“Don’t Fight the Feeling” by EXO

This is yet another philosophical K-pop song. And this time around the notion the artists are dealing with is one you may hear commonly in song, the ubiquitous ‘follow your passion’ motif.

But instead of putting it like that, D.O. and the boys are rather like “don’t fight the feeling”. And even though all of the homeys are 30-ish, it seems they are specifically addressing “youth”. Or if not so in per se, they are espousing a youthful ideology highlighted by an ‘arrogant fearlessness’ in terms of living by one’s “own style”. And a requirement to achieve such a modus operandi, one in which “you truly achieve freedom”, is a willingness “to lose everything”, or perhaps as they would say in the Western world not give AF.

The second half of the song goes even further into the ideological/philosophical, making both the singer and addressee appear indomitable, if they have the heart to adopt the abovementioned disposition. This is also where it becomes possible that the addressee may be a romantic interest.  This is due to said individual being referred to as “babe” and “baby” throughout. 

Also there’s a reference to a “shorty” who is “about to turn it up” in the third verse. So considering that this is a dance song and all, it would appear it is one of those where ladies especially are being encouraged to get down.

In Conclusion

But at the end of the day, that aspiration reads more like a subtheme. More to the point is the idea of letting loose in general, i.e. not on the dance floor but in life overall. EXO feels that our “instincts” are not such that they should be fought against, which is the idea the title is based on. Or put more into layman’s terms, you should live life based on your inner vision as opposed to being overtaken by fear.

Facts about “Don’t Fight the Feeling”

There are quite a few producers of this song –

• Mike J
• Tiyon “TC” Mack
• Damon Thomas
• Moon Kim
• Tesung Kim
• Lee Soo Man
• The Aristocrats 

And the song was written solely by an SM Entertainment employee named Kenzie, with SM also being the label behind the tune.

This is the title track of a five-song EP that EXO put out on 7 June 2021. And the first time they teased this song/project was on 8 April of that same year.

At the time of this song’s issuance, EXO’s membership is seven-men deep. Two of the concurrent members, Baekhyun and Chanyeol, did not participate due to complying to South Korea’s compulsory military-service law. So that means Suho, Xiumin, Sehun, D.O., Kai, Chen and Lay participated. 

And to note whereas Lay is an original member of the group, this is the first time he’s really been involved in EXO since 2016. Also D.O. and Xiumin are just now returning from completing their own military service.

EXO

As of the early 2020s, upon which K-pop has really become a formidable force on the global music scene, EXO is the second most-popular boy band hailing from South Korea, after BTS. 

They’ve been around since 2012 and of course and have proven particularly popular in their part of the world. But EXO has achieved some success stateside also, thus far having 4 out of their 6 studio full-lengths appear on the Billboard 200. Also as implied, they regularly appear on Billboard’s World Digital Sales chart.