In what is his last release before military enlistment, EXO’s Baekhyun spices things up with solo release ‘Bambi.’
EXO-Ls, are we okay? Are we still alive? Or did Baekhyun’s face on our screens after so long helped us ascend to a higher plane? Higher plane? Okay.
That’s right: K-pop group EXO’s vocalist Baekhyun returned today with his new solo mini-album, Bambi. The singer also released a music video for the title track, ‘Bambi’, which sees him going darker than ever using fairy-tale references to speak of love.
The six-track EP is the vocalist’s third solo endeavor after 2019’s City Lights and 2020’s Delight. This is also Baekhyun’s last album before he enlists in the military for his mandatory military service later in April.
In an Instagram live earlier this month, Baekhyun surprised fans by announcing that this particular album would not have official promotions due to the release dates clashing with his enlistment window.
“I wasn’t sure if it would be right to ask you all to wait for me when nothing had been prepared. I said that I would repay in happiness all the love that I have received. I didn’t want to cause a stir with this news ahead of time, so I focused on working hard for the new solo album and incorporating my opinion from the planning process to the music video shoot so that I could show people what I wanted to show.” he said.
“It’s possible people might be disappointed because I announced it so late, but I had just one intention. I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to prepare in advance. It’s not like we’re being separated forever. I wanted it to be like, ‘I’ll be right back.’” he continued.
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Despite this, Bambi is well on it’s way to becoming another accomplishment in the decorated soloist’s oeuvre. Earlier this week, Bambi recorded a whopping 833,000 pre-orders in South Korea, well before its release, breaking Baekhyun’s previous personal record.
In 2020, with Delight Baekhyun also became the first solo artist in South Korea in 19 years to sell a million copies of his mini-album, earning him the title ‘million-seller’.
You can read more about this topic over at the Asia Pop Observer.
Check out ‘Bambi’ by Baekhyun:
