Red Velvet has returned with a new mini album, which shares the same title as the title track, Rookie. 2016 was another big year for the girl group with countless solo work and two successful comebacks. This review will a part of my first album review for their mini album – Rookie.

From what I am reading, some people think this is their worst track to date. I personally wouldn’t go to that extent. I wouldn’t say it is their worst track, but rather it is not their best. I liked the instrumental. It fits Red Velvet’s sound really nicely. It has a vibrant sound that matches with Red Velvet’s past hits like Dumb Dumb and Russian Roulette. It sounds similar to Hey Mikey by Toni Basil (just with modern processing and more upbeat). Some of the vocals I liked, especially when they are singing. Joy and Irene’s part in the first verse was, by far, big no-no’s. Would you consider it rapping? Because I would and if it is actually them rapping, maybe they should stay away from it for a while (or start practising a little more). Just by listening to the song only a few times, I can already hear the annoying ring with the chorus. The constant repetition of the word Rookie just sounds annoying here. It isn’t flashy or appealing. There isn’t any tone to it, expect for that one tone. Dumb Dumb had repetition in it, but the repetition was sung. This just sounds like more like shouting. To be honest, it does turn me away from the track a bit. They mispronounce the world Rookie all throughout the chorus. And while that is frustrating for an English speaker (like myself), we can’t really blame them for that (Note: Asians tend to mix up their R and L’s). Honestly, I think if they redid the chorus to something like in Russian Roulette, I think the song would have been better. The song isn’t terrible, but as I said, not their best.

Once again, Red Velvet has gone with a vibrant and colourful video, which does fit the song quite nicely. I have no idea what is going on in the video. It’s wacky and crazy, something that Red Velvet has been doing for some time. It seems like whatever they were smelling at the start, got them into Narnia, which leads them to an alternative universe, with a flower man running about. Besides that, the rest doesn’t make any sense. Watching the video over and over again doesn’t help to decipher the video, but it adds to the confusion. For a while, it seems like SM threw together some colourful sets and just hoped that the video would solve itself. Some of the sets were stunning, some of them were very plain and boring. That scene where Seulgi walks out of the closet and then joins into the choreography straight away was meant to look cool. But instead, it just looks really staged. Like the song, I would watch the video, but I wouldn’t say this is their best.

Only saw small snippets of the choreography, but what I saw looked good. I have a feeling (and this is from what I saw) but the dance could be a lot simpler. I hope that isn’t the case. I have grown to love Red Velvet’s dances for its complexity and its own flare. Let’s hope they continue with it. I will add more once the stages start.

Song – 5.5/10
Music Video – 6/10
Dance – 7/10 (may change)
Overall Rating – 6/10