Something more our speed…

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[6.12]

Jessica Doyle: First there was SM selling Exo as The Biggest Boy Band in the World, and the line of singles — “Wolf,” “Overdose,” “Monster” — shooting for hyper-grandiose and never quite making it. Then there was the Sleazy Underachieving Exo of “Lotto” and “Ko Ko Bop,” and even the Maybe-Not-Really-Worth-the-CGI-Budget Exo of “Power.” And now, finally, finally, finally, we have a song that’s all the grander for not trying to clonk anyone on the head with its inevitability. There’s still plenty of ridiculousness in the package: voices distorted to unrecognizability, Kai having lost two inches off his shirt and fifteen keys off his piano, Chen having drawn the mullet short straw this time round, and Chanyeol cribbing from a high-school book report (I mean, if you think about it, Daisy does mess up Gatsby’s tempo pretty thoroughly). But by the time “Don’t slow it up for me!” is followed by a slowing of pace, you know Exo is in control of this seeming skidding all over the road. All the skill that animated “Growl,” possibly their least ambitious single, is on display, in a song with enough room and ambition to make the skill evident. Finally, now that Exo doesn’t have to be the Biggest Boy Band in the World, they get a single that demonstrates how big they can be.
[7]

Ryo Miyauchi: Exo’s posturing goes on as though “don’t mess up my tempo” is some half-baked twist on “bitch, don’t kill my vibe,” yet the bed springs creaking behind the chorus give such a heavy wink that it just throws off their entire poker face. “Tempo” does get more playful in between their effort to solidify hip-hop seriousness: Exo hum and snap to a beat as they make their advances like they’re a band of teens in a high school musical. Any irony picked up from them hitting these cues to express sexiness is most likely a pure accident, and frankly trying to figure out if “Tempo” is a big sex joke is more fun than the song itself.
[6]

Will Adams: Don’t mess up your otherwise fun Mars pastiche with bed squeaks.
[4]

Andy Hutchins: Splicing Bruno Mars-style revivalism with NSync-style theatricality is a good thing!
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: I love that for a song titled “Tempo,” from an album titled Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, this song goes through numerous tempos along the way. It might be a little obvious, but in Exo’s hands, it works. I hear a bit of Daft Punk’s “Around the World” on the verses, and the a capella bridge could almost be Take 6. Also, I’m kind of a sucker for K-pop boy band songs pleading for a girl, especially when they’re uptempo.
[8]

Alex Clifton: For every lovely moment in “Tempo,” like the choral/a cappella section towards the end, there is another detail that drives me mad, like the clown-nose squeaky noise in the backbeat of the chorus. It’s awfully disjointed, which would be less of a sin if the chorus didn’t literally include the line “don’t mess up my tempo.” I’m not, boys — you are only doing this to yourselves.
[4]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: A traversal of so many different styles that it sounds like it has a far more complex structure than it actually does. There’s a chorus, yes, but the song feels less like a pop song than a specific mood that gets reimagined in a multitude of ways. It’s 3:44 but it feels double the length: a testament to how it’s bursting with so many ideas that all get sufficiently fleshed out.
[6]

Alfred Soto: “Don’t mess up my tempo,” they insist, while the tempo disagrees, often violently. On other singles Exo’s insistence came off as pushy and rather macho; the harmonizing in the last third, however, adds a crucial sweetener. Seoulphilly’s back again!
[7]