Knowing Exo

EXO Personalities (CHANYEOL)

Right from the beginning, Chanyeol captured my attention with his genuineness and brightness. When I was just starting to learn about EXO through watching some interviews such as the one they did with A Song For You, I thought so highly of Chanyeol because of how he presented himself. Some people see this as evidence of him being too controlling or attention-seeking in such situations, but I, on the other hand, have always been amazed by Chanyeol’s ability to effortlessly lead the other members through interviews. When a question is asked, he’ll look around to see if anyone wants to answer. If not, he quickly rescues the situation before it gets awkward, and manages to talk for other members if they get stuck in an uncomfortable situation during an interview. Like this blogger wrote on OneHallyu: “He lent a helping hand to Kai who fell silent and was unable to name a sexy feature of his on the spot. He rescued a hesitant Baekhyun when the prying Chinese host asked him why he only had to train for one year (less time than all the other members), and he complimented and showed respect and admiration for Exo’s ‘sunbae’, a member of MBLAQ, when none of the other members thought to, potentially saving Exo the backlash of being ‘arrogant rookies who don’t know their place’.”  In this sense, he’s the backbone of the group and I wish everyone saw this for the positive trait that it is, rather than thinking that he is an attention-hog. I was also sucked into the fandom largely because of how he represented the group in interviews. I think people don’t realise how important it is to have a spokesman for the group in order for it to reach new fans. Just like Kai is the face of the group that non-fans can recognise, Chanyeol is arguably the voice of the group, and this is absolutely critical for EXO’s success, since this is how people like me were brought into the fandom. Seeing Chanyeol speak for the group got me interested in the whole group, whereas if I’d only seen Sehun and Luhan in an interview, for example, they might not have been able to project their personalities as well as Chanyeol does and get me sucked into the group.

As well as being labelled ‘attention-seeking’, Chanyeol is also branded with being ’fake’, with people accusing him of ramping up the skinship when he notices that cameras are on him, in order to make the fans squeal. But you know what, I don’t necessarily think that this fanservice is such a bad thing. I think it shows how intelligent Chanyeol is when it comes to self-marketing. By this, I mean that from the beginning, he realised it would be hard to shine when you’re in a group of 11 other beautiful and talented boys, and he was definitely too hungry for this dream to be happy with being overlooked. To combat this problem, he established his identity as the Happy Virus, allowing him to be remembered and also recognised as the ‘voice’ of EXO due to his many contributions in interviews. This, as well as the skinship and fanservice, meant that Chanyeol gets all the profile he needs.

I think the reason why some might see Chanyeol as being fake is because he tries so hard to always keep up the Happy Virus image, no matter how he’s feeling inside. And of course, no human being could be overwhelmingly happy every single day, so on the days that Chanyeol isn’t feeling so good, he still tries to look happy for our sake, the fans. And when he does this, he doesn’t look 100% natural, since he’s forcing it for us. This is when people like to point out that he is fake or contrived, when I do believe that he’s a genuinely happy person who refuses to dwell on the negatives. I mean, the fact that he kept trying to smile when being blinded by camera flashes just after he had gotten laser eye surgery shows that he tries super hard for the fans.

I also think that even though he might exaggerate the skinship sometimes, he does genuinely love his members. He shows this through small actions such as trying to cook for the guys or doing a headcount at the airports.

I also think his boisterous laughter and exaggerated reactions are 100% natural and real, since you’d have to be a bloody great actor to pretend to be the Reaction King all the time. Instead, Chanyeol truly is the Reaction King.

I find it a little bit hard to analyse Chanyeol’s ego however. He’s either extremely self-confident or very insecure, it’s so hard to tell which extreme applies to him. He seems to be genuinely happy with his looks, but he does seem extremely annoyed when his derp faces are mentioned. I also notice a bit of awkwardness in him when he cracks a joke that no one laughs at, or laughs uproariously at something that the others don’t react to. I think he’s extremely eager to please, to be loved and to be seen as cool and worthy, so it really hurts him when he doesn’t feel like he’s achieving what he needs to. Speaking of jokes, I also feel that in the desire to please everyone with humour, some of Chanyeol’s jokes can cross the line and be offensive, for example, constantly pestering Kai about his skintone. In that sense, I think Chanyeol may lack some maturity or sensitivity to be able to make jokes in the same way that, say, Chen does.

Chanyeol is adorable, with his shining smile, seductive deep voice, amazing rapping skills and ability to play three different instruments. He has a long and illustrious career ahead of him, and is just such a sweet person in general. Sometimes he can be a little bit overwhelming, and I can see why some people might dislike that, but it’s no reason to hate him altogether. And besides, we all need bright people like him to cheer us up! Chanyeol, with his personality and talent, is a rare treasure!