EXO - Happy Camp (快樂大本營) on 130706

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD


So after almost a month of postponing the broadcast, the episode for EXO on Happy Camp has finally been aired! The English subbed version might not be out right now, but by the time I finish this post, it might be. You hardcore EXOtic subbers out there. I see you. Last night, I watched the episode on TV, because we have this box thing that gives us access to shows that are shown in China. It's pretty good since we get to watch the episodes the same day it's aired!

HEADING INTO THE SHOW...

I felt like this episode really brought out the EXO-K member's variety show skills. If you're watching this show for Lay, Luhan, or Kai, you're out of luck because those three barely showed up. The whole episode basically centered around Kris, D.O., Tao, Suho, and Chanyeol. The rest of the members I didn't mention got some camera time, but not too much. Nonetheless, I still thought this episode was the best one that EXO has filmed with Happy Camp. It was really cute and funny, so I decided to point out some highlights!

So EXO came out with their performance of "Wolf" in Chinese. Pretty much expected...

As much as I love Happy Camp, there's just one thing I can't stand. I hate the bright-ass lights that they use for performances. There's hardly ever a good, clear shot of a member's face before some sort of bright-light special effect kicks in and ruins the shot. Thus, excuse my crappy ass screenshot. They looked better on TV.

 

So, during their introductions, Nana (one of the hosts) was saying Luhan doesn't really look like a wolf, but more like a little cat. So they told Luhan to do a scary wolf expression, and they'd make scary wolf sound effects for him. As soon as Luhan made the face, Nana meow'd like a cute little cat.

One of the best parts of the show was when they shrunk D.O. with special effects. When everyone was introducing themselves, Baekhyun, Chen, and Kris decided that they would mess with D.O. and announce that they too were also main vocals. Aside from Chen, Baek is actually a lead vocal, and Kris is mainly a rapper. So with the overcrowding amount of main vocalists sprouting up, the hosts said that it seems like D.O. is just getting shorter and shorter. 

So they decided to let those four have a little competition. Everyone sang a snippet of "Baby, Don't Cry", which prompted Kris to ask, "Is it ok if I sing in a lower pitch?" Yes, babe, of course you can. 

 

Then because Kris would have clearly failed as a main vocalist next to those three, he tried out as our lead dancer. They brought out Kai, one of the main dancers of EXO, who danced to Wolf. Kris failed three times in a row. First time, he somehow got confused, so he did some weird little freestyle thing. Second time, his hand got stuck/accessories started flying about. Then, he just completely missed the part of the song he was supposed to dance to since it took him so long to get ready. Remember, dumbzhang, I still love you.

Kris realizing he messed up, prompting everyone behind him to
collapse from laughter.

Then, they had this mini segment where they asked the members, "If you could go back in time, at what age/time would you go to?" I just want to take a moment to forget what they answered with, and just take a look at Chanyeol's baby picture. 

Chanyeol's baby picture.
ISN'T HE JUST THE CUTEST?!

Lay said he would have wanted to go back to when he was in his pre-teens (when he was a child star). He would have wanted to partake in more shows, so that he would have more clips to show everyone now. He also wanted to learn more from Weijia ge (one of the hosts of Happy Camp, who used to host other shows that Lay was on before). Oh my God, Lay, you sure know how to butter someone up, eh? Darling is so good with words. Then, as one of the main dancers of the group, Lay did a little freestyle dance for us which was the sexiest thing my eyes have seen. 

Then, Tao's response was my personal favourite. He said he wanted to go back to last year when he was on the show with only EXO-M. He said he felt like he came off really "silly/stupid" at that time. 

Why I think this was the best answer was because Tao used the term     

"傻不啦叽" (sa bu la ji). It's a term that mostly people from the NorthEast of China use. It's actually a term that I've grown up saying. I really love it when Tao accidentally let's his Shandong dialect slip out 'cause I think it's absolutely charming and it really makes him special!

