forbaekxings

[forbaekxings]

Jongin’s short appearance in KyoongTube ✧ 191002 Baekhyun’s VLOG

[forbaekxings]

hey everyone! so, after creating a studyblr, i have found so many essay writing resources and since writing (whether or not it’s for academic purposes) is something i and several others struggle with on a daily basis, i decided to put together a bunch of excellent resources in this little masterpost. hope you enjoy (bc writing can be very fun when you feel like you actually know what you’re doing) and hope this helps!

I. ESSAY WRITING

+ where do i start?

how to: brainstorming

how to write an outline

essay checklist

writing an essay, in a nutshell

write a university-level essay

how to write a great essay

how to write a great essay pt. ii

a great ppt by a true lifesaver

+ how do i connect my ideas?

writing transitions

masterpost of transition words

transition words for different purposes

+ different types of essays

narrative essay

expository essay

descriptive essay

literary analysis essay

college application essay

descriptive narrative essay

argumentative/discursive essay

+ tips and advice

general advice

avoiding cliches

for: history essays

for: literature essays

writing ur best college essay

+ even more college essay tips

II. OTHER ACADEMIC WRITING

formatting ur papers

general academic writing tips

planning + writing literature papers

III. RESUME WRITING

+ where do i start?

resume template

guide to writing a good resume

writing a resume when u have 0 xp

+ tips and advice

44 tips

25 tips

IV. WRITING ESSENTIALS

+ tips and advice [for writing in general]

funny little guide to writing well

improve ur writing habits asap

create mind maps to organize ur ideas

+ resources for research

refdesk

webMD

wolfram alpha

google scholar

state health facts

u.s. census bureau

internet public library

the library of congress

the old farmer’s almanac

finding data on the internet

+ grammar/vocab/spelling essentials

the owl [grammar resources from the purdue uni]

tip of my tongue [find a word u can’t remember properly]

hypergrammar 

grammar girl

+ revising and editing

hemingway [checks the readability of ur essay]

paperrater [rates ur essays and papers]

autocrit [checks grammatical errors + more]

editing checklist [by grammar girl]

+ citations

citation guide

create a bibliography

citation machine

google cite!!!

+ fun stuff

freerice [donate rice while testing ur vocabulary]

rainymood [listen to the rain]

coffitivity [listen to coffee shop sounds]

rainycafe [combination of rainymood + coffitivity]

find out which author u write like

this entire list includes some of the best writing resources (imo) but feel free to message me in case 1) any of the links are broken, 2) u want me to add on to something, 3) u have a suggestion for a masterpost [i would love that so go ahead and ask if u do] or if u just wanna talk! also, feel free to reblog and add ur own comments/resources. hope this helped someone!!! 

[forbaekxings]

Academic Writing Resources

General:

The Five-Paragraph Essay

Using Punctuation Marks

Deadly Sins Checklist

Formatting Your Paper

Writing About Literature

Basic Essay

Revision Checklist

Planning and Organization

Editing and Proofreading

Latin Terms

Essay Structure

Tips on Introducing Quotes

Academic Writing Tips

Introductions:

Introductory Paragraphs

Introductions

Writing an Introduction

Preparing to Write an Introduction

Introduction Strategies

The Introductory Paragraph

Writing Effective Introductions

In The Beginning

Introductions and Conclusions

The Introductory Paragraph

Writing Introductory Paragraphs

How to Write an Intro

Body Paragraphs:

Paragraph Development and Topic Sentences

Transitions

Transitions

Transitions

Four Components of an Effective Body Paragraph

Writing Paragraphs

Paragraph Development

Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs

Strong Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs

Writing Body Paragraphs

How to Write Body Paragraphs

Writing the Body

Writing Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs

Body Paragraphs that Defend a Thesis

How to Write Body Paragraphs

The Perfect Paragraph

Topic Sentences:

Topic Sentences

Writing Topic Sentences

Topic Sentences

Topic Sentences

The Topic Sentence

Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

The Topic Sentence

Topics, Main Ideas, and Topic Sentences

Writing a Good Topic Sentence

Good Topic Sentences

Conclusions:

Writing Effective Conclusions

Introductions and Conclusions

Conclusion Paragraphs

Conclusion Strategies

Conclusions

Tips for a Strong Conclusion

The Concluding Paragraph

Ending the Essay

Types of Conclusions

Writing a Strong Conclusion

How to Write a Conclusion

Writing Conclusions

Guide to Conclusions

Thesis Statements:

The Thesis Statement

Thesis Statements

Writing a Thesis Statement

Thesis Statement

Tips and Examples

Writing a Thesis

Writing the Thesis

How to Write Your Thesis

The Thesis

Thesis Statements

Guidelines for Writing a Thesis

Thesis Statements

Thesis

Thesis Statements

The Thesis

Create a Strong Thesis

How to Write a Thesis

Developing a Thesis

Guide to Writing Thesis Statements

Thesis Statements

Citing:

When to Cite

APA Documentation

MLA Documentation

Suggestions for Citing Sources

Research and Citation Resources

Citation Information

MLA Guidelines for Citing Poetry

MLA Style for Poetry

How to Format Your Paper

Argumentative Essays:

Argumentative Essays

Argument

Argumentative Essays

Persuasive or Argumentative Essays

Argumentative Essay

Argument/Argumentative

Argumentative Essays

How to Write a Good Argument

How to Write an Argumentative Essay

Writing Conclusions to Argumentative Essays

Argumentative Essay

Persuasive Essay Writing

Writing Concluding Paragraphs

Constructing the Argumentative Essay

Writing About Poetry:

Writing About Poetry

Writing About Poetry

Writing About Poetry Q & A

Poetry Explications

Writing About Poetry

Writing About Poems

Explicating a Poem

Writing About Poetry

Writing a Thesis Paper About a Poem

How to Start a Poetry Introduction

Poetry Essay Structure

Poetry Explication

Expository Essays:

Structure of a General Expository Essay

Expository Essay Examples

Sample Expository Essay

Expository Writing

Expository Essay Model

Elements of Expository Essays

Expository Writing Information

Expository Essays

Writing Expository Essays

How to Write an Expository Essay

Tips on Writing an Expository Essay

Expository Essays

Essay Map

Writing Expository Essays

How to Create a Strong Expository Essay

Expository Essay Writing

The Expository Essay

Research Papers:

How to Write a Research Paper in Literature

Writing a Research Paper

The Research Paper

How to Write a Research Paper

Five Paragraph Research Paper

Sample Research Paper

Writing a Research Paper

Tips for a Research Paper

How to Write a Research Paper

Writing a Scientific Research Paper

Writing Research Papers

Research and Writing

Research Papers that Rock

How to Write an Effective Research Paper

College Application Essays:

Application Essay Tips

Application Essays

Tips

10 Tips

Application Essays

How to Write a College Application Essay

Tips for an Effective Essay

Do’s and Don’t’s

College Application Essay

How to Write a College Application Essay

Narrative Essays:

Narrative and Descriptive

Narrative Essay Writing

The Personal Essay

Narrative Essays

Narrative Essays

Writing Narrative Essays

Narrative/Descriptive

Narrative Essay

Writing a Narrative Essay

Tips on Writing a Narrative Essay

[forbaekxings]

Word Counter - Not only does it count the number of words you’ve written, it tells you which words are used most often and how many times they appear.

Tip Of My Tongue - Have you ever had a word on the tip of your tongue, but you just can’t figure out what it is? This site searches words by letters, length, definition, and more to alleviate that.

Readability Score - This calculates a multitude of text statistics, including character, syllable, word, and sentence count, characters and syllables per word, words per sentence, and average grade level.

Writer’s Block (Desktop Application) - This free application for your computer will block out everything on your computer until you meet a certain word count or spend a certain amount of time writing.

Cliche Finder - It does what the name says.

Write Rhymes - It’ll find rhymes for words as you write.

Verbix - This site conjugates verbs, because English is a weird language.

Graviax - This grammar checker is much more comprehensive than Microsoft Word, again, because English is a weird language.

Sorry for how short this is! I wanted to only include things I genuinely find useful.

[forbaekxings]

I believe in free education, one that’s available to everyone; no matter their race, gender, age, wealth, etc… This masterpost was created for every knowledge hungry individual out there. I hope it will serve you well. Enjoy!

FREE ONLINE COURSES (here are listed websites that provide huge variety of courses)

Alison 

Coursera

FutureLearn

open2study

Khan Academy

edX

P2P U

Academic Earth

iversity

Stanford Online

MIT Open Courseware

Open Yale Courses

BBC Learning

OpenLearn

Carnegie Mellon University OLI

University of Reddit

Saylor

IDEAS, INSPIRATION & NEWS (websites which deliver educational content meant to entertain you and stimulate your brain)

TED

FORA

Big Think 

99u

BBC Future

Seriously Amazing

How Stuff Works

Discovery News

National Geographic

Science News

Popular Science

IFLScience

YouTube Edu

NewScientist

DIY & HOW-TO’S (Don’t know how to do that? Want to learn how to do it yourself? Here are some great websites.)

