EXO Is Out To Give Fans An "Overdose" With New Album

EXO continues killing it on the charts with their newly released mini Overdose, and being the loyal SM stan that I am, I had to give it a listen. Of course, I loved XOXO to bits, but you just never know with the consistency of SM groups. I had less than favorable thoughts about the MV for the title track, but one can always hope that the rest of the album makes up for it, right?

As it turns out, the title track Overdose is actually the most powerful song of the bunch, and it is the only one who uses a lot of different instrumental layers and effects both for the music and on the vocals. The instrumental is very electronically based and there's clearly a lot going on in the background, but it still feels organized and put together (thank goodness for that). The melody is memorable and I really enjoy the bridge right before the chorus with the "Oh she wants me" lines. The phrasing and emphasis during those lines grabbed me right away when I first heard it. I definitely think it's an approved title track, but it didn't blow me away by any sense. Moonlight is the slow song of the album, and it is main vocalists Baekhyun and D.O who carry this mid-tempo ballad from start to finish. The pace is comfortable and the low intensity makes for a cozy, warm feeling, but I just can't get into it. It reminds me a lot of the material from their very first mini album, such as Angel and What Is Love, but it hasn't yet stuck with me. This song is not amazing by any means, but it's certainly a grower. 

Thunder however, is all the more interesting. The instrumental is very minimal and quite simple too, unlike the noisy title track. The chord structure and melody is instantly appealing and it gives the boys a chance to show off their vocals, and even members like Chanyeol who normally rap gets to sing a few lines with his dark, husky voice. This soothing track shows that sometimes less is actually more. Next song Run starts off promising with some great instrumentals as well as a growing beat in the first verse. The chorus however, is a bit of a let down. It sounds very much like an EXO track indeed, but it's more of the pop-rock 1D kind of style, similar to 3.6.5 on their first album. It's not a bad song, and there are actually a few parts that are really good, but as a whole the song is a bit underwhelming, quite frankly. The mini album ends with Love Love Love, a mid-tempo R&B track that's especially suiting for D.O's honey vocals. My problem with this song is that I feel like it lacks structure, because I cannot tell the difference between any kind of verse or chorus. It all just seems to blend into one, and for me that just makes is a bit boring to listen to because nothing really happens in it. I feel like much potential was wasted here unfortunately, and while I appreciate the effort it falls a bit short.



I feel like my main issue with this group is that I'm always going to have sky high expectations for their musical releases because of XOXO, which I know I always praise but it's seriously that amazing, and I'm always going to compare everything they put out to it. This album is a decent release and I'm very happy the title track is somewhat more normal this time around, but at the end of the day it didn't impress me very much at all. However, I'm happy they have started to find their own sound and style and I'm always going to be looking forward to their upcoming singles and albums, but I hope the next one is better than this.

Highlights: Thunder, Moonlight, Overdose
Total Score: 3,2/5