Then, Tao did a little Korean rap for us. But it failed multiple times. He had apparently actually prepared a "surprise" along with the rap. Surprise? No wait, I meant 色卜瑞丝 (su pu rui si). Dear, your English is charming, you know that? Finally though, with Chanyeol beatboxing and Kris joining in the rap, Tao finished his su pu rui si rap. 

After this, Happy Camp put up 12 poles for the EXO members to stand near depending on their rank for certain titles. The first one was "the most immature member". Person at the #1 spot was most immature, and person at #12 was the most mature. 

Xiumin ended up claiming the 12th position. HE WAS SO CUTE HUGGING THE TALL POLE ALL CONFUSED.

Chanyeol and Tao were then dragged to the front by Chen, despite their protests, with Chanyeol as #1 and Tao as #2. When Luhan was asked who was in the wrong spot, he answered with, "Chanyeol and Tao". Tao, thinking that he had a chance to be put towards the end of the line (closer to the mature end), Luhan stated, "Tao is actually #1".

Poor Tao.
Stabbed right in the heart by his hyung, Luhan.

Next, it was "who's best at charming the ladies". In a secret vote before the show aired, almost everyone voted for Kris, who ended up winning the #1 spot. Like last time, Tao was not pleased. At the behind-the-scenes voting, Tao stated, 

"What does he have that makes people look at him and not me? Really, I'm pretty handsome too. There really isn't much difference between us. Sometimes, I think people are looking at me (when I'm out with Kris), but then I see their line of vision, and I end up being wrong. They were actually looking at Kris. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous. But I mean, I'm not that bad either. I think everyone can tell, just by looking, who really is the most handsome."

Stroking the face he's so proud of.

Then, they dragged Chanyeol down from the #1 spot to allow Kris to step up. He Jiong (main host) asked Chanyeol and Kris to comment on how they felt about their current position (Kris as #1 and Chanyeol was moved to #6), Chanyeol decided to answer this with a skit. Unfortunately, no one really understood what the skit had to do with anything. Poor Sehun and Luhan was dragged into it too.

Chanyeol asking for 100 bottles of beer in Mandarin.

Last question was: "Who's the biggest scaredy-cat/who get's scared the easiest?" Suho got the #1 spot. To help him overcome this, they played the trust game in which Suho stood on a higher platform and would fall backwards into the arms of his members. 

Poor guy was so scared, and you could see how worried he was with the look in his eyes. When a helper stepped off the platform, Suho was quick to ask, "Where are you going!?" in Mandarin, begging for them to not leave his side and to help him with the fall. 

Suho gave a very touching speech after the members caught his fall.

Afterwards, they played a game that split them into teams. Somehow it ended up being the short-team vs. the tall-team. And even though my biases were all in the tall-team, I was definitely rooting for the short-team because they were too funny!

He Jiong as "Snow White" and his 7 dwarfs.
Sehun and Kai crouching a bit to match their heights, LOL!

The fall of the tall team.

Short team's awesome teamwork vs. Kris
Xiumin as mother hen! Great leading, Xiumin!

Tall team (losers) forced to carry short team and do 5 squats.
Hai Tao (host) dropped Chen.
I mean... "Chne".

Lay had to carry Weijia (host).
Apparently Lay did well in the beginning but started making
constipated noises towards the end.
Weijia's face as he makes the noises, LOL!

And that was basically the whole episode!

There was a lot more funny parts, but I didn't want to make this post longer than it already was! If you're a fan of EXO, or you're just starting to get into them, watch this episode! You won't get to know all the members really well because only a few got to shine, but it's a really funny episode. 

Normally, I don't really care much for members like Suho, Xiumin, or D.O., but I feel like this episode really let them shine, and they were really funny and cool. It seemed like the EXO-K members really had a good time, so I'm glad they enjoyed themselves even though they're not great with the language.

Anyways, EXO's episode for "Weekly Idol" is coming up soon! I can't wait! 

- Dee

EXO Comeback - Wolf

This morning, I was scrolling through the "exo" tag on Tumblr and I came across this post and it really just irked me. Actually irking me so much that I would decide to write a blog post about it.