wikiHow

Wonder How To

instructables

eHow

Howcast

MAKE

Do it yourself

FREE TEXTBOOKS & E-BOOKS

OpenStax CNX

Open Textbooks

Bookboon

Textbook Revolution

E-books Directory

FullBooks

Books Should Be Free

Classic Reader

Read Print

Project Gutenberg

AudioBooks For Free

LibriVox

Poem Hunter

Bartleby

MIT Classics

Many Books

Open Textbooks BCcampus

Open Textbook Library

WikiBooks

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES & JOURNALS

Directory of Open Access Journals

Scitable

PLOS

Wiley Open Access

Springer Open

Oxford Open

Elsevier Open Access

ArXiv

Open Access Library

LEARN:

1. LANGUAGES

Duolingo

BBC Languages

Learn A Language

101languages

Memrise

Livemocha

Foreign Services Institute

My Languages

Surface Languages

Lingualia

OmniGlot

OpenCulture’s Language links

2. COMPUTER SCIENCE & PROGRAMMING

Codecademy

Programmr

GA Dash

CodeHS

w3schools

Code Avengers

Codelearn

The Code Player

Code School

Code.org

Programming Motherf*?$%#

Bento

Bucky’s room

WiBit

Learn Code the Hard Way

Mozilla Developer Network

Microsoft Virtual Academy

3. YOGA & MEDITATION

Learning Yoga

Learn Meditation

Yome

Free Meditation

Online Meditation

Do Yoga With Me

Yoga Learning Center

4. PHOTOGRAPHY & FILMMAKING

Exposure Guide

The Bastards Book of Photography

Cambridge in Color

Best Photo Lessons

Photography Course

Production Now

nyvs

Learn About Film

Film School Online

5. DRAWING & PAINTING

Enliighten

Ctrl+Paint

ArtGraphica

Google Cultural Institute

Drawspace

DragoArt

WetCanvas

6. INSTRUMENTS & MUSIC THEORY

Music Theory

Teoria

Music Theory Videos

Furmanczyk Academy of Music

Dave Conservatoire

Petrucci Music Library

Justin Guitar

Guitar Lessons

Piano Lessons

Zebra Keys

Play Bass Now

7. OTHER UNCATEGORIZED SKILLS

Investopedia

The Chess Website

Chesscademy

Chess.com

Spreeder

ReadSpeeder

First Aid for Free

First Aid Web

NHS Choices

Wolfram Demonstrations Project

Please feel free to add more learning focused websites. 

*There are a lot more learning websites out there, but I picked the ones that are, as far as I’m aware, completely free and in my opinion the best/ most useful.

[forbaekxings]

My emotions are valid*

*valid does not mean healthy, or good, or to be privileged above common sense and kindness

[forbaekxings]

Please, please pray for the Caribbean.

Hurricane Irma is currently at category 5 with winds at 185 mph and worsening every three hours or so. It’s destined to hit the islands and absolutely cover Puerto Rico, so one can only imagine the damage it’ll cause to the Islands. Not one bit of Puerto Rico will manage to avoid the rains and winds of this massive, record breaking phenomenon.

It is, quite literally, the biggest hurricane these islands have faced. The largest before was in 1928 and, while also being a category 5 hurricane, had winds literally 20-25 miles slower than this one. Irma seems to only be getting stronger and is sure to bring catastrophic events worse than even Harvey.

So, please, keep us in your thoughts and prayers. ❤️

[forbaekxings]

lets play a game of: did i really do this or did i just think about doing it so hard that i constructed a false memory of it

[forbaekxings]

how to survive bad school days, from morning till night

my last year of high school starts rather soon, and i’ve had more than my fair share of days when i wake up wanting to cry. there aren’t many things you can do when obligations like school force you to get over it as soon as it starts, so here are some tips to make your day better.

1. dress opposite the way you feel. even though sweats might be super tempting, dress up. wear your favorite pair of jeans, or a dress, or your cutest sneakers, even. wear bright colors at least. sweatpants and such will just make you feel even more blah and unfocused throughout the day. 

2. moisturize! this might seem like an odd idea, but moisturizing and going into school glowy and soft definitely helps me feel more comfortable and less ugh during the school day. it helps keep me in my home-y comfort zone, if that makes sense. 

3. carry something from home. this can be a book (even if you don’t read it), a tube of chapstick, a big waterbottle, etc… i have even gone as far as wrapping myself in a small blanket and walking around like that for the day. if you like this option and don’t feel comfortable wearing it, fold it up and place it in your backpack, just so you know it’s there.

