Shaylen Carroll: I wrote the lyrics and melodies with Tay Jasper, then I sang the demo.

It's a feel good

type of track, so the melodies came easily. Styalz's stuff is easy to write to. When I was recording some
melody ideas I kept on singing nonsense phrases and one was Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Bop, which we
all thought was super quirky and catchy. So we built off that and turned it into something real. The song
is about not worrying about things... Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow! Don't worry about the
haters.

Jared Cotter, Shaylen's manager: [SM Entertainment] let us know it was being considered for a girl
group.

Carroll: [I] definitely never thought it would get flipped to EXO, but obviously we are thrilled it did. We
[knew] it was special when we finished it. I am really glad it found the home that it did.

Chen: [The members and I] wrote the lyrics separately and worked on putting the lyrics together for the
song afterwards. We worked on the song using a special method, where we gathered all three of our
lyrics for the song and selected which lyrics would suit the song the best. I don't think I have any regrets
or wish that it could have better since it's the best result produced through all the effort that our
members and other various writers have put into the process. Through the lyrics, I wanted Ko Ko Bop
to have people shake off all their stress and enjoy themselves just as who they are.

Baekhyun: I felt that a lot of our fans were unable to fully enjoy our concerts or performances because
they're conscious of what others would think. Since Ko Ko Bop is a reggae and EDM genre and it's easy
to groove to, I wanted my lyrics to have people to become more carefree, release their stress and dance
away with the music.

What U Do?

Ronny Svendsen: The song was written in Seoul last December. We went over to Korea to do a camp for
SM with our, at the time, new publishing company called Ekko Music Rights. We tried to create a song
that would be danceable and organic sounding with emphasis on real instruments -- bass, guitar, piano.
The song was really based around the guitars and a simple chord progression. Sound-wise we had a
reference from another boy band of SM Entertainment's called NCT, which we originally aimed for:
danceable, but not synthy.

Forever

Greg Bonnick of LDN NOISE: This was written in Seoul with Kenzie and Adrian McKinnon. We knew the
vibe was perfect for EXO so we worked on it for about a week on and off to get it right, trying different
chords and toplines. The intro part was initially the chorus. We thought, Great, we nailed it, but once
we listened back, it needed to go up another gear. We then added the extra section, which is now the
chorus, and it came to life and made it so much bigger.

To be honest, we wanted to make a Monster 2.0 but still be different and bigger, you know? We
always have fun when we can mix hard hip-hop verses with a bright chorus, and for a group like EXO, it
gives it the perfect balance.
We wanted to make a statement: this song, this album, it's EXO forever. We feel really connected to this
group and the fans so it's important we got it right, and the feedback has been amazing, so we are very
happy.

Diamond

Harvey Mason Jr.: We went to Seoul to work with SM Entertainment artists and EXO was one of the
artists that they asked us to write songs for. Generally, when we've written songs for EXO in the past, we
listen to their material, we see where they are in their sonic journey, kinda figuring out where they fit as
far as what type of music they're making right now and then we try and go one step further -- take them
somewhere interesting. We just try and do things that are fresh and original but yet still sound like EXO.
On this particular trip, we listened to their current material and then as a group, myself and JQ and
some of the other guys, we sat down and said, That's what they're doing? Let's beat it. Let's try and do
something amazing.

Patrick j.Que Smith: On this trip, they took us to an EXO show at the Olympic Stadium and to see
them on the stage, see them performing the records and see the fans in the crowd... Getting to
experience all of that was amazing. It kind of changed the perspective of what we were trying to create
and how to create it, something that would live in that arena environment.

Mason Jr.: Yeah, seeing what people were reacting to and seeing them perform our last song
[Overdose], seeing what made the crowd excited, [what] the guys were feeling when they were
singing it... Seeing the concert and seeing 30,000 screaming people... I [went] back to the studio virtually
that night, if not the next day, and having that energy and that vision of what they were doing, how they
were performing... [We were] really trying to come with that energy.

Smith: So much of it came from watching the live show, because parts of the show [were] R&B-ish, then
there were parts of the show that felt EDM-ish, and then there were parts where there were trap-like
styles. The conversation became, As opposed to trying to make one of these, let's create something
different. Let's go in and make a movie. We're going to go in here and make an audible movie, we're
going to give them three or four minutes of highs, lows.

Mason Jr.: To us, there's really not something they can't pull off as far as pop music; they can do it all.
They can sing, they can dance, they have the energy.... It's just all there for us. It's like a painter having
every color to paint with.
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Touch It

Denzil Remedios: From what I recall, Touch It came to Ryan [Jhun]'s hands first. He got the song
originally from the Jackie Boyz [Carlos and Steven Battey] and the Fliptonez. I think they sent it to him
while we were still in Korea and this was actually more than a year ago now, maybe close to almost two
years ago when they sent that record, and it just kinda connected right away. We heard what it could be
-- it already sounded like the guts of a smash was there, at least something we could put into a big
group's hands. From there, Ryan and I did what we normally do, which is pick it apart and say, Hey,
what parts could get stronger? What could we do extra with the production to pump it a little bit
more? That's how we got the record, and then we just worked on all those elements over probably
months back and forth.

