Center is basically the one who has natural aura and catch the attention of the crowd. Center is easily spottable even if they're not in center of the choreography formation but regardless is still in center position during majority screentime of the choreography, basically leading the formation. Center position is given to the member with most prominent stage presence, visual catchiness and emodies the group concept well.

The reason why D.O. cut his hair so short was because at the time he was starring in the international movie "Swing Kids," which is set during the Korean War in the 1950s and D.O. was playing a North Korean soldier who is a prisoner of war, so his hairstyle was part of his role in the movie. As part of the movie, his character joined a tap dance troupe that entertained the other soldiers, and a large part of the show is about their dancing, so he had to learn how to tap dance professionally for that role.

As one of the top Idol actors in the industry, D.O.'s hairstyle often reflects the many roles he plays. That is also one of the reasons why he almost never dyes his hair like most other Kpop idols. His acting roles are usually historical dramas or more serious roles where he plays regular people, so his style often reflects that.

Even though D.O. is one of the youngest members of EXO, he actually was one of the first members to enlist in the military. He requested an earlier enlistment because he was set to star in a big name drama and in order to prevent his enlistment from interfering with his shooting schedule he enlisted early to get it out of the way. This just demonstrates how good he is as a actor, because the producers and director of the show  decided to postpone their shooting schedule to wait for him to finish his military service.

Kyungsoo actually sang in 3 languages in his solo debut album: Korean, English and Spanish

Lay was in all of EXO's MVs until the end of 2016, and he would have been participating in ALL of EXO's activities still today if it wasn't for the political issues between the Korean and Chinese government, which prevents him from doing so. He did leave SM Entertainment in 2022 -- when his contract was up after 10 years -- but he is always the first to tell people that if EXO ever wants or needs him for anything he will always be there for them.

We have only just recently got to see Lay promoting in Korea for the first time in a long time with his solo comeback "Psychic" last year. He even promoted a Korean version of the song  on music shows in Korea and he also just was in Korea for his concert tour. In order to avoid any conflict between China and Korea, his new album is an All-English album, just like most of his solo releases when he was under SM. Although there are still several obstacles in his way to being able to work with EXO, I have seen rumors that maybe this year or next when all the members have finished their military service, that EXO will have a comeback with all 9 members and Lay said he was looking forward to promoting with EXO again.  

Lay is a megastar in China, literally one of the biggest celebrities in China today. The reason why he is so big in China now, I think is essentially a product of the fact that he could no longer promote with EXO. He first started to do some solo work in China while he was still participating in EXO activities, but at that time he was mostly famous in China because of EXO. When the political tensions between Korea and China ramped up, he decided that if he wanted to continue his career, he needed to really focus everything he had in China. That's when he started to establish himself as a solo artist in China and to begin to build his career as a producer, singer, dancer, actor, model and all-around entertainer.  He now owns multiple companies and brands in China and he has his hand in almost every facet of the music and entertainment industry.

You should check out Lay's official lyric video for his song "Jiu," a song on his East album, which was released after he announced his departure from SM. This song is evidence that he has not left EXO and that he still considers himself part of the group, as every word of the song is a tribute to EXO. I have also read that on Webo (the Chinese internet server) he mentioned how he was working out a deal with SM that could possibly allow him to still continue to do projects with EXO in the future. (I mean it's possible, afterall that's essentially the deal that Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen and D.O. have. They have moved their solo promotions to other companies, but they still participate in things with EXO, which is under SM. Lay probably just has a few more stipulations than the other members.) I mean, SM has been supporting Lay in everything he has been doing so far, including endorsing him when he started his idol trainee company Chromosome in China. And I don't think there is any bad blood or uneasy feelings between Lay and SM, so anything is possible.

As mentioned, Lay's hiatus from EXO is not something he has chosen, but it's something that has sort of been forced upon him by the government.

