"Universe" is a song by South Korean–Chinese boy band

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 December 26, 2017, as the lead single of their sixth extended play ''Universe''. It was released in both

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

and

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

versions by their label

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 ...

Background and release

Produced by Shin Hyuk and MRey, "Universe" is described as a soft pop-rock ballad, with lyrics about how a person will search the universe just to find their lover. The song was released on December 26 with the album.

Music video

The Korean and Chinese music videos for "Universe" were released on December 26, 2017. It features Exo "melancholically reflecting on the caffeinated beverage and performing different activities that serve as metaphors for the tightly-wound, messy emotions described in the lyrics". The Korean music video has over 44 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Promotion

Exo performed "Universe" for the first time on December 31 on MBC's year-end show,

MBC Gayo Daejejeon The ''MBC Gayo Daejejeon'' () is an annual, end-of-the-year South Korean music show broadcast by the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). The event was first held in 1966 as a singing competition, but MBC stopped giving out awards in 2005. ...

. The song was also performed during

Nature Republic Nature Republic (Hangul: 네이처리퍼블릭) is a South Korean cosmetics brand created in 2009. History Nature Republic opened its first store in March 2009. Stores were opened outside of South Korea in Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Mala ...

's Green Nature Exo Fan Festival on February 3, 2018.

Commercial performance

"Universe" debuted at number two on the South Korean

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 ...

. It also topped the ''Billboard'' Korea

Kpop 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 ...

for the first week of 2018.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Studio

* SM LVYIN Studio –

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

* SM Concert Hall Studio – mixing * Sterling Sound – mastering

Personnel

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Lee Soo-man Lee Soo-man (, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred to as the "p ...

– producer *

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 ...

– music and sound supervisor *

– vocals ** Chen – background vocals * Sarah Yoon – Korean lyrics * Xiao Han – Chinese lyrics *

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 ...

– producer,

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

* Marco "MRey" Reyes – producer, composition, arrangement * JJ Evans – composition * Jeff Lewis – composition * Seo Mi-rae – vocal directing, background vocals,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

operating, digital editing * Lee Ji-hong – recording * Nam Koong-jin – mixing *

Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including Blink-182, DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Yearly charts

Sales

Downloads

Accolades

Music program awards

Release history

References

{{Exo songs Exo songs 2017 songs 2017 singles Songs in Korean SM Entertainment singles Billboard Korea K-Pop number-one singles