[Review] EXO - Overdose

So I checked the world of Korean entertainment today to see that Han Geng is filing a lawsuit against Super Junior. Wait a minute this isn’t 2009! Kris, however, doesn’t seem to care and if sources are correct, has already sued S.M. to terminate his contract. Now that we have that news out of the way, let’s go ahead and review “Overdose”, the long awaited comeback for all of EXO’s creepy fangirls.

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Vocals: 7 / 10

There’s a really evident problem with consistency in this song. The entire song is heavy on the instrumental and electronic sound, which isn’t even that good to begin with. The song has a tendency to jump from smooth to ragged, and not in a good way. The English is good where it needs to be: during the prechorus, and awful pretty much everywhere else. Speaking of the prechorus, that was one the best parts of the song. A rare moment where the lyrics, notes, and instrumental come together nicely, but then dives into the chorus which is very lackluster and has some odd arrangements. The bridge, too, is nicely done. Not quite the level of clarity that the bridge in “Wolf” had, but still worth applause. Line distribution is decent, and the Chinese version is inferior, but not by much.

Appearance: 8 / 10

EXO is looking like EXO, but their outfits (not the suits) are looking like f(x) and or SHINee. It’s actually obnoxious, given how “serious” the song sounds and the outfits we have seen in the past from. Even the clothing from “What Is Love” would’ve been more appropriate, Also, Tao can’t wear his hair down, ha.

Dance: 5 / 10

This dance was…all over the place. That head bobbing is so ridiculous and other various movements like the swinging and zombie claws (wolves?) in the chorus and throughout just seem so random. I have a hard time following the dance, which is troublesome for a group with so many members and such potential as seen in “Growl” and “History”. I think that if they had stuck to original choreography like shown in “History” or even “MAMA”, this would’ve been so much better.

Rap: 7 / 10

Chanyeol? Excellent. Kris? Good. Everyone else? Bad. And so an average score is given. Xiumin tries his best for the Chinese lyrics, but I’m still confused why he isn’t a vocalist. The only rappers in EXO-M are Kris and Tao. If you’re going to make another rapper for the Chinese lyrics just have Chanyeol do it. I’m honestly not seeing Sehun’s potential, and he’s fast becoming the “Dasom” of the group, and with a deteriorating choreography, he has less chance to shine. Then again Kai usually has the spotlight there.

Music Video: 5 / 10

Specific box sets with fluid / various “interactive” camerawork and additional flashy special effects. This is most certainly a S.M. music video. Why does everyone seem so angry in this MV? Aside from Kris and D.O who always look angry haha.

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Overall: 64 / 100

Well, I thought S.M. was turning stuff around with Soshi and Super Junior M’s work, but was only a curveball since this lead song from EXO is pretty mediocre. There are high highs in the bridge and the lead rappers, but low lows in the choreography and below average instrumental. With this and Kris’ incoming lawsuit, it’s going to be really hard for EXO to rebound.