Exo

K-pop's fictional universes are no longer confined to music videos and album teasers. From science fiction writers to bestselling poets, some of Korea's most respected literary voices are turning up inside idol group album packages — commissioned to write short stories, lyrics and narrative passages to accompany their releases, in one of the more unlikely creative collaborations the industry has seen. When boy band EXO released its eighth album, “REVERXE,” on Jan. 19, the group included a short story titled “EX-VISION,” written by novelist Lee Hee-joo, whose fictions such as “Holy Boy” (2021) and “Creamy(nal) Love” (2025) frequently draw on K-pop fan culture. The story places the members in everyday scenes — Sehun and Chanyeol preparing food, D.O. handling the music, Lay and Suho arriving with a custom-made cake — with references to symbols long associated with the group's lore, such as the tree of life, the red force and the full lunar eclipse. For Lee, the creative process was familiar but the audience was not. “When I work on my own novels, my personal style ma

K-pop's fictional universes are no longer confined to music videos and album teasers. From science fiction writers to bestselling poets, some of Korea's most respected literary voices are turning up inside idol group album packages — commissioned to write short stories, lyrics and narrative passages to accompany their releases, in one of the more unlikely creative collaborations the industry has seen. When boy band EXO released its eighth album, “REVERXE,” on Jan. 19, the group included a short story titled “EX-VISION,” written by novelist Lee Hee-joo, whose fictions such as “Holy Boy” (2021) and “Creamy(nal) Love” (2025) frequently draw on K-pop fan culture. The story places the members in everyday scenes — Sehun and Chanyeol preparing food, D.O. handling the music, Lay and Suho arriving with a custom-made cake — with references to symbols long associated with the group's lore, such as the tree of life, the red force and the full lunar eclipse. For Lee, the creative process was familiar but the audience was not. “When I work on my own novels, my personal style ma

K-pop boy group EXO has sold more than 1 million copies of its eighth studio album, "REVERXE," the group's agency SM Entertainment said Thursday. It became the band's eighth album to hit the 1 million mark since its 2013 first studio album, "XOXO." The new album reached No. 1 on iTunes' Top Albums chart in 48 countries and regions around the world upon its release Jan. 19. EXO will launch its sixth concert tour at KSPO Dome in southern Seoul from April 10 to 12, performing tracks from the album for local fans before heading overseas.

SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) -- K-pop boy group EXO has sold more than 1 million copi...