When China first began cracking down on their citizens working in Korea around 2016 -- as a political protest over South Korea's alignment with the U.S. and China's support of North Korea, etc. -- there were rumors that the Chinese government was threatening to revoke the citizenship of any mainland native Chinese person who continued to do business with a Korean company and lived outside of China. This rule would have prevented Idols, such as Lay, from visiting family and doing business in China, etc. The only way for them to avoid this from happening was for them to come back to China right away and stop doing business with their Korean companies. I don't know if this was really true or if it was just a rumor, but that is what I heard. Which would explain why some Chinese Idols don't feel any pressure to stop working in Korea because they have nothing to lose if they don't have family or a life in China or they aren't mainland Chinese citizens, etc.

Yes, there are lots of Chinese Idols still working in Korea. However, these idols don't have the connections to the Chinese government the way Lay and other idols do. Many of those Chinese idols' careers don't depend on being able to promote or live in China and many Chinese idols don't have close family living in mainland China or they are not from mainland China, which is why they have more immunity from the restrictions placed on Chinese citizens. For example, SM Entertainment group NCT-Dream's Chinese members don't work very much in China and most of WayV's members are not from mainland China. That is also why SM has created Label V in order to make it possible for WayV to release music in China and its why WayV distances themselves from NCT whenever they promote in China.

Lay's whole career is tied to being able to work and live in China and he is closely connected to the Chinese government as an ambassador of youth, so he has to tread lightly when it comes to how he conducts himself and who he chooses to associate with, etc. He can't afford to be blacklisted in the Chinese entertainment industry. For a long time, Lay was even discouraged from mentioning EXO by name in TV shows and interviews, but he always finds subtle ways to make it clear that being a member of EXO, and his EXO brothers, are always very important to him.

We finally got to see Lay in an EXO project in 2021 -- the first time since 2016 (besides his brief solo appearance in EXO's "Tempo" MVs in 2018) -- with EXO's "Don't Fight The Feeling" MV, but he really didn't get to work with EXO because of the pandemic, etc. Everything he did for that MV was done remotely and independently and inserted into the song and MV.

Lay started out learning how to dance as a trainee when he signed with SM at the age of about 17. According to him, at that time he wasn't a very good dancer and it took him a lot of hard work and time to get to the level that he's at today. Now he has become one of the BEST dancers in China that EVERYONE looks up to.

Currently his favorite style of dance that he has been focusing a lot of his training on is Krump. Lay is regarded as an industry expert that pretty much all other dancers and musicians look up to -- he has even been credited with making Krump a mainstream dance style in China, and he is one of China's leading experts when it comes to Krump.

However, he began by learning popping and locking as a trainee with SM.

Because of Lay's drive to constantly be learning new things, he is always striving to learn as much as possible and to be as diverse as possible about all styles of dance and cultures. Lay is such a good dancer because he literally is in the dance studio practicing for 6 hours EVERYDAY. (In an episode of Street Dance of China 4 in 2021, he specifically said "I practice for 6 hours every day." And he meant he does it regardless, no matter how busy he is or what he has going on. He even finds time to practice during filming for reality shows that have nothing to do with dance.) I have seen in a documentary where he starts his day around 4 a.m., he gets done with his schedule of events around 9 p.m. and then he spends from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the dance studio with his dance mentor dancing.  

That's also why he was given the title of the nation's producer by the Chinese government, and why he has been a mentor/dance instructor and main PD for several Idol trainee survival competition shows in China. (These are programs similar to American Idol, where trainees compete to be chosen to become members of a new idol group.) He is pretty much considered an expert when it comes to dance and performance, and he is beginning to gain the respect of songwriters, composers and music producers from all over the world. He is who everyone, especially in China, looks to as an example of what it takes to be an Idol. He is literally considered one of the most successful celebrities in China.

42:09 Actually, Kyungsoo has more than 30 awards as an actor, he is the most awarded within EXO between awards as an actor and singer...

