Growl (song)

"Growl" (Korean: 으르렁 Eureureong; Chinese: 咆哮 Páoxiào) is a song recorded by South Korean–Chinese boy band Exo, released on August 5, 2013, for the repackaged edition of their first studio album XOXO. It was released in both Korean and Chinese versions by their label SM Entertainment. The song is known as Exo's breakthrough single, with over two million downloads in South Korea.

"Growl"
Single by Exo
from the album Growl
ReleasedAugust 5, 2013 (2013-08-05)
Recorded2013
Genre
R&B[1]
Length3:27
LabelSM
Songwriter(s)
Exo Korean and Chinese singles chronology
"Wolf"
(2013)		 "Growl"
(2013)		 "Miracles in December"
(2013)

Release and promotion

Composed by Hyuk Shin, DK, Jordan Kyle, John Major and Jarah Gibson, "Growl" is described as a dance-pop song with contemporary R&B and funk influences. After its release was announced, a video filming the group practicing the song's choreography was leaked online on July 27. Exo began performing the song on South Korean music TV shows on August 1 before it was officially released together with the album on August 5, 2013. They also performed the song on several Chinese TV shows.

The song was performed during the closing ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, along with their 2017 song "Power".[2]

Music videos

The Korean and Chinese music videos for "Growl" were released on August 1, 2013, four days ahead of the song itself. They exclusively feature Exo's performance of the song at a dimly lit warehouse and utilized the one shot style, appearing to have been filmed in a single take. Another set of music videos for the song, filmed at a different location, were released on August 20, 2013. On May 29, 2019, the Korean music video surpassed 200 million views on YouTube, becoming their fourth music video to do so.[3]

Reception

Music charts

"Growl" reached number 2 on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, as well as number 3 on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 and World Digital Songs charts.[4][5][6] Billboard listed "Growl" as the fifth best-selling K-pop song in America during 2013.[7] The song also won first place 14 times in total on South Korean music TV shows.

Describing it as "the crown jewel in EXO's fantastic 2013", Billboard picked "Growl" as the best K-pop song of 2013.[8] It was named Song of the Year at the 2013 Melon Music Awards and KBS Song Festival. The song is Exo's best-selling single to date, having accumulated over two million downloads.

Public reception

In July 2017, defectors from North Korea stated Exo has some popularity in North Korea, although people have to listen to them in secret and don't know what the members look like, and Growl in particular is used as a confession song amongst youth to confess to one's crush due to the lyrics.[9][10]

"Growl" on critic lists
Publication Year List Rank Ref.
Billboard 2013 The 20 Best K-pop Songs of 2013 1 [11]
2018 The 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time 58 [12]
2019 The 100 Greatest K-pop Songs of the 2010s 50 [13]
British GQ Best K-pop songs of the decade No order [14]
Dazed 2013 Top 10 K-pop Songs of 2013 2 [15]
The Dong-a Ilbo 2016 Best Male Idol Songs in the Past 20 Years 3 [16]
The Forty-Five 2023 The 45 best K-pop songs of all-time (Rhian Daly) 29 [17]
Melon 2021 Top 100 K-pop Songs of All Time 2 [18]
Munhwa Ilbo 2019 10 best K-pop songs of the decade (Kim In-goo) No order [19]
Rolling Stone 2023 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music 34 [20]
SBS PopAsia 2013 Top 100 Asian pop songs of 2013 1 [21]

Accolades
Awards and nominations for "Growl"
Organization Year Award Result Ref.
Golden Disc Awards 2014 Digital Bonsang Nominated [22]
Hito Music Awards Best J-pop & K-pop Song Won [23]
KBS Song Festival 2013 Song of the Year Won [24]
Korean Music Awards Song of the Year Nominated [25]
Best Dance & Electronic Song Won
Melon Music Awards 2013 Song of the Year Won [26]
Music Video Award Nominated
Mnet Asian Music Awards 2013 Best Dance Performance – Male Group Nominated [27]
Seoul Music Awards 2014 Best Song Won [28]
World Music Awards World's Best Song Won [29]
Music program awards
Program Date (14 total)
Music Bank August 16, 2013
August 23, 2013
Inkigayo August 18, 2013
August 25, 2013
September 1, 2013
Show Champion August 21, 2013
August 28, 2013
September 4, 2013
M Countdown August 22, 2013
August 29, 2013
September 5, 2013
Show! Music Core August 24, 2013
August 31, 2013
September 7, 2013

Charts

Sales
Region Sales
South Korea (digital)[33] 2,023,254

References
  1. "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2013: K-Town Picks". Billboard. December 23, 2013. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013.
  2. "K-pop acts CL, EXO wow at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics closing ceremony". Channel NewsAsia. February 26, 2018. Archived from the original on February 26, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  3. "한번 들으면 헤어나올 수 없는 EXO의 '으르렁 (Growl)' MV가 유튜브 조회수 2억뷰를 돌파했습니다!". EXO. Archived from the original on April 6, 2021. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  4. "Gaon Digital Chart - Week 33, 2013". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on July 10, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  5. "Korea K-Pop Hot 100 - September 7, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  6. "World Digital Songs - August 24, 2013". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  7. "2013's Biggest-Selling K-Pop Songs in America: PSY, Girls' Generation, 2NE1 & More". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 17, 2018. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  8. "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2013: K-Town Picks". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 23, 2013. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  9. "EXO's 'Growl' is popular in North Korea and used as a confession song". Allkpop. 6Theory Media. July 29, 2017. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  10. "'이제 만나러 갑니다' 엑소 북한서도 대세 "'으르렁'최고 인기"". Naver (in Korean). Naver. July 29, 2017. Archived from the original on December 2, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  11. "20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2013: K-Town Picks". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 23, 2013. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  12. "The 100 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. April 23, 2018. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  13. "The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. November 25, 2019. Archived from the original on November 28, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  14. "The game-changers from a decade of K-pop". gq-magazine.co.uk. British GQ. December 20, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  15. Glasby, Taylor (December 10, 2013). "Top 10 K-Pop Songs of 2013". Dazed. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  16. "'반짝반짝 눈이 부셔'… 빅뱅-소녀시대 역대 최고 아이돌". The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). September 1, 2016. Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  17. Daly, Rhian (May 11, 2023). "The 45 best K-pop songs of all-time". The Forty-Five. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  18. "K-pop 명작 100". Melon (in Korean). August 27, 2021. Archived from the original on August 27, 2021.
  19. Kim, In-goo (December 11, 2019). "<2010's Best 10-가요>글로벌 시장 향해 '으르렁'… K-팝 'DNA' 심었다". Munhwa Ilbo. Naver. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  20. "The 100 Greatest Songs in the History of Korean Pop Music". Rolling Stone. July 20, 2023. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  21. "PopAsia's Top 100 Asian pop songs of 2013". SBS PopAsia. Popasia. December 20, 2013. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  22. "Nomination for Digital Bonsang - Golden Disk Awards". soompi. January 16, 2014. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  23. "「2014 hito流行音樂獎頒獎典禮」 楊丞琳、羅志祥最受歡迎 田馥甄、林俊傑獲hito最佳男女歌手". June 3, 2014. Archived from the original on January 1, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  24. KBS 가요대축제, 엑소 올해의 노래 선정 '으르렁'. The Economic Daily (in Korean). December 28, 2013. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019 – via MK.
  25. "Genre field result" (in Korean). Korean Music Awards. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  26. Jackson, Julie (November 15, 2013). "SHINee snags 'Artist of the Year' at MelOn Music Awards" (An English version of the article is provided right after the Korean text, simply scroll down to view and read.). The Korea Herald. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  27. MAMA 2014 - Best Male Group Dance Performance Nominees (Online broadcast). KCON TV (via YouTube). November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on May 2, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  28. Gye, Hye-sung (January 23, 2014). 엑소, '서가대' 우뚝섰다..'대상' 포함 3관왕 "행복"(종합). Star News (in Korean). Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2018 – via Naver.
  29. "Nomination for worlds best group". World Music Awards. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  30. "Gaon Digital Chart - 2013". Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  31. "Billboard Korea K-pop Hot 100 - 2013". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 23, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  32. "World Digital Song Sales - 2013". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  33. Cumulative sales for "Growl":
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