So today girls and boys, I have decided to give my two cents to the appreciation of EXO's new song, WOLF.
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| Wolf by EXO (both K and M) |
Korean Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAal8xHfV0c
Chinese Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dVvdVpPIok
Why? Bandwagon? No not really.
What bothers me is that people aren't appreciating the quality and art of EXO's comeback to the full. As a person of a diverse range of random interests, I come with an art student/aspriring dancer/kpop fan/Asian music background interpretation of the song and choreography. In all honesty, when I first heard the song, I was like...what the fuak is going on? The heavy rap and melodies are all over the place, and the dance is weird, and what is up with Kai's cornrows and...in summary: what the heck.
Then I watched it again, a few times, and let the concept sink in.
Thus I reckon from beginning to end, this piece has a lot of artistic merit.
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| Opening tree of the MV...forest setting/ Womping Willow anyone? |
First of all, credit to the choreographer Tony Testa. His past works include Sherlock choreo by SHINee, as well as Michael Jackson's This Is It. Thus having worked with a few names and with a portfolio, you can expect that there is reason why his choreography work was chosen for EXO's comeback.
Personally, I find Testa's choreography's strength is that it relates to the song to a certain level. For a lot of kpop choreo, a lot of the movements are pretty shallow or random, or involve a lot of butt shaking and actually have no relation to the song and its' meaning. (i.e. just matching individual words occasionally). Some songs that come to mind first (not saying they're bad or I don't like them, they're just on the top of my mind right now for nice but not that meaningful choreographyxD) , are BoA's Only One, or Boyfriend's Janus, or Girl's Generation I Got a Boy. The songs are catchy, the choreography is nice and memorable, and almost all Kpop fans who see part of the choreography can recognize the song (especially the more popular songs), but the choreo doesn't actually relate to the song. It's purely aesthetic.
So what do I see as more meaningful choreo? Well Sherlock is one...I personally also like Tarzan by the Wonder Boyz. For Tarzan, I don't like the idea of using such a famous and recognizable Disney character as the concept, but the dance itself captures the concept quite powerfully, with the ape-monkey dance choreo, and the melody is also quite nice and catchy. As for Sherlock, there's choreo reflecting the detective notion of the song, such as the static poses, or the 'photography' of the chorus.
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| Shinee's detective chorus choreography |
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| Aesthetically appealing ape dance =D |
I guess what I see in a good choreo is that it looks good, but also has a layer of meaning and representation to the audience.
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So back to Wolf. I originally was going to find GIFs for all the parts that I wanted to discuss, but alas, I don't think that's going to happen, so I'm going to refer to times (i.e. 0.24) into the MV and discuss the main points that I reckon should be acknowledged. I guess the best part to read the following would be to open the Korean Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAal8xHfV0c MV, and watch it whilst you read the comments =D.
So from 0:00-0:13
We have the iconic tree stance. I love how the dark silhouette of the tree not only is setting the scene for the 'wolf' as the night-time forest, but it also describes the dark serenity, balance and sturdiness of nature, and the Asian oriental music kind of sets the cultural acknowledgement/ respect for Korean/ Asian pop? It's like a willow swaying in the wind; strong but study. It also touches on the solidity and power of EXO as a pack themself; strong, and dependent on each other (i.e. they can be seen using each other's weight to stay stable and strong.)
From 0:14
From 0:22
The wolf/wolves show their voices in their...'human form'. And the love story narration begins.
Btw, I reckon my favorite wolves would have to be Tao (red eye makeup) and Xiumin (looks like a seedy chinese boy), followed by Luhan(first chorus, jumps up and makes the ground shudder) and Chanyoel (first appearance and has the deepest, masculine voice). They just portray different wolf-like personalities.
Tangent: I read this book called Gray Wolf when I was little, it was pretty much a documentary wolf book, and I loved how each wolf had a different role and personality in the pack. There were the leaders, the young alphas in training, the lead alpha, the betas, carers of the pups etc. So I guess what I really like about EXO portraying this wolf concept is that each member sort of has their own wolf concept. Like Tao is the fierce protector wolf, Kris (second to rap/sing) is the alpha, Luhan is the cute middle member wolf, Xiumin also gives off the energetic middle member wolf, Kai (cornrows) gives off the hunter sort of wolf...etc.
From 0:39
It was unsettling at first, how the rap progressed to a weird dis-chord-like harmony, but I love it now because it gives that sort of judgmental and eerie pack feel. Like in a forest full of eyes and laughing wolves...judging you for falling in love with a human girl. Silly wolf. Just eat her.
And how the rap intersects with the harmony, is like the lovestruck wolf arguing his case and defending himself.
From 0:49
The wolf-like choreo begins to shine. I love the big aggressive and brass claw-like movements; exerting the fierce brute power that the wolf pack has.
At 0:54, it's like wolf clawing.
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| Wolves on the ground clawing |
At 1:04, it's the trademark wolf ears and howling
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| Naegae oulf! |
At 1:06, the brute and animalistic feelings the wolf must have for this hypothetical girl...makes it/him want to claw at his heart to make it stop. (This is Luhan btw! He was the first wolf character that I grew fond of (before I saw Tao in live performances. I also love Luhan's hair in this, and how it's like ruffled and fur-like)
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| Luhan! ;3 |
From 1:15
The wolf seems to show its' distress with its' feelings at this point. The choreo is still amazing in showing the attributes of animal-like brutality and power. Lots of claw hands and powerful moves, with some slightly faster moves that amplify the grace of the lupus.
The hand movement at around 1:25 kind of seems to give off a sort of...indecisive vibe, like weighing decisions.
From 1:32
I love the wolf-like jumping and movements incorporated in the transitions. (Go watch a live if you want to see it even better). For transitions, there are wolves doing quick leaps, wolves doing scouting movements, wolves sliding around on the ground.
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| Jumping wolves |
From 1:35
I love the wolf cave as well. How the wolf comes out of its' den, and how the den's creation is in sync with the music and the cave watches the wolf to emphasize the performance and eerie, sort of foresty feel; how there's always hunters watching you and you could be their prey.
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| Cave |
From 1:50
Demonstrates the agility of the wolf more-so with this choreo. Instead of powerful movements it shows the wolves bearing their claws and maneuvering in sync and discord at the same time, to emphasize that although a pack may look kind of sloppy when its' executing a hunt, it actually is very well planned and on the same frequency.
From 2:02
It looks funny at first, but I reckon this little detail move emphasizes the wolf feel as if the wolf was shaking its' fur. :3
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| Fur shaking |
Repeat chorus...Tao's awesome clawing jump is pretty self explanatory.
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| Tao's Jump |
The trees reappear. I love how the trees gracefully spread out though.
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| Tree |
Lots more wolf-like leaping and clawing.
There's the odd gangster headbob led by Kai around 3:29.It kind of brings a more human element to the performance...followed by an even more wolf-like follow up with the arms and fingers imitating a wolfs jaw around 3:32
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| Head bob |
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| Claw |
And the performance ends with dual caves...and an awesome ending pose...which I presume to supposedly be the shape of a wolf's face.
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| Wolf Face? |
Anyway. I think this song and choreo has a lot of merit, as well as the full album. It's pretty much a fantasy album with references to peter pan, the black pearl, love, wolves, and some other songs in there that make it a well balanced album. I highly recommend it ! :3
Ahh and learning the dance is pretty fun. The choreo isnt that hard, and it's powerful.
Aneeta Ouuuuuurrrrrrrt!
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