Lay is still in the group
He just couldn’t promote with EXO since 2017 bc of conflicts between China and Korea
But now the situation is way better,he’s actually in Korea rn and just uploaded a TikTok with Kai on EXO’s channel😍😍
He is rumoured also to be in the groups comeback next year

Kai isn’t just EXO’s center, he is the essence of EXO on stage.
From debut until now, he's consistently been the heartbeat of their performances.

There’s a reason people recognize EXO through him. He doesn’t just stand in the center, he defines it.

Please react to EXO's B-Side Medley.  They did it the killing voice style.

40:22 Yes Kyungsoo looks great with a shaved head, he was like this for a long time because he was shooting his movie Swing Kids so he is the one who makes the least changes to his image in the group because of his facet also as an actor although I think it is also because of how he is, he does not like to attract attention very much... There's a clip from a concert where he appears shaved for the first time and Kai says it makes him want to kiss his head 😂😂😂

Welcome to EXO planet 😂❤

The only one in military rn is Sehun and he’s coming back in September
Then they are finished with their service

Kim JongIn was given the stage name Kai because Kai means opening, as in a door or gateway, in Chinese. As the center of the group, it's his job to be the one who travels across history, time and demotions to connect all the EXO members together. That is also why he was given the superpower of teleportation. He has a Chinese name, even though he is a member of EXO-K, because he is supposed to be the one that brings EXO-K and EXO-M together. It's also why he is often the first member to be shown in their MV teasers or storyline because he is the "opening" of the story.

In this guide the EXO members are listed oldest to youngest, so yes Kai is the second youngest member. They put Suho first because he is the leader, but starting with Xiumin, who is the oldest, everyone else was listed in age order.

Not only is Kai the main dancer of EXO, but he is literally one of the top two BEST dancers of all dancers in the Kpop industry. (Taemin from SHINee, who happens to be Kai's best friend since trainee days and a fellow member of SuperM, is the other top dancer.) And that's not just a fans opinion, but it's a title given to him by his peers and industry experts. That's also one of the many reasons why he is a member of SuperM.

Although Kai has made crop tops famous and was one of the first male idols to wear them, he actually doesn't LOVE to be shirtless or show off his abs as much as people might think.

Kai is often shirtless because he is known for his abs and it's become part of his brand. These days it's almost expected of him that he will show off his abs. It has even sort of became part of EXO's storyline. He has literally been on a strict diet and workout regimen for most of his career in order to maintain his abs. If you check that episode of "I live Alone" where Kai was on the show, he shows off his super chic condo and talks a little about his diet.

However, in an episode of the variety show Knowing Bros. he talked about how on stage he doesn't mind being shirtless because it is part of the character he embodies, but the minute he steps off stage he becomes extremely self-conscious. During "Tempo" and "Obsession" era when he was wearing crop tops all over the place to perform during music shows and events, etc. he said it caused him to have really bad posture, because the minute he stepped off stage he would slouch to try and cover his stomach.

Even though he knows he looks good, as you just saw, Kim JongIn is really shy. Therefore, I think if it hadn't become such a big part of who he is as an idol and model, he probably wouldn't be shirtless very often.

Just so you know, the other members of the Padding squad are also idols. Ravi is a former member of the Kpop group VIXX, Timoteo is a former SM trainee when Kai and Taemin were trainees and later left SM and became a  member of the Kpop boy group HotShot,  Sungwoon is from the Kpop boy group Wanna One, and they didn't include him, but there is one non-celebrity founding member Jung KwonHo, who is a high school friend of Taemin, Kai and Timoteo.  All the members of the Padding Squad -- which is so named because of the matching padded jackets (winter jackets) they all got as members of the group -- are all around the same age.

Chanyeol and Sehun are the tallest members (and prob taller than the guide says)
Chanyeol said that he measured his height again in military and he’s almost 6’2,Sehun is 6’1 and then Kai is 6’0

27:08 Baekhyun, from the K-pop group EXO, has achieved his fourth consecutive million-seller album with his latest release, "Essence of Reverie". The album surpassed 1 million sales within three days of its release. This makes him the first K-pop soloist in the 21st century to achieve this feat. "Essence of Reverie" is his fifth solo EP, and four of his five solo albums have sold over 1 million copies.