So basically, if you don't know who EXO is: They're this K-pop band that debuted last year under one of the biggest (maybe even the biggest) entertainment companies in South Korea, SM Entertainment. Basically, there's 12 boys in the group and they're split into EXO-M (Mandarin) and EXO-K (Korean). Last year, when they debuted, EXO-M spent much of their time in China promoting their title song, MAMA, while EXO-K were in Korea promoting the song as well. Their mini-album last year had 6 songs, I believe, and all of the songs were done once in Mandarin, and once in Korean.

Then, unlike most rookie Korean groups, EXO took over one year to come back with a new song and album. Usually, with rookie groups, companies tend to over-promote them to get the band name out there. However, SM Entertainment, being one of the biggest entertainment companies, probably didn't feel the need to do that since they're all, "Screw you, we don't need a lot of promotions to get our boy band known. They just need to debut under SM, and they'll be good."

Oh, before I go on, here's a picture of them:

EXO
Their names match the order in which they appear.
Chen, Xiumin, Kris, Lay, Luhan, Tao = EXO-M
Xiumin, D.O, Kai, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Sehun, Suho = EXO-K

So anyways, when EXO debuted, another K-pop group had debuted around the same time. B.A.P. This group, on the other hand, debuted under TS Entertainment, a much smaller company. Unlike EXO, their group is more hip-hop based. The main difference between them though, is the amount of promotions they underwent. There were singles, and albums, and many appearances on different shows, etc.

The one year since these two groups debuted, there's been soooo much damn jokes. A popular one being: "EXO is coming bac - no wait, they misspelled BAP" or something along those lines.

Then, just as a petition went around for the term "when hell freezes over" to be replaced with "when EXO comes back", EXO finally announced their comeback! Allkpop pretty much died when the news came out and within less than an hour, EXO's comeback article was the #1 most viewed article on allkpop. Pretty sure Twitter might have even trended it, but I'm not totally sure on that one.

So then, a bunch of promotional pictures started coming out and teasers for the upcoming comeback stage and MV.

Being an avid fan of EXO (mainly EXO-M, but point aside), I was so excited. For once, SM finally had a music video with what seemed like .... wait for it - A PLOT. So, you can say that I was pretty damn pleased.

Then, this morning, when I woke up, the MV was released. Here's the EXO-M version:

So... I was disappointed. I mean, the song is fine, the music video was fine, and the concept was fine. I have nothing against any of it. I just don't like the fact that there's so much EXO-K in EXO-M's version of the song, and there's so much EXO-M in EXO-K's version of the song. It was tough to debut a single group, EXO, and then split them up into M and K and then go through the whole "WE ARE ONE" thing. I don't know. I like the idea of them bring brother-groups and I love them together, but when it comes to MVs or promotions, I love to keep them apart. What makes them special is their language, no?

It's so hard watching the MV and having an EXO-K member's face there when they're singing in Mandarin. It gets me so confused? I mean... is it Baekhyun singing in Mandarin or is he lipsyncing as Luhan sings? Then Chanyeol's face is there as a Chinese rap is playing. So is that Chanyeol rapping in Chinese or was that Kris? I just find it kind of pointless. I don't mind all 12 of them being together for a dance break but when it's an individual, why do we have to have EXO-K there when it's in Chinese, and EXO-M there when it's in Korean? Then, in the EXO-K version of the MV, Tao is the one scratching the screen, and in the EXO-M version of the MV, Kai is the one scratching the screen. Wtf.

Putting THAT aside, I hate that Kai is so overexposed. Before their debut, EXO was releasing a bunch of short teaser clips introducing the world to each member. There were 23 teasers in total, and I didn't count, but I swear, there has to be a minimum of 10 that had Kai in it. WAS THAT NECESSARY?

Who cares if he's the face of EXO-K? Isn't Luhan the face of EXO-M? Why doesn't he get more teasers with him in it? But that's a year ago, so let's move onto today. Why the hell was Kai's face everywhere in the two "Wolf" MVs? I can't remember a single scene where I don't see his face. I can't even remember if my bias, Lay, even had camera time. Did Xiumin even show his face at all? I don't care if Kai is the face of the group. It does not mean that you are literally the center of everything. During their first live performance today, they started the performance with a dance and Kai was the one standing, as if controlling the branches that are EXO.

