EXO's Miracles In December (My thoughts)

These are just my thoughts on Exo's Miracles in December. This isn't meant to offend anyone, and definitely not meant to offend exo stans. Just my album review. Just my take on this album. So if you're going to be offended by this, bye.

 

Miracles in December

1.) Miracles in December

My first impression of this song was it was an average song. An average ballad for me. I felt that SM could do better in promoting another track from the album. But after multiple listens, I found a certain part stuck in my head, which is Chen's part, after Baekhyun's verse. Their voices were very in sync with the piano accompaniment in the background. To be honest, I don't think it's the best song in the album. The lack of drum beats in the song was good choice, I believe. If there were, it might overshadow the piano accompaniment. But other than that, it's quite a nice song to have in your playlist. It is a soulful song and Chen's voice might bring you to tears, especially for exo stans. The rest of the album tracks are less soulful than this.

Moving on to their live performance on this, I can sum it up in three words:

Lack of emotion.

Baekhyun, although he has a great voice, he doesn't really stand out to me. His voice never really has emotion and is probably more suited for tracks like Growl. Kyungsoo just gave off a weird vibe, he sounded like he didn't want to be there. Chen was just the only who got a pass from me because his voice was raw with emotion and there's just something about his eyes or his double eyelids that stood out. So far, the lives are disappointing. I hope Luhan does better than Kyungsoo.

2.) Christmas Day

And I'm glad SM decided to give Exo a more mature sound in this sound. This is one of my favourite songs from Exo. This song comprises of strong beats, catchy verses and beautiful lyrics. And I love the intro. The lyrics speaks of how the singer looks forward to his special someone, just like how he looks forward to christmas. For once, SM has meaningful lyrics in a song. My favourite line is probably "So I stay up all night, all night in a white daze". You'll find yourself tapping your feet to the beat of this song. I recommend you to close your eyes while listening to this. It might be the best experience for you if you're an exo stan. This song might almost be a 10/10, if not for the fact that I felt that other artistes might be able to pull this song off better.

3.) The Star

This track was my least favourite in the album. When you first listen to it, especially at the intro, it was messy. But after a few more listens, it sounds much better.


The chorus is catchy enough and it makes up. But the 'shining star' high note (after the several 'tell me bout it's) by (presumably) Baekhyun just ruined the entire chorus for me. The ad libs by Baehyun, I think, in the middle of the song were a bit too striking for me that it sounded out for some reason. But still, it's a song that kind of grows on you.

And the horrible lyrics don't cover up anything. It's almost comparable to f(x)'s pinocchio's lyrics.

This song could've done much better without the unnecessary sound effects here. Would've sounded much neater.

4.) My Turn To Cry

This was probably a nice ballad, the in-between of miracles in december and christmas day. The guitar in the background and the beats go very nicely together. And Kyungsoo does much better in this song. The bridge sounds very out at first listen, but if you'd listen a few more times, it all sounds quite coherent. I didn't really like the ending of this song, with all those 'this time's and 'saranghae's. But then again, this song didn't really stand out and didn't really cover up much for the star. I think Seo In Guk might have been able to pull this off better. His voice is a little husky and more suited for songs like these, I think. This song was okay but not the best.

5.) First Snow (첫 눈)

I loved this song. My 2nd favourite song and one of my faves by exo. It sounds similar to Christmas Day, but it's more upbeat. This song gave me the vibe of exo. This sounds just sounds very exo to me, if that makes sense. Kyungsoo's voice espcially suits this song, and Baekhyun too. The lyrics is saddening though, unlike the happy vibe it gives. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo's adlibs are amazing, especially Baekhyun. I don't hear much of Chen here, but more of Kyungsoo, which is slightly saddening for me, but that's okay because I don't think Chen's voice might suit this song. The lyrics make sense so I'm glad. A song like this is what exo needs, rather than the typical soulful ballads or songs like wolf which is just...rubbish horrible not of quality.



Overall, the album has a more soulful and mature sound, which is unlike typical christmas albums filled with remakes of christmas songs and christamas-y and all. Compared to XOXO and Mama, this might be more for exo stans who seek music quality and a more mature sound.

Up till now, exo still lacks a distinct, signature sound. (If you look at f(x) or vixx, they have a distinct sound already. f(x) for the electronic dubstep and vixx for the creepy dubstep.) I wish exo had more musical quality in their songs, like in this album. But unfortuantely, any exo song would sell because of their fame and fanbase. If SM lets exo release a song like wolf, I'm done with this band. (Because they have talent, and that should be put to good use, instead of wasting it on songs like wolf.)

This would be a 8/10. Would've been 8.5/10 or even 9, if not for the unnecessary sound effects in the star.

