2011 : Formation
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In January 2011, producer Lee Soo-man of S.M. Entertainment announced his plans to debut a new boy band in March or April 2011. Temporarily named M1, the group appeared to have consisted of only seven members when a photo of them in a dance studio was leaked online. In May 2011, Lee spoke about the group in a Hallyu business seminar held in Stanford University. In the presentation, he explained his strategy of separating the group into two subgroups, M1 and M2, and have them promote the same music in South Korea and China, performing the songs in both Korean and Mandarin. Lee planned to launch the group in May 2011, but their debut was delayed due to member changes and other planning. News concerning the group did not surface until October 2011, when Lee briefly discussed about the group's concept plans again in an interview with The Chosun Ilbo. Once the members and plans were finalized, the group began to prepare for their official debut.
In December 2011, the group finalized their name to Exo, with the names Exo-K for the South Korean subgroup and Exo-M for the Chinese subgroup. Their name was taken from the word exoplanet. The twelve members were introduced individually through 23 different trailers released from December 2011 to February 2012. Kai, Lu Han, Tao, and Chen were the first four members introduced, and they debuted their first televised performance at SBS's annual Gayo Daejun event on December 29, 2011.
2012 : Debut and Mama
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Exo-K and Exo-M's prologue single "What Is Love" was released on January 30, 2012, in mainland China and South Korea. The single peaked at number 88 on South Korea's Gaon Single Chart. On March 9, the group released their second prologue single "History", which was written and produced by Thomas Troelsen and Remee. The single peaked at number 68 on the Gaon Single Chart and number six on China's Sina Music Chart.
A concert for the group was held in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on March 31. Approximately 3,000 fans from 8,000 applicants were selected to attend. A second concert was held in the Great Hall of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing on April 1.
Exo-K and Exo-M released their debut single, "Mama", on April 8 followed by an EP, Mama, on April 9. On April 8, Exo-K performed on South Korea's music program The Music Trend, while Exo-M made their debut in China's Top Chinese Music Awards on the same day. A day after release, "Mama" reached number one on various Chinese online retailers and music charts. Exo-M's album reached number two on China's Sina Album Chart, number five on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, and number twelve on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Exo-K's album peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and at number eight on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Exo-M's "Mama" music video reached number one on Chinese streaming websites, while Exo-K's version reached to number seven on YouTube's Global Chart. In late April 2012, Exo-M performed as a guest act for Super Junior's Super Show 4 concert tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In November 2012, Exo won Best New Asian Artist Group at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Exo-K received three nominations at the 27th Golden Disk Awards, winning the Newcomer Award. Exo-M received the Most Popular Group award at the 2013 Top Chinese Music Awards.
2013 : XOXO, commercial success and Miracle in December
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In May 2013, S.M. Entertainment revealed teaser photos for Exo's comeback album, the first studio album XOXO. Unlike during the Mama era, when Exo-K and Exo-M had separate promotions, XOXO was jointly promoted. The subgroups collaborated for the album's lead single, "Wolf", but the rest of the album was recorded separately.
XOXO was released in June 2013 to two versions, a Korean-language "Kiss" edition and a Mandarin-language "Hug" edition. A few days after its release, the songs in XOXO topped almost every real-time chart from online music websites of South Korea and mainland China. The two versions collectively peaked at number one on the Billboard World Album Chart a week after release. Lead single "Wolf" peaked at number one on three of South Korea's music programs, earning the name "triple win." "Wolf" also won a trophy on MBC Music's Show Champion, but the song fared worse on music download charts, reaching to only top thirty spots in recorded charts from both South Korea and China.
A repackaged version of XOXO, with three additional tracks, was released on August 5, 2013. The reissue's lead single, "Growl", was unveiled via YouTube on August 1, 2013, in the format of a music video.[38] On August 18, "Growl" achieved 10,554 points on The Music Trend charts, setting a new number one record on the show. "Growl" reached number one on all four of Korea's major music programs, winning a total of ten trophies in three consecutive weeks. The single peaked at number three on Billboard's Korea K-Pop Hot 100 and number two on the Gaon's Singles chart. As of October 2013, all versions of XOXO have collectively sold over 910,000 copies, breaking the record for being fastest-selling K-pop artist in twelve years. XOXO was named Album of the Year at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards, making Exo the youngest ever boy band to win the award. The album's single "Growl" was also honored Song of the Year at the 2013 MelOn Music Awards.
Exo began working on their comeback EP Miracles in December shortly after completing the promotional cycle for XOXO. In October 2013, Exo-M confirmed in an interview for IQIYI that the members are currently working on new material and told fans to not believe in rumors regarding their comeback. The EP, consisting of six tracks, had pre-sale orders amassing over 400,000, hitting a new record. Miracles in December was officially released December 9, 2013 through South Korean commercial outlets and online music stores. Exo jump-started album promotions through their reality show EXO's Showtime, which premiered on November 28, 2013 on the cable channel MBC Every 1. Baekhyun, Chen, and D.O. performed the EP's lead single, "Miracles in December", at M! Countdown on December 5.
2014 : Overdose
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On 1 April 2014, SM Entertainment announced that EXO will be having a comeback on April 15. The company then began to reveal individual teaser photos. The title track of the upcoming album will be called "Overdose".
On April 15 at 8PM (KST), EXO held their comeback showcase, broadcast live online through Samsung Music, where they revealed their performance and music video for "Overdose" for the first time. They also performed to their major hit songs. EXO-K and EXO-M will be separate for promotions for "Overdose," promoting in Korea and China at the same time. Due to South Korea's ferry accident, EXO-K who originally scheduled to make their comeback stage on April 18 at Music Bank, on April 19 at Music Core and on April 20 at Inkigayo have decided to postpone to next week. EXO-M will attend their comeback stage at Global Chinese Music on April 19 as scheduled. Their 2nd mini album which suppose to be released online and offline on April 21 also have been rescheduled to May 7, 2014. In May 2014 member Kris has started a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to nullify his contract, as of the submission date of the lawsuit the band promotes with 11 members.
Controversy
On May 15, 2014, S.M. Entertainment confirmed through an interview that Exo-M's leader, Kris, had filed a lawsuit against the agency to terminate his contract. It is suspected that there is disagreement between him and S.M. Entertainment regarding his activities. The same law firm that represented Han Geng of Super Junior in his lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment will also be representing Kris.
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