One song. Every day. Alphabetical order.
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Wolf (from XOXO / Growl – 2013)
I think it’s accurate to call Wolf EXO’s most polarizing title track. The song gets a lot of guff, labeled cheesy or cringey. And yeah, the wolf howls are a bit much. But, when you really take a look at the composition itself, Wolf is tackling more interesting ideas than many idol groups manage within an entire discography.
Wolf is a sledgehammer of a song, bounding forward without any restraint. Fusing traditional instrumentation with a mammoth dubstep beat, the lumbering instrumental supports a skittering, anything-goes melody that finds the guys shouting just as often as singing. However, Wolf isn’t without its standout vocal moments. When the track reaches its chorus, we’re treated to a series of sky high power notes that match the fury of their theatrical arrangement. If you’re going to go absolutely bonkers, this is the way to do it.
| Hooks | 9 |
| Production | 10 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 10 |
| RATING | 9.5 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
100% agree with this review! Wolf is an amazing song and one of my favorites by EXO just with too many cheesy lines…
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As much as I hate the howls and cringy lyrics, Wolf might be my overall favorite Kpop track. So glad for that 9.5!
Side note: do you keep a list of your highest note? I quickly parsed through your favorite of each years, and only could find Wolf, Complete and Very Nice, plus Guess Who, Deep In Love and She’s My Girl with 9.5 (nothing above). Anyway notes are worth nothing, but I’m curious if you ever gave something above 9.5
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Yes! My Legendary Songs page has all of the tracks that I’ve given a 10/10 rating to so far 🙂
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Great, thank you!
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9.5/10 for this? And 8/10 for IVE’s ‘LOVE DIVE’ and NewJeans’ ‘Hype Boy’? I’m pretty sure if ‘BONA BONA’ was released in 2011 you’d give it 10/10. I’m sorry but I feel like you’re just biased towards old songs :sob:
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Late, but it takes time for music to marinate or show it’s true self or how well it ages. I mean, maybe if Wolf was reviewed on the first day, I’m sure Nick would have rated it lower, maybe an 8 as well. And besides, in the comments section of the Heya review, Nick said that he’d give Love Dive a 8.75 or 9. And Bona Bona also grew to an 8.25 for him despite the backlash it got in this site. And also, 8 isn’t a bad rating, it’s a pretty sweet rating here.
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