Touch It, when we first heard it, already had such a non-today-ish vibe -- a classic vibe. It's not like the
everyday pop EDM electronic-y sound that everyone's doing, which was refreshing when we first heard
it. We were like, Yo, this sounds like an old Justin Timberlake, almost Michael Jackson type of thing.
That old school vibe. We didn't wanna change the production or toplining to the point where it didn't
sound like that anymore. When we were hearing it, sonically we were like, Cool, this can be something
that a group like EXO can take and use for the album and it doesn't sound like everything else they
would normally be putting out.

We were thinking stage performance at the time too. It's just a really fun track that doesn't have to be
too serious -- you don't have to have crazy choreography where they drop from the top of the stadium.
Chen: My imagination provides the most inspiration for the lyrics. For Touch It, I played out the lyrics
in my mind as if it is like a scene from a movie when writing it. After completing the draft, I worked on it
by fixing awkward pronunciations by singing along the lyrics with the music. This helped me figure out
more suitable and comfortable words that would enhance the groove when listening to the song.

Chill

Otha Vakseen Davis: We went to a song camp last year -- I wanna say it was November -- and it was
probably the third camp my team has been on. Anytime we go to song camps at SM, they usually have a
focus for us as far as what to work on and I know we worked on some things for EXO. For any creator,
you always wanna try to make an EXO project. We fell in love with the vibe and the energy [of Chill] in
the studio and SM's team felt the same way about the record. That happened to be one that everybody
loved -- the guys loved it ultimately when they heard it.

There were certain elements like the breakdown in Chill that was added at the camp, but we came
with the ideas already fleshed out. Ultimately, [the breakdown] was to serve as a dance breakdown. K-
pop acts, especially EXO, are very performance-oriented, so you wanna have sections to show out. You
wanna make something that feels good but still can allow them to move.

Chanyeol: Usually it's common to work on the lyrics based on a demo guide, but for the song Chill I
worked on the lyrics with an empty track without demo lyrics. I think thats part of the reason why the
lyrics were able to come out pretty naturally.

Walk on Memories

Albi Albertsson: In early 2016, Wassily Gradovsky, who was actually interning for me as a producer at
that time, brought an instrumental to me, which was later to become the instrumental for Walk on
Memories. He had recorded a loop on the upright piano I have in my living room and incorporated it
into this smooth R&B style beat.

I immediately liked the chord progression and the vibe of the track, so I sent it to Justin Reinstein,
our writer from New York who we had just started working with at that time. He had a very smooth
topline and vocal style that I thought would be perfect for this track, so he worked on the instrumental
to craft the melodies.

From then on it was only finalizing the song: I added stacks of vocal harmonies and other details to make
it work better for a group performance and make it more K-pop, added some vocal adlibs and then
finalized the production by adding more instruments and finalizing the mix.

When I sent it to EXO's A&R, he immediately loved it but wanted a more distinct intro that reflected the
fantasy theme he had in mind for the new album. So instead of the very basic intro the track originally
had, I came up with a new, more mysterious and vibey intro, which is the intro you can hear in the final
version of the song.
Wassily Gradovsky: The track was influenced by the genres of '90s R&B and jazz, reimagined with
contemporary sounds. The arrangement of the piano chords -- being arpeggiated from bottom to the
top -- was inspired by Justin Timberlake's Cry Me A River, but with a lighter and more positive tone.
The slightly melancholic bridge, which is modulating into the final uplifting chorus, represents an
uplifting, happy ending twist to the story.

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Going Crazy

Otha Vakseen Davis: It was something that we did maybe around February of 2016. They loved it and
for some reason could not find the right topline for it -- I think they had one originally and it didn't work
at the end of the day. So they had this track, it was already placed on EXO and my team was presented
with the opportunity to write to it. So I had one of my writers go in and do what he does. Funny enough,
it was supposed to go on the Ex'Act album. It was something that they loved, but it didn't make sense
then. We were persistent. Between myself and my business partner, we [would say], Hey, what about
this one? Don't forget this record! Fast forward to now, the new album was coming out, [and] we were
finally able to get them to connect. I think we had to make a couple of edits on it between that year or
so passing just to make sure it was as fresh as possible.

The track's over a year old -- there's something so special about it because you drop it now, 2017, and
it's still hot, still relevant. And that's the goal: create timeless music that can be good any time.