4. plan out your day. even if it’s just making a mental note, tell and remind yourself of the things your going to do and when. this will get rid of any unnecessary stress and pressure. if something unexpected comes up, this will also help you manage your time a little better.

5. eat and drink happy things! pick today to pack a lunch, no matter what your usual routine is. drink plenty of water throughout this day, and eat as many fruits and veggies as you can. fill a reusable water bottle with water, fruit (like lemon or strawberries), and chia seeds! it’s perfect to sip throughout the day for a reboot or just to boost your mood. 

6. when you get home, bathe immediately! wash off the day’s dirt. drop everything as soon as you get home, and either jump in the shower or relax in a bath with your favorite soaps and scents and a book. give yourself a break before you have to get back to work.

7. don’t ignore your work. by work, i mean school work. if you’re having a bad day, don’t hesitate to take a break from talking to people or running (low-priority) errands. you don’t want to ignore schoolwork, though, because teachers aren’t the most lenient people in the world, and getting it done will take a lot off of your shoulders. pushing it away will only gain you more bad days. 

8. go to bed. get sleep! you want to be refreshed and happy for the next day, even if it’s a weekend. there’s a good chance your bad day began because you didn’t get enough sleep, or because you were ripped out of bed. reward yourself with rest after a long day. 

[forbaekxings]

[forbaekxings]

We’re gonna do one more song and then that fake encore thing where we’ll come back out and do three more songs…

Niall Horan, man of no mystery - just telling it like it is (via lediona25)

[forbaekxings]

EXO - The Power Of Music

[forbaekxings]

that’s right, friends, you don’t have to let your lack of access to photoshop prevent you from making cool things because we got canva on our side. they’re literally just drag and drop, and to make it even better, they just launched canva print, which means you can get some free prints here (hurry because it’s not gonna last long)

so that aside, let’s look at how they make designing easy as pie. 

first of all, they got templates for everything 

as you can see here, they got these default ones on top, but if you click more, you get a lot more. it’s a seriously long list so i didn’t bother taking a screenshot, but it’s seriously comprehensive! they even got tumblr banners and twitter banners so you can deck out your social media. and as you can see, i’ve used it to make posters for school too

but today, i’ll work on replicating this blog post graphic in canva (i already got a photoshop template). i head over to custom dimensions just on top of resume and more because my graphics aren’t some nice ratio. px stands for pixels, but if you’re trying to print something, you can also use the millimeters and inches option

so i head over to elements to get to the shapes option, and i clicked on the square, and voila, it’s loaded onto my design space  

but hmm, might actually be better for me to put my ahrtstudy down there first to figure out the sizing. i got my own custom layout but look at how pretty canva’s templates are on the left. 

i also just found a pretty color scheme so i’m gonna use it! i went to background to change the background color. 

now, as you can see, i’ve been tweaking the square into a rectangle the whole time. whenever you click on something in canva, it usually shows up those circles which you can use to resize things. i’ve just been clicking and dragging the whole time, people

i’m gonna give that rectangle some color, and then i’ll hit copy to duplicate the shape, and change that new shape to white. so voila, we’re getting close!

so here’s time to add some text inside the box, and just look at those nice little guides canva gives you #bless

so yeah, i positioned it, changed the alignment to left instead of center, and applied my usual settings. i changed the color too, along with ahrtstudy

and we’re done! and this is essentially already a template already in canva, so next time, you could just make a copy of the original, change the colors and text and just hit download and be on your way to posting here on tumblr

but seriously, it’s not just for tumblr. you can make cool presentations with a+ charts. the gradient is automatic and there are so many chart styles, from pie graphs to venn diagrams, you could walk in your presentation and make everything as pastel af

you can also share it as a website (?!!) with the cutest little animations and it is the bomb dot com. you can check out the graph above as a website here, with another graph just under it

and if you’re tired of boring resumes, well, never fear, canva is here. they got who knows how many templates for you to edit (and if you wanna impress your boss by sending it in thick paper, canva print is there to help you too)

like i am seriously excited to go off and print a resume or a business card because nothing is cooler than getting to hold your own design in real life. so i seriously hope this helps, and if you think this was helpful, reblogging would be awesome

links: canva l canva print beta l my favorite places for design resources l my other posts

[forbaekxings]

how to really get to know someone:

- look at their handwriting

- read their favourite book and search for pieces of them within the pages

- listen to their music and let it resonate with you

- go to their favourite place

- stay up ‘till 3am and let them spill their heart out to you

- ask them unusual questions that you never even thought would intrigue you

- spend a day with them doing nothing

- look out for the things they subconsciously do when they’re happy

- watch how their smile forms

[forbaekxings]

🌼🌻study smarter🌻🌼

(here are some study tips straight from my psych notes)

1. interest: the brain prioritizes by meaning, value, and relevance so u remember things better if ur interested

find a study partner

do extra practice or research

teach it to someone else (this works so well!)

