"Wolf" (; ) 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 May 30, 2013, as the lead single of their first studio album '' XOXO''. 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 ...

, and was their first song recorded by all twelve members.

Background

"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

S.M. Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, 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 ...

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 song is produced by Will Simms and Kenzie, and is described as a

Dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

inspired

Hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

song that tells a tragic love story between a

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

and a beauty. 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's ''After School Club'', 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...".

Release and promotions

On May 30, 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the music video for "Wolf" were released. EXO started promoting for the song on Korean music program on May 30, 2013. Both song versions were released digitally on June 3, 2013. The first performance of the Mandarin version of the song was aired on a popular Chinese variety show '' Happy Camp'' in mid-June.

Music videos

On May 30, 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the music video for "Wolf" were released. The music videos features the performance of the song by the members.

Reception

The song reached number ten on

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 ...

, number 25 on

Korea 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 ...

, and number four on Billboard US World Digital Songs. "Wolf" earned EXO their first win on South Korean music programs. It won first place 4 times in total.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from album's liner notes.

Studio

* SM Yellow Tail 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 ...

, mixing * SM Big Shot Studio – recording,

digital editing In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic d ...

* SM Blue Ocean Studio – recording * Sonic Korea – 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 * Kim Young-min – executive supervisor *

– vocals **

Baekhyun Byun Baek-hyun (; born May 6, 1992), known mononymously as Baekhyun, is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo, its subgroup Exo-K and its subunit Exo-CBX. In 2019, Baekhyun became a leader of ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

** Chen – background vocals **

Chanyeol Park Chan-yeol (; born November 27, 1992), better known mononymously as Chanyeol, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, actor and model. He is a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy group Exo, its sub-group Exo-K and sub ...

– background vocals **

D.O. Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 38 osteopathic medical schools in the United States. DO and Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees are equivalent: a DO graduate may become lice ...

– background vocals * Zhou Weijie – Chinese lyrics * Kenzie – producer, Korean lyrics,

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 ...

, vocal directing, background vocals * Will Simms – producer, composition, arrangement * Nermin Harambasic – composition *

– background vocals * Gu Jong-pil – recording, mixing * Lee Min-kyu – recording, digital editing * Lee Seung-ho – recording * Jeon Hoon – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Sales

Accolades

Release history

References

{{Exo songs Songs about werewolves Exo songs 2013 songs 2013 singles Songs written by Kenzie (songwriter) Songs in Korean SM Entertainment singles Songs written by Will Simms