Red Velvet has made their return to the stage, almost a year on from their last comeback with Birthday and The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday. This time around, the group is back with their 3rd studio-length album Chill Kill, and the title track of the same name. Aside from a collaboration last Christmas with aespa and concerts earlier this year, it has been fairly quiet for Red Velvet. They did face contract negotiations as they are in their 7th year as a group, but the only news coming out of that is Seulgi re-signed with SM Entertainment. We haven’t heard too much about the future of Red Velvet, asides from the news of this comeback with Chill Kill.
I liked Chill Kill. It could be that being deprived of Red Velvet for so long makes the release more enticing (similar to how hunger can be a great seasoning for any meal). But I genuinely think that Chill Kill is a great song. I really liked the creepy and eerie beginning of the song and the atmosphere that it creates. The bass elements and detailing in the verses gives Chill Kill so much likeable oomph, while the vocals and rapping in the verses was very solid. The vocal and rapping combination, along with the intensification, in the pre-choruses makes the incline towards the chorus to be feel very familiar. The chorus interestingly brings a nice pop of colour, turning away from the atmosphere that Chill Kill started off with. The harmonies when the members sing together also brings forth that familiar sense that I just mentioned. I also like the splash of retro in the bridge, which was a nice change in sound. The thumping beat that accompanies the bridge was a nice touch and adds to the pop energy of the song, while the vocals were beautiful. Now the song isn’t perfect, and the high pitched flute-like synth in the chorus is a prime example of this. It is one of the unlikeable aspects of Chill Kill due to its unsettling nature. But thinking back to the roots of Chill Kill, I wonder if that was intentional. I am also not a fan of how the song suddenly fades away in the end. It feels incomplete and I wished the ending was more satisfying. Looking back at the entirety of Chill Kill, I also wish the song went deeper into the energies it exuded, by concentrating the creepy/eerie energy of the verses and the pop influences of the chorus, to really take it to the next level. Something felt missing from Chill Kill and I think it was that.
The music video for Chill Kill features the members being trapped in the basement and it looks like they were held captive by the man with no face in the picture. They try to entertain themselves to pass time, but try not to attract too much attention to themselves. One day, they hear a disturbance upstairs and Wendy (and after a while, the rest of the group) go investigate. It is unclear whether the man with no face dies during the disturbance, or whether Wendy has something to do it (given there was a short period of time in which she was alone upstairs and there is a scene where there is blood on her face). But what we do know is that the members discover the body. Determined not ruin their lives, the members hatch a plan to hide the body and crime scene. During the sequence of washing blood, cleaning the floors and rolling the body up in a rug, there are two members to look out for. Firstly, Yeri is seen detached from the group during the cleaning scenes. I think she realizes that Wendy might have something to do with the death and the members didn’t just stumble into a crime scene. If not that, I think stepping into the blood might give her some trauma and her becoming ‘detached’ by watching the TV is her way of coping with the situation. Wendy is seen breaking down a number of times, and she goes off by herself at one point (presumably to hand herself in and save the rest of the group). But Seulgi holds her back. And with the support of one another, they end up staying together. The members go out to buy gasoline to douse the body and house they are in (though, I did find it funny that the group took the bus with massive bottles of gasoline). After setting the place on fire and watching it for a bit, they run away. But they are later caught by the authorities (maybe someone noticed them on the bus =and reported it to the police). However, we do see the members stick together at the very end. Interesting music video and I love these darker concepts from Red Velvet.
The choreography that we do see in the music video looks quite good. Nothing really stands out. But knowing Red Velvet’s track record for their performances, I don’t think we need to worry about that – it would still be worth watching. The chorus routine matches up quite well with the pop sound of the choruses, and I like the smiling energy they have during this same sequence.
Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 10/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.9/10