2. intent: be actively paying attention. very little learning actually takes place without attention

use a concentration check sheet (every time u get distracted, put a check on ur sheet. this is supposed to program ur mind to pay attention)

while u read, talk back to the author

ask questions during lectures (this is scary ik!! but do it!)

3. basic background: make connections to what u already know

preview and skim the material before u read it. or google it!

write out a list of vocab words before a lecture and leave some spaces between them to fill in during the lecture

read ahead of lectures

watch crashcourse tbh

4. selectivity: start by studying whats important

look for bolded words, graphics, pictures, chapter review questions in ur readings

listen for verbal clues like emphasis and repetition during lectures

make urself a study guide as u read and write down questions for urself to answer later as review (kinda like cornell notes)

5. meaningful organization: u can learn/rmr better if u group ideas into diff categories

apply vocab words to ur life

make flashcards and sort them (try not to have more than seven items in one category!)

use mnemonics

6. recitation: saying ideas aloud in ur own words strengthens synaptic connections! when u say something aloud u r forcing urself to pay attention

after u read, ask urself questions

talk abt what u learned w/ classmates outside of class

again, teach someone else

7. visualization: ur brain’s quickest and longest-lasting response is to images

convert info into a chart or graph

draw it out

make a mental video of a process

look at picture/video examples

8. association: memory is increased when facts are consciously associated w something u already know. memory = making neural connections

ask urself: is this something i already know?

9. consolidation: give ur brain some time to establish a neural pathway

make a list of what u remember from class

review notes at the end of the day, every day

stop after reading each prg to write a question in ur notes

make ur own practice quiz

10. distributed practice: we all know cramming doesnt work but we do it anyway! but yeah short and frequent study sections work better

make a daily/weekly study schedule

create a time budget/time tracker (track everything ur doing for a week and see how u can be more efficient w/ the time u waste)

divide the reading/vocab by the number of days before an exam and do a little bit each day (u can use sticky notes to divide ur reading)

other tips:

stop stressing! this sounds stupid and it isnt going to be easy, but anxiety causes u to lose focus. try ur best to think positively. sleep a lot. minimize ur caffeine intake. take a walk maybe

when u need to remember something, look upward or close ur eyes (when ur eyes are open ur using visual parts of ur brain that u might not need to be using)

find a rival! (like the person right above u in class rank) secretly compete w/ them (envy can improve mental persistence bc it makes u focus more intensely) but dont overdo it! 

walking and sleeping build memory storage in ur brain

eat flavonoids! (grapes, berries, tea leaves, cocoa beans make neurons in the brain more capable of forming new memories + increase blood flow to the brain)

obstacles force ur brain to try harder, so space learning lessons apart or create a puzzle to solve or change ur physical setting

[forbaekxings]

[NEWS] 170825 Billboard: “How EXO's 'The War' Came Together: A Song-By-Song Breakdown With the Band, Its Producers & More”

A behind-the-scenes look at what went into making summer’s hottest K-pop album.

From the frenetic synths of “Going Crazy” to the dreamlike melodies of “Walk on Memories,” EXO’s latest album, The War, held nothing back from fans. Pulling inspiration from funk, reggae, EDM, trap and more, then weaving it all together through top-notch production, it proved a logical progression in their sonic journey and a summer-friendly successor to the group’s darker previous album, Ex'Act.

With The War, EXO topped Billboard’s World Albums chart for two consecutive weeks and went on to sell over 1 million copies globally, proving that the EXO-L fandom is sticking around for the boy band’s evolution.

Learn what went into the hottest K-pop album of the summer from the members themselves and some of the producers behind its hottest tracks.

“The Eve”

Mike Woods: I was one of the producers on “The Eve” which was originally titled “Black Dress.” I wrote it alongside Kevin White, Andrew Bazzi and Henry Lau. Originally the song was for Henry Lau’s project, but we all felt that it going to EXO would be best for everyone as it was a perfect record for them. The sound came about from us wanting something sexy and melodic, but also performance driven. We wanted to paint a dark and mysterious vibe, hence the title “Black Dress.” We wrote the song during a writing camp for SM [Entertainment] – we basically write one to two songs a day for about 10 days and see what we come up with. “The Eve” came about on the fourth day of the camp and only took us one day to complete, from conception of music and lyrics to the final composition. We recorded the demo for the song the same day of conception.