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junxiety #1
distinct sound. are you relly sure thats a good thing. if every kpop grp must have a distinct sound like you said, then vixx will be only singing dark dubstep for the rest of their career because wow distinct sound. fx will sing electronic dubstep for the rest of their career because wow distinct sound. i am actually happy that exo does not have a 'distinct' sound. what for? they can explore genres, concepts. different kinds of music. they can find out what suits them and what doesnt. just because a group can pull a certain concept/genre off for the time being doesnt mean they can do it forever. sure you can ask for more musical quality im not complaining about that. but any exo song would sell because of their fame and fanbase? excuse me? by saying that sentence you have insulted at least half of the people who bought their albums, listened to their songs, etc. do you really think that because exo is'famous' people listen to their songs? To become famous they must have something to step on right? maybe its the 2493285299 kai teasers but wow selling songs just because fame and fanbase. So as long as a group's fanbase is big then the group only sells songs because they are 'famous' and not because of their vocals, raps, etc. they totally don't put in effort because who cares they gonna sell the song anyway cause 'fame' and 'fanbase'. Terr.ific

you can say im biased. wel im an exo stan i cant even say to myself that im completely unbiased. but im sorry i do not accept your views and i think some of it is biasness on your part. its like me telling you that snsd could have pulled fx's songs off better. its like me telling you that jet was a complete mess nothing nice about it a waste of talent. i feel that that itself is an insult.

wow so ing done you are dead tmr you are
junxiety #2
i am so offended right now you are going to get hit tmr be prepared.

1) wow ok lets not go to the live we all know the live . but how dare you downgrade this to an average song before exodus album this was their best song it brings out all three vocals just stop you

2) i have a problem with your judging like if you are going to judge every song by the standard that other artistes can pull it off better, why have artistes?? why not just have like a few who sing really really well to cover all the songs in this whole god damn world? briliiant dathearts brilliatn.

3) ok baekhyun in this one i agree with you but at least chanyeol and ksoo made it better

4) oh wow seo in guk lol maybbe you can go ask soo man why since this song fits inguk so much, that it's not his. weell done.

5) no commments for this nothing to say
peachysoo #3
I'm really M biased when it comes to EXO since their songs usually sound better than K does. The line distribution is better, Tao and Kris can both sing pretty well and definitely match the rest of M's color of voices, and they're usually good at emoting a bit better than K does. (Plus, everyone always bases stuff on K, while M literally has no one reviewing, spazzing, etc... compared to the thousands of people that K gets.)

I've listened to both albums from K and M, and M's just sticks out as the better one for me, which isn't new since I've steadily liked M's versions of songs since debut.

Though as an album, I would have gave it a 6.5-7, maybe a 7.5, (6.5 for K and 7-7.5 for M) though, just because it is a Christmas album and the fact that the only song I'm actually willing to listen to after Christmas will be the Star.
peachysoo #4
3) The Star is a jam though and will be one of the songs you'll listen to when it's not Christmas though. But I do feel the Chinese version is a lot better than the Korean version, and I'm not even being biased here. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol do well with the Korean version, but that's it, while everyone in M does the song a lot more justice than K does. Tao and Kris' raps sound a bit rough around the edges, but they fit the song a lot better than the slightly smoother version that K does. Plus, the section where Kris raps and Chen sings is quite different and more interesting to listen to than the section in the K version where Chanyeol's rapping and Kyungsoo's singing. (Though this song definitely tells you how much Chen got better at English, his 'girl' part sounds amazing.)

4) Don't have much to say here, but both versions are good. (Even Baekhyun gets a pass from me and I usually dislike his voice a lot.) You hear a lot more Chen in the Chinese version and he does fit the song pretty well. When Chen uses his lower register, he can sound a bit different than when he's doing those high notes of his. It's an interesting gift he has and makes his singing stand out a bit more as a whole. Lay and Luhan also do a great job in the Chinese version too.

5) I'll definitely be biased for this song though, the Chinese version of the song wins hands down compared to the Korean version. The chorus part sounds better, their voices blend better, and it's just nicer to the ears. Chen sounds good in this version, as well as Luhan, Lay, and Xiumin just sounds phenomenal. Kris and Tao do well, especially since their singing voices fit with the rest of M too.
peachysoo #5
1) Have you seen the third live of them though? Because that's the best of the four. The first two were just average, nerves getting the better of Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, everyone bringing each other down by their performances, making it not very good, and then the last one, you can tell Baekhyun's sick, Chen's most likely getting sick, and Kyungsoo, he might be in the same boat, but I think this song is just really hard for him to emote well too, so there's that. But yeah, I agree, the song is just average, but it's good for Chen because a lot of k-netz are starting to take notice of him a lot more for his voice, which is a good thing, especially since he has such a unique color to his voice and is just usually really good at singing live.

2)Eh, you liked Christmas Day? It's like one of my least favorite songs on the album. However, it's probably the one song people should be playing around Christmas time. The others are either too upbeat and y sounding or sad/depressing. Though I do find the Chinese version to be better than the Korean version, but that's not new. (M's songs usually always sound better for me, especially since lines are distributed a lot more evenly and they sound a bit more solid than K does. K you usually have Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol dominating most of the song, while with M, you're more likely to hear all of them.)
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