''XOXO'' is the debut studio album by South Korean

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

Exo Exo (; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean-Chinese boy band based in Seoul formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. The group consists of nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay Zhang, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen (singer), Chen, Chanyeol, ...

, released on June 3, 2013, by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

and distributed by

KT Music Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...

. The album is a follow-up to the group's debut EP, ''

Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Maternal uncle, in some parts of South Asia Places * Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement in the Mam ...

'' (2012). The album was released in two versions – a Korean "Kiss" edition and a Chinese "Hug" edition. Two

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

were released from ''XOXO'': "

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

" and "

Growl Growling is a low, guttural vocalization produced by predatory animals; producing ''growls''. Growling or growl may also refer to: Sounds * Death growl, the dominant singing style in death metal music * Stomach rumble, Stomach growl, or borborygm ...

", the latter being the lead single off the album's repackaged version released on August 5, 2013. Both singles went to chart in the top ten of the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...

, and "Growl" peaked at number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

K-pop Hot 100 The K-pop Hot 100 was a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multim ...

. ''XOXO'' and its repackage sold over 570,000 copies and 760,000 copies in South Korea, respectively. The album won Album of the Year at the

2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards The 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards took place on November 22, 2013, at AsiaWorld-Arena in Hong Kong. The ceremony was the fourth consecutive Mnet Asian Music Awards to occur outside of South Korea Nominations were announced on October 23, 2013. L ...

Background

The album's lead single, "늑대와 미녀" ("The Wolf and the Beauty"), known in English as simply "Wolf", was composed by Will Simms,

Nermin Harambašić Dsign Music is a Norwegian songwriting and music production company, established in 2004 consisting of the members Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić, Ronny Vidar Svendsen, JINBYJIN and Adrian Thesen (pizzapunk).Music N ...

from

Dsign Music Dsign Music is a Norwegian songwriting and music production company, established in 2004 consisting of the members Robin Jenssen, Anne Judith Stokke Wik, Nermin Harambašić, Ronny Vidar Svendsen, JINBYJIN and Adrian Thesen (pizzapunk).Music N ...

and

resident songwriter Kenzie. Kenzie also provided the lyrics for the Korean version of the song while Zhou Weijie penned the lyrics for the Mandarin Chinese version, "狼与美女".

Yoo Young-jin Yoo Young-jin is a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer and vocal trainer formerly under SM Entertainment. He has produced and written songs for H.O.T., S.E.S, BoA, Shinhwa, TVXQ, CSJH The Grace, Super Junior, Girls' Generatio ...

provides background vocals. The dance for the song was choreographed by

Tony Testa Anthony Joseph Testa (born 31 March 1987) is an American choreographer, creative director, educator and dancer. Early life Testa started dancing at age eight in his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado at Westin Arts Academy & Artistic Fusion Dan ...

. In several shows such as

Arirang ''Arirang'' ( ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "arirang, arirang, arariyo" (""). It is estimated that the song is more than 600 years old ...

's ''

After School Club ''After School Club'', often shortened to ''ASC'', is a South Korean interactive music talk show that primarily airs on Arirang TV. Premiering on April 17, 2013, the show is currently co-hosted by Allen and Taeyoung of Cravity and Aaron Kwak. ...

'', the members explain that the dance has 3 elements: the trees and forest, the caves, and the wolf itself. Member Kris revealed that it took them approximately 3 to 4 months to get the choreography down, due to its level of difficulty. A demo version of the song was leaked in February 2013, in response to which producer Ryan Jhun later gave a warning to illegal downloaders on May 29, 2013, "...I will report it to FBI and service department for all links...". Several "developmental" tracks were produced and recorded in 2011 before Exo's official debut into the entertainment industry but never made it into the first EP ''

''. Some of these tracks were included on the ''XOXO'' album, including "Black Pearl" and "My Lady". In July 2013, a re-package version of 'XOXO', renamed ''으르렁'' (''Growl''), was developed with three additional tracks. The single from this edition was its title track "

" (). The song was recorded in both Korean and Mandarin Chinese ("咆哮") versions. Composed by

Hyuk Shin Hyuk Shin (; born June 5, 1985) is an international multi-platinum record producer, music executive, and entrepreneur who has worked with global superstars such as Justin Bieber, Anderson .Paak, Blackbear, Dean, NCT, Super Junior, TXT, Exo ...

(Joombas), DK, Jordan Kyle, John Major, and Jarah Gibson, "Growl" is a

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

song with

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

influences. The single was prematurely leaked online on July 27, when a video of the group practicing to the Korean version of the song was uploaded to various video-sharing websites.

Release and promotion

May 30, 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the music video for "Wolf" were released, and the song's first performance was made on

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

M! Countdown ''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leete ...

''. Both song versions were released digitally on June 3, 2013, and on the same day, two physical formats of the entire album ''XOXO'' were also released in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

: a "Kiss" edition in Korean and a "Hug" edition in Mandarin. After a performance on SBS ''

Inkigayo ''Inkigayo'' (; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform on stage. ...

'' on June 3, 2013, Exo visited and thanked 2,000 fans who had been waiting at a nearby park to meet them. The first performance of the Mandarin version of the song was aired on a popular Chinese variety show '' Happy Camp'' in mid-June. The album reached over 300,000 collective pre-orders, and peaked at number one on the Billboard World Album Chart a week after release. As of December 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the album, as well as their respective repackaged versions, have collectively sold over 1,070,000 copies.

Awards

Track listing

Credits adapted from

Naver Naver (; stylized as NAVER) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. The company's products include a search engine, email hosting, blogs, maps, and mobile payment. History Naver was the first Korean web provide ...

''XOXO'' (original edition)

''Growl'' (repackaged edition)

Charts

Sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2013 debut albums SM Entertainment albums KMP Holdings albums 2010s Korean-language albums Exo albums Genie Music albums Grand Prize Golden Disc Award–winning albums Albums produced by Lee Soo-man