“Ko Ko Bop”

Styalz Fuego: I went out to Seoul early November last year. It was maybe 10 of us … and basically we were all put in the the SM studios for a couple of weeks. It was my first time out there. [You’re] basically hearing a quick [overview] of the whole scene and everything that’s going on in K-pop and then you’re put in the rooms every day to just write songs. “Ko Ko Bop” was maybe the fourth of fifth day in. The first couple of days I was trying to get a hang of [it.] I listened to a lot of K-pop, but still, it’s a different scene to write a song [for] because it’s so much more complex. [K-pop songs] have so many more moving components to them, than say, if you’re out in L.A. writing, trying to make things very simple and trying to get to the core of the lyric and have the beat as simple as possible.

I kinda knew as soon as we’d done the song and we played it back for everyone, just from the response we got to the song it was gonna be something, but I had no idea it’d be [EXO’s]. Going into writing that song, it was basically to do something with the reggae feel, that was the main thing we were aiming for. It took a whole different direction with the crazy drop section after the chorus. We went into this doing a reggae-pop song and it transformed into what it is.

I don’t think it was ever for EXO – I think it was more for a female group. Shaylen [Carroll, co-producer] did the demo. When they did the playback for everyone at SM, [we thought] they would essentially understand this is for one of the girl groups. A girl is singing it and it’s in the range of what the girls can sing. The song was actually in a higher key – I think three semitones higher – so it was more fitted for a female [group] originally.

But I guess it worked out well because we had a few of our voices in the song spread out, so I guess when they started picking where the song could go, it made sense for EXO because there are so many different sections vocally.

Shaylen Carroll: I wrote the lyrics and melodies with Tay Jasper, then I sang the demo. It’s a “feel good” type of track, so the melodies came easily. Styalz’s stuff is easy to write to. When I was recording some melody ideas I kept on singing nonsense phrases and one was “Shimmy shimmy Ko Ko Bop,” which we all thought was super quirky and catchy. So we built off that and turned it into something real. The song is about not worrying about things… Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow! Don’t worry about the haters.

Jared Cotter, Shaylen’s manager: [SM Entertainment] let us know it was being considered for a girl group.

Carroll: [I] definitely never thought it would get flipped to EXO, but obviously we are thrilled it did. We [knew] it was special when we finished it. I am really glad it found the home that it did.

Chen: [The members and I] wrote the lyrics separately and worked on putting the lyrics together for the song afterwards. We worked on the song using a special method, where we gathered all three of our lyrics for the song and selected which lyrics would suit the song the best. I don’t think I have any regrets or wish that it could have better since it’s the best result produced through all the effort that our members and other various writers have put into the process. Through the lyrics, I wanted “Ko Ko Bop” to have people shake off all their stress and enjoy themselves just as who they are.

Baekhyun: I felt that a lot of our fans were unable to fully enjoy our concerts or performances because they’re conscious of what others would think. Since “Ko Ko Bop” is a reggae and EDM genre and it’s easy to groove to, I wanted my lyrics to have people to become more carefree, release their stress and dance away with the music.

“What U Do?”

Ronny Svendsen: The song was written in Seoul last December. We went over to Korea to do a camp for SM with our, at the time, new publishing company called Ekko Music Rights. We tried to create a song that would be danceable and organic sounding with emphasis on real instruments – bass, guitar, piano. The song was really based around the guitars and a simple chord progression. Sound-wise we had a reference from another boy band of SM Entertainment’s called NCT, which we originally aimed for: danceable, but not “synthy.”

“Forever”

Greg Bonnick of LDN NOISE: This was written in Seoul with Kenzie and Adrian McKinnon. We knew the vibe was perfect for EXO so we worked on it for about a week on and off to get it right, trying different chords and toplines. The intro part was initially the chorus. We thought, “Great, we nailed it,” but once we listened back, it needed to go up another gear. We then added the extra section, which is now the chorus, and it came to life and made it so much bigger.

To be honest, we wanted to make a “Monster” 2.0 but still be different and bigger, you know? We always have fun when we can mix hard hip-hop verses with a bright chorus, and for a group like EXO, it gives it the perfect balance.

We wanted to make a statement: this song, this album, it’s EXO forever. We feel really connected to this group and the fans so it’s important we got it right, and the feedback has been amazing, so we are very happy.

