XOXO | ||||
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Studio album by Exo | ||||
Released | June 3, 2013 August 5, 2013 (repackage) |
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Recorded | 2011-2013; S.M. Studios, Seoul | |||
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Label | S.M. Entertainment, KT Music | |||
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Exo chronology | ||||
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Singles from XOXO | ||||
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XOXO is the first studio album by South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo, released on June 3, 2013 by S.M. Entertainment. The album is a follow-up to the group's debut EP, Mama (2012). Like all of the group's music, the album was released in two versions – a Korean "Kiss" edition and a Chinese "Hug" edition.
Two singles were released from XOXO: "Wolf" and "Growl", the latter being the lead single off the album's repackaged version released on August 5, 2013. Both singles went to chart in the top ten of the Gaon Singles Chart, and "Growl" peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100. The album won Album of the Year at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards and sold over 1 million copies, becoming the best-selling album in Korea from 2001-2017.
The album's lead single, "늑대와 미녀" ("The Wolf and the Beauty"), known in English as simply "Wolf", was composed by Will Simms, Nermin Harambasic from Dsign Music and S.M. Entertainment 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 provides background vocals. The dance for the song was choreographed by Tony Testa. 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...".