Love Shot

"Love Shot"
Single by Exo
from the album Love Shot
Language
ReleasedDecember 13, 2018
Recorded2018
StudioDoobdoob (Seoul)
Genre
Length3:20
Label
Composers
  • Mike Woods (Rice N' Peas)
  • Kevin White (Rice N' Peas)
  • MZMC
  • Andrew Bazzi
  • Anthony Russo
Lyricists
ProducerRice N' Peas
Exo singles chronology
"Tempo"
(2018)		 "Love Shot"
(2018)		 "Bird"
(2019)
Music video
"Love Shot (Korean ver.)" on YouTube
"Love Shot (Chinese ver.)" on YouTube

"Love Shot" is a song by South Korean–Chinese boy band Exo, released on December 13, 2018, for the album Love Shot, a repackage of the group's fifth studio album Don't Mess Up My Tempo (2018). The music video was released on the same date.

Background and composition

Produced by Rice N' Peas, "Love Shot" is described as a pop dance track. Members Chen and Chanyeol wrote the song, with lyrics on rediscovering the meaning of true love. Louis Tomlinson has writing credits.

Talking to Billboard about co-composing the song, Mike Woods stated that the song was developed in January 2017, and stated that he and the other composers MZMC, Bazzi, Kevin White and Anthony Russo, "wanted something that was very, very performance-driven, very dance-driven — something that would sound good loud and in an arena. We like the fact that it's kind of in a different time signature — it's in 6
8, so that's not like a generic pop song.", Woods also stated that the original title of the song is "Love Shop". Despite comments by Woods that the song is in 6
8 time signature, this track makes use of 4
4 timing at the tempo of 72 BPM, and is in the key of C minor. Both the instrumental and vocal melodies feature the use of sixteenth note triplet rhythms.

Music video

On December 6, the first teaser of "Love Shot" music video was released. On December 11, the second teaser of "Love Shot" music video was released. The official Korean music video of "Love Shot" was released on December 13. The Chinese version of the music video was released on December 14.

The music video shows the members switching places between the gritty locale of a gas station and luxurious trappings, before participating in a shoot-out with unexpected enemies. The video also shows the group's sensual choreography. On March 4, 2019, the Korean music video surpassed 100 million views on YouTube. It surpassed 200 and 300 million views on October 15, 2019, and August 18, 2020, respectively, becoming their fastest music video to reach all three milestones.

Promotion

Exo began promoting "Love Shot" without member Lay on South Korean music shows starting from December 14.

Reception

"Love Shot" topped Billboard's World Digital Songs for three consecutive weeks, making Exo the second K-pop act to do so. British fashion magazine i-D ranked the song number seven in their list of K-pop highlights of the year while SBS PopAsia ranked it the 18th best K-pop dance of 2018.

Accolades

Awards and nominations
Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2019 Melon Music Awards Song of the Year Nominated
Best Male Dance Track Nominated
2020 Golden Disc Awards Digital Bonsang Nominated
Gaon Chart Music Awards Song of the Year – December Nominated
Music program awards
Program Date
Music Bank December 21, 2018
December 28, 2018
Show! Music Core December 22, 2018
Melon Popularity Award
Award Date (2018–19) Ref.
Weekly Popularity Award December 24
December 31
January 7
January 14
January 21

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Studio

Personnel

  • SM Entertainment – executive producer
  • Lee Soo-man – producer
  • Kim Young-min – executive supervisor
  • Yoo Young-jin – music and sound supervisor
  • Exo – vocals
  • Jo Yoon-kyung – Korean lyrics
  • Lu Yiqiu – Chinese lyrics
  • Mike Woods (Rice N' Peas) – producer, composition, arrangement
  • Kevin White (Rice N' Peas) – producer, composition, arrangement
  • Andrew Bazzi – composition, background vocals
  • MZMC – composition
  • Anthony Russo – composition
  • Onestar – vocal directing, background vocals
  • Eugene Kwon – recording
  • Min Sung-soo – recording
  • Jang Woo-young – digital editing
  • Lee Min-gyu – engineered for mix
  • Lee Ji-hong – engineered for mix
  • Kim Cheol-sun – mixing
  • Chris Gehringer – mastering

Charts

Sales

Downloads
Region Sales
China 20,380
United States 10,000

Release history

Release history for "Love Shot"
Region Date Format Label
South Korea December 13, 2018
Various SM

References

  1. ↑ Kang, Min-kyung (December 4, 2018). "'뮤직뱅크' 엑소, '러브샷'으로 뽐낸 강렬한 섹시美[별별TV]" ['Music Bank' EXO Shows Off Intense Sexiness with 'Love Shot' [Star TV]]. Star News (in Korean). Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  2. ↑ "'K팝의 왕' 엑소, 신곡 'Love Shot'으로 연말 가요계 정조준 예고". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Love Shot". American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Archived from the original on July 11, 2025. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  4. ↑ "EXO's 'Love Shot' Album: The Producers & Songwriters Break Down Every Song". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  5. ↑ SMTOWN, EXO 엑소 'Love Shot' MV Teaser #1, archived from the original on December 5, 2018, retrieved December 8, 2018
  6. ↑ "EXO 엑소 'Love Shot' MV Teaser #2". YouTube. December 11, 2018. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  7. ↑ "EXO Take Aim With New Single 'Love Shot': Watch the Music Video". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ "엑소, 오는 14일 뮤뱅서 컴백 첫 무대 공개…금일 자정 'Love Shot' 뮤비티저 공개". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ "EXO's 'Love Shot' tops Billboard chart for third week". kpopherald.koreaherald.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  10. ↑ "everything that happened to k-pop in 2018". Vice. December 17, 2018. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ "25 best K-pop dances of 2018". SBS PopAsia. December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Melon Music Awards 2019 Announces Nominees For Category Awards + Voting Begins". soompi. November 14, 2019. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  13. ↑ "34th Golden Disc Awards Announces Nominees". Soompi. December 6, 2019. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Winners Of 9th Gaon Chart Music Awards". soompi. January 8, 2020. Archived from the original on September 23, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Melon Weekly Award". www.melon.com (in Korean). Retrieved January 14, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ↑ Exo (2018). Love Shot (photobook). South Korea: SM Entertainment; Dreamus. Credits.
  17. ↑ "EXO Chart History (Japan Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Top 20 Most Streamed International & Domestic Singles in Malaysia" (PDF). Recording Industry Association of Malaysia. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 27, 2018. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  19. ↑ "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. December 24, 2018. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Singapore Top 30 Digital Streaming Chart – Week 51" (PDF). Recording Industry Association (Singapore). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2018.
  21. ↑ "Digital Chart – Week 50 of 2018". Gaon Chart (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 11, 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  22. ↑ "Kpop Hot 100". Billboard. December 10–16, 2018. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Official Independent Singles Breakers Chart Top 20". officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
  24. ↑ "Exo Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  25. ↑ "Gaon Digital Chart - 2019". Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on January 12, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  26. ↑ Love Shot's Cumulative Sales in China:
  27. ↑ "EXO's 'Love Shot' Scores Second Week Atop World Digital Song Sales Chart". Billboard. December 28, 2018. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.