“Touch It”

Denzil Remedios: From what I recall, “Touch It” came to Ryan [Jhun]’s hands first. He got the song originally from the Jackie Boyz [Carlos and Steven Battey] and the Fliptonez. I think they sent it to him while we were still in Korea and this was actually more than a year ago now, maybe close to almost two years ago when they sent that record, and it just kinda connected right away. We heard what it could be – it already sounded like the guts of a smash was there, at least something we could put into a big group’s hands. From there, Ryan and I did what we normally do, which is pick it apart and say, “Hey, what parts could get stronger? What could we do extra with the production to pump it a little bit more?” That’s how we got the record, and then we just worked on all those elements over probably months back and forth.

“Touch It,” when we first heard it, already had such a non-today-ish vibe – a classic vibe. It’s not like the everyday pop EDM electronic-y sound that everyone’s doing, which was refreshing when we first heard it. We were like, “Yo, this sounds like an old Justin Timberlake, almost Michael Jackson type of thing.” That old school vibe. We didn’t wanna change the production or toplining to the point where it didn’t sound like that anymore. When we were hearing it, sonically we were like, “Cool, this can be something that a group like EXO can take and use for the album and it doesn’t sound like everything else they would normally be putting out.”

We were thinking stage performance at the time too. It’s just a really fun track that doesn’t have to be too serious – you don’t have to have crazy choreography where they drop from the top of the stadium.

Chen: My imagination provides the most inspiration for the lyrics. For “Touch It,” I played out the lyrics in my mind as if it is like a scene from a movie when writing it. After completing the draft, I worked on it by fixing awkward pronunciations by singing along the lyrics with the music. This helped me figure out more suitable and comfortable words that would enhance the groove when listening to the song.

“Chill”

Otha “Vakseen” Davis: We went to a song camp last year – I wanna say it was November – and it was probably the third camp my team has been on. Anytime we go to song camps at SM, they usually have a focus for us as far as what to work on and I know we worked on some things for EXO. For any creator, you always wanna try to make an EXO project. We fell in love with the vibe and the energy[of “Chill”] in the studio and SM’s team felt the same way about the record. That happened to be one that everybody loved – the guys loved it ultimately when they heard it.

There were certain elements like the breakdown in “Chill” that was added at the camp, but we came with the ideas already fleshed out. Ultimately, [the breakdown] was to serve as a dance breakdown. K-pop acts, especially EXO, are very performance-oriented, so you wanna have sections to show out. You wanna make something that feels good but still can allow them to move.

Chanyeol: Usually it’s common to work on the lyrics based on a demo guide, but for the song “Chill” I worked on the lyrics with an empty track without demo lyrics. I think that’s part of the reason why the lyrics were able to come out pretty naturally.

“Walk on Memories”

Albi Albertsson: In late 2015, Wassily Gradovsky, who was actually interning for me as a producer at that time, brought an instrumental to me, which was later to become the instrumental for “Walk on Memories.” He had recorded a loop on the upright piano I have in my living room and incorporated it into this smooth R&B style beat.

I immediately liked the chord progression and the vibe of the track, so I sent it to Justin Reinstein, a writer from New York who we had just started working with at that time. He had a very smooth topline and vocal style that I thought would be perfect for this track, so he worked on the instrumental to craft the melodies.

From then on it was only finalizing the song: I added stacks of vocal harmonies and other details to make it work better for a group performance and make it more “K-pop,” added some vocal adlibs and then finalized the production by adding more instruments and finalizing the mix.

When I sent it to EXO’s A&R, he immediately loved it but wanted a more distinct intro that reflected the fantasy theme he had in mind for the new album. So instead of the very basic intro the track originally had, I came up with a new, more mysterious and vibey intro, which is the intro you can hear in the final version of the song.

Wassily Gradovsky: The track was influenced by the genres of ‘90s R&B and jazz, reimagined with contemporary sounds. The arrangement of the piano chords – being arpeggiated from bottom to the top – was inspired by Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River,” but with a lighter and more positive tone. The slightly melancholic bridge, which is modulating into the final uplifting chorus, represents an uplifting, “happy ending” twist to the story.

“Going Crazy”

Otha “Vakseen” Davis: It was something that we did maybe around February of 2016. They loved it and for some reason could not find the right topline for it – I think they had one originally and it didn’t work at the end of the day. So they had this track, it was already placed on EXO and my team was presented with the opportunity to write to it. So I had one of my writers go in and do what he does. Funny enough, it was supposed to go on the Ex'Act album. It was something that they loved, but it didn’t make sense then. We were persistent. Between myself and my business partner, we [would say], “Hey, what about this one? Don’t forget this record!” Fast forward to now, the new album was coming out, [and] we were finally able to get them to connect. I think we had to make a couple of edits on it between that year or so passing just to make sure it was as fresh as possible.

