EXO’s release of “Call Me Baby” only makes me wish “El Dorado” was the single

EXO dropped “Call Me Baby” a few days ago, and the full album ‘EXODUS‘ hit stores today. “Call Me Baby” is a lot like “Overdose” in the sense that it’s a solid offering but there’s nothing that stands out about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmkkJ2lAkA

I was waiting for the music video to post this, but I can’t wait for SM Entertainment‘s lazy asses to release it, so I’m just gonna give my thoughts on the song.

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“Call Me Baby” starts out extremely promising with its repetitive hook and falsetto vocals, and I actually thought the verses sounded great. But as I’ve expressed before, I like tracks to build to something, and “Call Me Baby” consistently cuts the build down whenever it seems like it’s about to grow to maturity. Put it this way, it’s not the best news when everything there is to know about the song comes at you in the first 15 seconds of the track.

The peaks were so short throughout, and when I finally thought it was going to have its breakout moment during the bridge, it just abruptly ends like they were ending ‘The Sopranos‘ or something. It just leaves you with the feeling that you got cheated because there’s a lot of potential in this and a lot of opportunity just left on the table. This is actually the type of track that appeals to me because the instrumental is sort of like a modern take on 90s mid-tempo R&B, but it just never became what I think they wanted it to be.

And that brings me to my next point, which is that “El Dorado” should’ve been the single because it’s the shit. To me, this was more comparable to “Growl“, and as it stands I’m not even sure if this song’s even gonna be promoted or whatever else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RMbTFwzU8k

I don’t get it. Song is awesome.

But what do I know? I’m not the target demo, and maybe “Call Me Baby” is something that works better for the fanbase. Generally speaking though, anything EXO release as a single would work for the fans and become a hit, but “El Dorado” is the song that I think would have the best breakout potential.

Oh well.