exo Planet ＃3 - The Exo'rdium. In
preparation for the tour, S.M. Entertainment announced the release of Exo's
second official light stick. The new light stick features a white wand with
Exo's official logo on top that displays a multi-color changing light. After
holding concerts from July 22 until July 24 and July 29 until July 31 with over
84,000 attendees, Exo established a record as the first artist to hold as many
as six consecutive concerts at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena. On August 18, a
repackaged edition for Ex'Act, titled Lotto, was released. It contained the
original tracks from Ex'Act along with four new songs including the single of
the same name. "Lotto" became Exo's second number one on the Billboard
World Digital Songs Chart and peaked at number 2 on Gaon's Digital Chart. Lotto's
Korean and Chinese versions reached number 1 and 2 respectively on Gaon's Album
Chart. Within two months of its original release, Ex'Act sold over 1.17 million
copies, honoring Exo with the title of "Triple Million Sellers".
In September, Exo appeared on
Infinite Challenge and collaborated with Yoo Jae-suk on a dance song titled
"Dancing King", which was released as part of S.M. Entertainment's
music project Station. The song reached number 2 on South Korea's Gaon Digital
Chart and number 3 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. Exo's second
Japanese single "Coming Over", containing three original Japanese
tracks, is set to be released on December 7.
Sub-unit
EXO-CBX
On October 5, 2016, S.M.
Entertainment announced the first sub-unit of Exo, consisting of of three
members: Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin, who had previously released an original
soundtrack titled "For You" for the SBS television series Moon
Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. On October 24, the sub-unit was announced to be
named EXO-CBX, "CBX" being the initials of the members' stage names.
EXO-CBX released their debut extended play Hey Mama! and the music video for
the single of the same name on October 31.
Discography
XOXO (2013)
Exodus (2015)
Ex'Act (2016)
Filmography
Reality TV Shows
2013: Exo's Showtime
2014: XOXO Exo
2014: Exo 90:2014
2015: SurpLines Exo (Line TV)
(Xiumin, Chanyeol, Tao, Kai and Sehun)
2015: Exo Channel
Dramas
2015: Exo Next Door
DVDs
2014: Exo's First Box
2015: Exo from Exoplanet #1 -
The Lost Planet in Japan
2015: Exo from Exoplanet #1 -
The Lost Planet in Seoul
2015: Exo's Second Box
2016: Exo from Exoplanet #2 -
The Exo'luXion in Japan
2016: Exo from Exoplanet #2 -
The Exo'luXion in Seoul
Legal issues
On May 15, 2014, S.M.
Entertainment confirmed that Exo-M's leader, Kris, had filed a lawsuit against
the agency to terminate his contract for violation of basic human rights by
treating him like a product rather than a person, disregard for his health,
unfair profit distribution and restricting his freedom. The same law firm that
represented Han Geng of Super Junior in his lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment
also represented Kris.
On October 10, 2014, Luhan
filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to nullify his contract, mainly
because of health issues and for being treated differently than its Korean
members. The same law firm that represented Han Geng and Kris in their lawsuits
against S.M. Entertainment also represented Luhan.
On August 24, 2015, Tao filed
a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment for termination of his contract and is
being represented by the same legal team as Kris and Luhan. SM Entertainment
responded to his legal actions by stating, "Our company plans to use everything
in our power including both Korean and Chinese legal professionals and partners
to respond legally both in Korea and China in a multi-faceted manner. We also
plan to take legal steps to respond to Tao's illegal promotions and
actions.".
On 5 January 2016, SM
entertainment won one of their counter-lawsuits against Tao following the
ruling of the Intermediate People's Court in the Qingdao, Shandong, in
China.The agency sued Tao over his failure to repay the company after his
departure. They released an official statement saying "SM has ongoing
lawsuits against Exo members Wu Yifan (Kris), Luhan, and Tao for violating
their exclusive contracts and partaking in illegal promotions in China. Among
these lawsuits, SM filed a lawsuit against Tao for failing to repay SM on
October 13, 2015. An intermediate court in Qingdao, China made the verdict that
Tao is to repay SM Entertainment as well as interest for the delayed payment."
In July 2016, it was
announced that the lawsuit between Luhan, Kris, and SM Entertainment had been
settled. The two sides settled during their third court-mandated arbitration,
the previous two being in September 2015 and June 2016, with the court
"sett the case with recommendation for reconciliation." The two idols
will maintain their contract with SM until 2022. SM Entertainment will contract
out their work outside of Korea and Japan i.e. Kris and Luhan's Chinese
agencies will "share related revenues" with SM Entertainment for
activities anywhere but Korea and Japan (where SM Entertainment has exclusive
rights per their contract) because SM Entertainment is technically
"contract out management" for their non-Korean/Japanese activities
until 2022, when their contracts with SM Entertainment expire.
Tours
Headlining
Exo from Exoplanet #1 - The
Lost Planet (2014–15)
Exo Planet #2 - The
Exo'luxion (2015–16)
Exo Planet #3 - The Exo'rdium
(2016–17)
Residency shows
SM Town Week: Christmas
Wonderland (with f(x)) (2013)
Joint tours
SM Town Live World Tour III
(2012–13)
SMTown Live World Tour IV
(2014–15)
SM Town Live World Tour V
(2015)
Supporting act
Super Junior –
Super Show 4 (Exo-M only) (2012)
Other ventures
Endorsements
Early February 2013, Exo
began promoting a South Korean clothing brand, Kolon Sport. The band shot a
commercial ad for a new pair of sneakers named after them, MOVE-XO.
The band has launched a
clothing range called Boy Who Cried Wolf (BWCW), partnering up with various
Korean street brands. The collaboration store is located at OUTLAB in
Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong. Exo also has a 2-year endorsement deal with cosmetics
brand, Nature Republic.
Exo are currently the
endorsers for various other brands and companies such as SPAO, Baskin Robbins,
IVY Club,MCM Worldwide, Pepero, Lotte World, Lotte Duty Free, MCM, Kangshifu
Ice Tea, Hats On, Goobne Chicken and Skechers.
Philanthropy
The members of Exo-K became
goodwill ambassadors for South Korea's Red Cross Youth in December 2012.
Members of Exo and Bae Doona are appointed as official ambassadors for
Fashion-KODE 2014 which is host by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of
Korea and the Korea Active Content Agency Fashion Festival in July 2014. In
July 2014, Samsung announced Exo as Samsung's brand ambassador for 2014 Summer
Youth Olympics.
In 2015 Exo participated in
"Smile for U", a joint SM Entertainment and UNICEF project that aids
music educational charitable work for children in Asia. Part of the proceeds of
their winter album "Sing for You" and their third full album Ex'Act
were donated to the campaign. Members Kai and Sehun also participated in
photo-shoots for the campaign.
Awards and nominations
Exo have been recipients of
numerous awards from South Korea and mainland China. On June 14, 2013, over a
year after their official debut, the band received their first win on the South
Korean music program Music Bank with their single "Wolf." Since then,
Exo has gone on to win over 87 music program awards.
Footnotes
Tao suspended his activities
in April 2015, and is subsequently in a lawsuit against SM Entertainment since
August 24, 2015.
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