The track’s over a year old – there’s something so special about it because you drop it now, 2017, and it’s still hot, still relevant. And that’s the goal: create timeless music that can be good any time.

Credit: Billboard.

[forbaekxings]

hello pals!! this is a masterpost of half (or so) of the reference posts i reblogged/made. i tried uploading this masterpost as just one big masterpost but i had over 250 links so that failed and here i am again. here is part one, encapsulating studying + certain subjects which will be followed by part two (slightly more general) here! enjoy ✨

studying, school, + learning

what i’ve learnt throughout my years of being a student

notes, studying, and self-study resources

self-study resources

starting a studyblr

college + uni

how to get studying

online study guides

good habits

exams!

study management

school is starting soon

back to school (1)

back to school (2)

back to school (3)

back to school reminders

50 things to know for back to school

get prepared for a new school year

school resources

final grade calculator

writing emails to professors

cheap textbooks etc!!

save money on textbooks

school

first week of school stuff

testing effect

make studying fun

high school tips

101 study tips

types of learners

lazy kid’s guide to good grades

catching up on missed work

university tag

igcse resources

sat tag

act tag

ap tag

ib tag

a-level revision tips

diy school supplies

test taking tips

a complete guide to studying (well)

time to study!

groupwork (1)

groupwork (2)

tips tag

study effectively from textbooks

studying better

surviving your least favourite class

studying a subject you hate

success

doing research

understanding the question

pomodoro

study tips

tactile learning

how to concentrate

concentration

exam day

ultimate study masterpost

study tips for exams

school survival

studying on the go

how to read academic journal articles

how to study smart

how to remember anything in 3 steps

distraction-free studying

motivation

my study instagram + study blog

+ motivation links

motivation masterpost

stay motivated

get that homework done!

reaching goals

getting motivated

motivation through anime

writing

writing tag

recover an unsaved draft

uni writing resources

add citations!

annotating (1)

annotating (2)

advice for writing papers

writing helps

essay writing tips

how to write an essay

writing term research papers

active vs passive voice

writing masterpost

academic writing resources

essay checklist

reduce your word count

essay writing links

how to write and execute a huge piece of work

summary writing

the discursive/argumentative essay

the narrative essay + the descriptive essay

note-taking

note-taking in class

cornell note-taking

cornell (2)

lecture notes

illustrating notes

banners

maintaining good notes

note-taking

sticky notes

flashcards

colour-code + highlight effectively

colour-coding

studying from textbooks

study guides

upgrade your notes

illustrate your notes

mind maps

note-taking for different lecture types

ribbon drawing

smart highlighting

lettering ideas

how i take notes

note-taking tips

aesthetically pleasing notes

fake cursive notes

languages + literature

the ultimate english masterpost

shakespeare

literature masterpost

annotating

studying a foreign language

100+ legal sites to download literature

approaching poetry analysis

write a killer unprepared text essay

literary analysis research papers

classics

how to ace lit

reading lit

write a rhetorical analysis essay

practice oral comprehension!!

how i study for english lit

poetry analysis (1)

poetry analysis (2)

how i learn languages

self-studying languages

languages tag

how to open a new book

literary devices

literaty devices w/ printables

literature masterpost

grow your vocab

a guide to vocab

language learning tips + resources

SUPER IMPORTANT FOR POLYGLOTS

tips + tricks for learning a language

chinese

english

french

german

greek

italian

japanese

korean

latin

maltese

polish

russian

spanish

swedish

humanities + other subjects

studying humanities subjects

gathering materials for a humanities research paper

philosophy

philosophy tag

psychology tag

politics + government

women of wwi

ap world history

coding

design resources

sciences + math

how to memorise diagrams

biology (1)

biology (2)

studying biology

biology help

biology note-taking

anatomy + physiology

physiology

physics

ap physics

chemistry (1)

chemistry (2)

chemistry note-taking

studying chemistry

maths tag

how to study for math

how to study math (1)

how to study math (2)

math (1)

math (2)

math (3)

10 tips to excel in maths

avoid carelessness in calculations

succeed in math without really trying

math resources and links

algebra (1)

algebra (2)

precalculus

geometry

space + astronomy (1)

space + astronomy (2)

hope this helps + please check out part 2 as well!! ilysm 💗 

ps here is a list of all my masterposts just in case 🐝

- helena xx