I know I can't hate Kai for this. I doubt he asked for it. It's probably the way things were set-up. Which is why I have such an issue with SM for doing this. Or the choreographer. Or whoever thought this was a good idea.

Kai of EXO-K

That is Kai's face. There is nothing particularly special about that face. I'm in no way insinuating he's ugly, but let's be honest... haven't we all seen better faces? There are people are are obsessed with his thick lips too? Are you serious? Thick lips is all you're basing his handsomeness off of? Ok, then there are people saying he's an amazing dancer. Yeah, he is. But I'm sorry, have you guys forgotten about the fact that Lay, EXO-M's main dancer, also exists? Luhan isn't half bad as well.

I mean, there's nothing wrong with "the face" getting slightly more screen-time, but this is just ridiculous. I mean, SNSD has Yoona, but with them, I feel like the other members still have a chance, and their level of popularity isn't as far below Yoona as EXO is with Kai. This is kind of like Hara of KARA and how over-exposed she is, but that's another rant for another time.

ANYWAYS, ONTO WHY I STARTED THIS POST...

So, there have been fans of EXO on Tumblr who expressed similar opinions as mines, and stated that they were mildly disappointed in the outcome of this MV/production/comeback. As a response to this, another Tumblr-user made a post stating these points:

- How dare fans be disappointed?
- We should be happy they even came back.
- If you don't appreciate this, get out of the fandom.

To that, I say:

- How dare you tell certain fans they can't be disappointed. Who are you to be telling us what we can or cannot feel? Since when has my disappointment needed approval for you before I can express it on a blog that I own? If someone doesn't like the MV/song, that's up to them to decide, and express. So maybe sometimes people express their disappointment in a manner that can come off as slightly rude, but who lets you decide whether it's appropriate or not?

- We should be happy they came back, but what does that have to do with the quality of the production?

- Excuse yourself. Why must I get out of a fandom because I'm not 100% satisfied with what I was presented with? Do you just leave the dinner table when the dishes in front of your aren't your favourite? Do you stop taking showers because the last shower you took wasn't as relaxing as usual? What is your logic?

EVERYTHING ASIDE...

I am excited for their comeback. It's been over a year, so at this point, almost anything they shit out is fine by me. Sure, I wish the MVs were done better and it didn't look like people were lipsyncing half the time, but what can I do about that? The EXO-K album has recently also been leaked. I'll admit, I listened to "Baby, don't cry" but it was on Tumblr and didn't really know about the whole situation. Otherwise, I'm as eagerly waiting for the full album as the rest of EXO fans!

Mini-rant in mini-text. I don't understand why people are shaming others so badly for listening to the leaked versions. If anything, shouldn't you have more of a problem with the people who leaked/uploaded the songs? Curiosity killed the cat. Temptations kill. Listening to the song when someone else uploaded it, and you've been waiting for over a year, isn't a crime. Or at least I don't think it is. Some fans who pre-ordered the CDs and still listened to the leaks were feeling so guilty about being a bad fan on Tumblr, and I really couldn't help but laugh. You realize that half the people shaming you didn't even have the balls to come off anon and tell you off? They probably didn't even buy the albums. They probably won't even support EXO in any way. They probably illegally download the music too. So back off. 

I'm currently waiting on the subs for EXO-M's MV to come out. Despite me being Chinese, I could barely understand anything that was sung in that song other than "NI SHI MEI NU, WO SHI LANG AWOOO". Plus, I'm not a Chinese-reader either so all I could see read was wo, ni, mei, nu, duo, bu, le, yi, yue, xin, huo, and those really basic words. Ohohoho. 

Oh .. oh wait..

It just came out.

 
God bless you, hardcore Exotics!

Anyways, I hope everyone's been having a great week! I'll see everyone soon.

AWOOOOOOO,

- Dee