Tag: Red Velvet – IRENE & SEULGI

You may know that I have been withholding a few reviews as the corresponding music videos were released after I already covered them in my album review segment on this blog. And as promised, those missed music videos reviews will be out soon. But I do still watch them! Today, I had a listen and watched Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi’s latest music video release for Naughty and just knew that this needs its standalone review. And that is why we are here. I have yet to review their Monster mini-album but I have previously reviewed the Monster title track, which you can read after this review.

With Irene & Seulgi’s mature and dark turn with this Monster unit debut, Naughty‘s presence on the album felt appropriate, but also a missed opportunity. When I first listen to the album, Naughty seemed to be the most logical choice for the title track over Monster. Monster had a dullness to it, which let down the chosen title track. Naughty, on the other hand, had a level of dynamism and hypnotic appeal that just clicked. And this helps overtake that dullness that I was disappointed with in the actual title track. This song takes on deep house and features many crunchy synths to give Naughty a wonderful sense of texture. I really liked the sassiness that started the song and stayed in the background during the verses. I liked the bass that comes along with the song, adding to the already mentioned dynamic atmosphere of the song. I liked how the chorus had a chant-like delivery, which was thoroughly interesting and helped with the said appeal. The vocals during the rest of the song was quite good. I still do think Naughty could have used something more, like a rap sequence to add some further edge to the song or add an additional layer of intensity. But what we got anyway is already enough to satisfy me. And given how positive my thoughts on the song were, Naughty is obviously a superior track on the album.

The ‘Episode 1’ in the title of the music video confuses me. Does that mean that the unit will be releasing music videos for all side tracks? Or is something else coming our way? No one knows. I guess we just have to wait and see. In the meanwhile, I thought the music video for Naughty was terrific. It is more of a performance video, given its focus on the choreography and it strays away from the use of closeups. I felt the start and end of the video where the two are walking towards and away from each other felt a little unnecessary, unless they are what connects the ‘episodes’ together. I would have been fine with the choreography centered shots as they had really good post-production and its simplicity with the grey-scale tones made it aesthetic. I really liked the solo shots where the member in focus is dancing opposite the member behind the camera. It definitely looks like we are doing the performance and adds a unique depth to the video.

The performance for Naughty definitely leaves a wowing impression. The mixture of voguing (Not too sure if this is the right category of the moves as the tempo doesn’t necessary match what I associate with voguing, but given their use of their arms) and tutting in this performance looks very cool and hypnotic. It will definitely be a stand out routine of the year given its visual appeal.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 9.2/10

It has been a while since we heard from Red Velvet, which I assume is due to Wendy’s recovery from the stage accident that grounded their Psycho promotions to a halt at the very of last year. But now Red Velvet has returned to the stage in the form of a duo subunit, Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi, which is up of (you guessed it!) Irene and Seulgi. The official release of their debut title track Monster occurred on Monday, but the music video was not released until Tuesday. And I accidentally napped unexpectedly, resulting in a further delay in the review. And before I nap again today, here is my review for Monster.

If you go into this song thinking we will be getting something Red Velvet usually puts out (as that is what you might think given the name Red Velvet is retained in the unit’s name), be prepared to be surprised. Monster has a very distinctive sound. It is like Monster took Red Velvet’s darkest and edgiest sound and amping it up to the next level. It starts with a high pitch and slightly distorted ‘Na Na Na‘, which undoubtedly sets the tone of the song. We then enter a very sinister and suspenseful verse, before launching it a more energised chorus made up of trap elements and dubstep. The song’s vibes and sound essentially repeat itself once that ‘Na Na Na‘ distorted vocals return at the end of the chorus. But while the song does have that unique distinctive sound for current times, I do find the repetition to dull the song’s appeal. It could have been intriguing and interesting, provided they change up the song’s textures a bit as it progressed to give it some variety and freshness. I do commendable Irene and Seulgi’s vocals, which were superb in this song. They added character to the song and helped Monster achieve those sinister and suspenseful vibes that I mentioned earlier. I particularly liked the entire second verse, as there was some interesting colours and vocal profiles there. The chorus had nice melodic hooks, but like the repetition flaw, it soon became dry and dull. There ‘I’m A Little Monster‘ was impactful and came off strong in a subtle manner. Overall, Monster was a fair effort. Just not as mind-blowing as I hoped it to be.

The dark and edgy sound that the song opted for was reflected in the visuals of the music video through the horror influence. While it was quite good to watch, this horror concept came off as rather tame. I wanted to see them go that extra mile as they could have explored a lot of imagery and stories, conceptually. We see the members dressed in white doll-like dresses that resemble the clothing that we see young girls wear in horror movies as they die or haunt the living. Seulgi creepily crawling in one scene towards herself and then walking confidently in the next, similar to how I remember some demonic ghosts would haunt the living in some movies. We see Irene playing with dolls in a creepy manner and in one of the choreography shots, we see a devil’s face edited over Irene’s face. It didn’t scare me, but it had me jumping up and down excitedly as that was the type of scare that I wanted to see. I did like the sets, as they gave off a haunting without going explicitly into cliche haunted house land.

I really liked the outfits they wore and the makeup they donned in the music video. It really suited the music video. And I can’t wait to see them on stage with those exact same outfits and makeup. For the choreography, it looks like a stunning routine. Best parts include their starting formation, (which looks like a creepy creature) and Seulgi twisting Irene to include the ghost face (simple yet effective in terms of coolness).

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.5/10