On November 27, 2019, EXO released their sixth full-length album OBSESSION and the music video for title track “Obsession.” This was the group’s first release after members D.O and Xiumin enlisted, and saw the group battling evil clones of themselves known as X-EXO. While title track “Obsession” is described as a hip-hop dance track, the other tracks boast genres like dance pop, hip-hop, funk, trap, and reggae. The final track on OBSESSION is the Chinese version of the title track; unlike previous releases, it does not feature LAY.

The Music Video

The music video for “Obsession” opens with the group as their X-EXO personas before alternating between EXO and X-EXO. While the lyrics are directed towards ex-lovers, ex-friends, the media, and sasaeng fans that won’t go away due to their obsession with the group, at first glance, the music video seems to be nothing more than a war between EXO and X-EXO. However, if you look more closely within the video, you’ll find that X-EXO embodies many of the negative traits that EXO are trying to escape.

Chen’s X-EXO version is monitoring everybody and everything throughout the music video, much like how sasaengs follow their idols much too closely. Both personas of Suho are seen working their way through a museum, but at one point his EXO side is seen floating in the air as if he is a piece of art to be displayed for people to enjoy and nothing more. Another scene where this message is conveyed more directly is when Sehun points an arrow towards his X-EXO version, who is seated in a chair covered with arrows in front of a bullseye. This scene can be taken quite literally as EXO “taking their shot” at the people who feel they’re owed something by the group.

We’re also treated to two physical battles within the music video, one where the two versions of Baekhyun fence, and the other where Chanyeol battles his X-EXO version utilizing his fire power that has been associated with him since the early days of EXO. Another battle comes in the form of Chen playing a game of chess against X-EXO Chen. While slightly less clear, Kai’s EXO and X-EXO versions seem to be playing a game of cat and mouse, with his X-EXO side carrying a muleta, or Matador’s cape, to anger and push his EXO side. 

Unlike previous EXO releases, there is no official music video for the Chinese version of the track.

The Comeback Performances

EXO had their comeback for “Obsession” during their V LIVE concert, EXO THE STAGE, on November 29, 2019, where they revealed the EXO and X-EXO stages of “Obsession.” It was announced on the official X-EXO and EXO Twitter accounts that whichever of the two stages received the higher view counts, that group’s close-up cams would be released first. After the end of the viewing period, which ran from 8 p.m. KST on November 30 to 11:59 p.m. KST on December 1, EXO-Ls were treated to the close-up cams of X-EXO. While X-EXO gained the most views during that time period, the EXO performance now has over 1.5 million views more.

For the performances of “Obsession,” EXO and X-EXO wore outfits seen from the music video and performed on the same stage design, but with different lighting and images on the screens behind them. While the EXO stage featured standard lighting on the group for the most part with flashes of green and an image of a castle behind them, the X-EXO stage had the group lit in red with flashes of orange and an image of the castle in ruins.  

 There were also some differences in the choreography, most notably during Kai’s “Take whatever” part: in the EXO version of the stage, Kai is seen turning to his left and reaching out with his left hand to snatch at something, but in the X-EXO version, these actions are performed to his right. For a cool comparison of the two stages where the performances alternate, check out the official EXO and X-EXO upload here.

The Legacy

EXO took home five music show wins during “Obsession” promotions: two from Music Bank on December 6 and December 13, two from Show! Music Core on December 7 and December 14, and one from Show Champion on December 11. Less than a year after its release, on August 12, 2020, the music video for “Obsession” surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, becoming the eleventh EXO track to accomplish this feat.

OBSESSION peaked and debuted at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart. The album also peaked at No. 1 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart for November and December, and was their fifth release to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums Chart.

A majority of the tracks on OBSESSION charted on more than one Gaon and Billboard chart, with “Obsession,” “Trouble,” and “Jekyll” appearing more commonly on the charts than the other tracks. On the Gaon Weekly Digital Chart, “Obsession” peaked and debuted at No. 13, “Trouble” peaked at No. 85, “Groove” peaked at No. 93, “Jekyll” peaked at No. 96, and “Butterfly Effect” peaked at No. 98. For the Gaon Weekly Streaming Chart, “Obsession” debuted at No. 55 but peaked at No. 28, “Trouble” peaked at No. 79, “Groove” peaked at No. 88, “Butterfly Effect” peaked at No. 90, and “Jekyll” peaked at No. 94.

All ten tracks off of OBSESSION appeared on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart: “Obsession” debuted at No. 1, “Trouble” at No. 11, “Butterfly Effect” at No. 12, “Groove” at No. 13, “Day After Day” at No. 15, “Jekyll” at No. 16, “Non Stop” at No. 17, “Baby You Are” at No. 18, “Ya Ya Ya” at No. 19, and “Obsession - Chinese Version” at No. 33. The following week, all but “Obsession” had dropped off the chart, with the title track lingering there for the rest of 2019 and the first two weeks of 2020.

“Obsession,” “Trouble,” and “Jekyll” also appeared on the Billboard U.S. World Digital Song Sales Chart, peaking at No. 1, No. 19, and No. 22 respectively. “Obsession” is EXO’s fourth track to hit No. 1 on the chart. Nine of the OBSESSION tracks also charted on the Billboard K-Pop 100, with “Obsession” peaking at No. 5, “Trouble” peaking at No. 37, “Groove” peaking at No. 43, “Butterfly Effect” peaking at No. 44, “Jekyll” peaking at No. 46, “Ya Ya Ya” peaking at No. 49, “Baby You Are” peaking at No. 50,  “Day After Day” peaking at No. 51, and “Non Stop” peaking at No. 52.

During the year-end awards season, EXO was nominated for many awards, with the group winning “Best Group” at the Asian Pop Music Awards, “K-Pop Male Group” at the BreakTudo Awards, “Top 10 Artists” at the MelOn Music Awards, “Hallyu Special Award” and “Bonsang Award” at the Seoul Music Awards, “Album of the Year - 4th Quarter” for OBSESSION and “Top Kit Seller of the Year” for the OBSESSION kit at the 2020 Gaon Chart Music Awards, and “Disc Bonsang” for OBSESSION and “QQ Music Fans Choice K-Pop Artist” at the 2020 Golden Disc Awards.

EXO were also nominated for awards at three separate American music awards that they unfortunately did not win: “Favorite Social Artist” at the American Music Awards, “Top Social Artist” at the Billboard Music Awards, and “Best K-Pop Video” for “Obsession” at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.

It has been over 550 days since EXO has released a new album as a group. Between the release of OBSESSION and the upcoming release of DON’T FIGHT THE FEELING on June 7, 2021, this is the longest gap in EXO’s career between album releases. But thankfully, EXO-Ls have not been without new music from their favorite boys, as SM Entertainment turned their focus toward EXO solo releases. In 2020, leader Suho released his debut mini-album Self-Portrait before enlisting, Baekhyun released his second solo mini-album Delight and digital song “Amusement Park,” sub-unit EXO-SC released their first full-length album 1 Billion Views, LAY released his fourth album LIT and featured on track “Love You More” with Steve Aoki and will.i.am, Chen released his digital single “Hello” before enlisting, and fans finally got the debut of solo artist KAI. SuperM, the SM Entertainment boy group featuring Kai and Baekhyun, also released their first full-length album Super One in 2020.

So far, this year has brought us a third Baekhyun mini-album, Bambi, and the exciting news about DON’T FIGHT THE FEELING, but it’s just a matter of time before we’ll see what the remaining EXO members have in store for us in 2021.