React to EXO moments that saved 2023

Even though Baekhyun isn’t a main dancer he can learn a choreography after watching it just one time!

Xiumin is pronounced like Shoe-min or Shoo-min, X in Chinese is pronounced like the sh sound in English. Even though Kim MinSeok is Korean, he was given a Chinese stage name because he is one of the two Korean members of EXO-M, so it was meant to help him relate better with their Chinese audience.

Kim Minseok is also a very common name in Korea. Therefore, having a stage name also helps distinguish him from all the other Kim Minseoks in the entertainment industry. He was even on a reality show once where they cast several celebrity Kim MinSeoks together, so he asked them to call him Xiumin in order to make it less confusing when they were talking about each other. LOL I actually knew a well-known actor named Kim Minseok and a musician with that name before I knew Xiumin.

In the beginning when EXO was split up into the separate groups, if we wanted to hear the EXO-M members sing or rap we had to watch the EXO-M MVs. Therefore, if you check out some of EXO-M's MVs and content, you will discover that as a member of EXO-M, Xiumin was a lead rapper and he covered most of the same lines and parts as EXO-K's lead/main rapper Sehun. For every EXO-K member, EXO-M had an equal member that covered the same role in each group. That's why EXO-K had 6 members and EXO-M had 6 members. It's worth checking out both versions of all of EXO's songs in order to hear the difference and to see how the EXO-M members take on a much larger role in the Mandarin songs, etc.

Yes, you will discover that all the members of EXO -- and most idols in general -- are actors, and all of them have starred in K-dramas and movies and/or are stage actors. Promoting as a group only takes up a few weeks a year -- on average, Kpop Idols only promote their latest music release on music shows and attend variety shows or do interviews, etc. to promote their newest album or single for about 2 weeks -- so in order to fill their time and continue to make money, all Idols have side projects, which means most idols also spend time as TV and movie  actors,  musical stage actors, models, Radio DJs, podcast hosts, authors, music producers, songwriters, regular/main cast members on variety shows, etc. Their side projects also are part of their cross promotions as idols. Someone who doesn't know them may watch them in a drama or movie or see them promoting their favorite brand or product, etc., which leads to them discovering their group and music, or the person may be a fan of them as a singer and this makes them want to watch their movie or drama, etc. It's all about getting their name and face out there in as many ways as possible in order to drive sales and viewership of everything they are involved in.

For example, the clip where you saw Xiumin cleaning the bathroom because it was so messy was during a reality TV show called "Dangerous Outside the Blanket," which was a Korean TV show where several idols who are known for being introverts were cast on the show together and they essentially spent a few days vacationing together while a film crew followed there every move. Xiumin was the only EXO member on the show, but there were several other Korean celebrities and idols who "lived with him"  as part of the cast for the program. For example, the other guy you saw sneaking out of the room was Kung Daniel who is a Kpop solo artist and was a former member of the temporary Kpop boy group Wanna One (formed as part of a survival trainee competition TV show, that was only active from 2017-2019).

"Dangerous Outside the Blanket" is just one example of the "side projects" idols and celebrities in Korea participate in as part of the Korean entertainment industry as a way to promote themselves and their groups, etc. It allows the general public who may not follow Kpop groups or the dramas or movies these members are in, to get to know them -- these programs often air on TV during primetime viewing as programs you would watch after coming home from work or school, etc -- which could potentially then make that person want to get to know them more, which could then cause them to become a fan and get them to watch their dramas or movies or get them to listen to their music, etc.

WE SEE EXO 🌟 WE WATCH 💖

33:30😂
Did you remember The height difference between Chanyeol and D.O.😂 These 2 are Tom and Jerry of the group.😅