Tag: Red Velvet

It has been a while since we last heard from Red Velvet. The five-member SM group have been focusing on solo and unit work for the past 2 years since Cosmic, the title of both their last title track and mini-album. That changed earlier this week with Red Velvet returning with their 3rd special summer mini-album, Velvet Summer, and the title track, Surfin’ Boy.

In their earlier days, Red Velvet’s releases were categorised into two categories: “Red” (which refers to the bright, dynamic and poppy tracks they are known for) and “Velvet” (which, as the name suggests, are the group’s darker and sultrier releases). To me, Surfin’ Boy meets the criteria of their “Velvet” category. Whilst it is a dance track, the bossa nova guitars, reggae touch, and house groove come together to create quite a sophisticated and elegant sound. Throw in the members’ vocals and the catchy melodies, and Surfin’ Boy is quite a rich and decadent track. The bridge was indeed such a ‘chef kiss’ moment in terms of showcasing vocals; it was a definite highlight. However, Surfin’ Boy wasn’t great throughout. One issue I had with Surfin’ Boy is that it felt unnecessarily rushed. I am honestly not sure why there was little room within the song to take it in and process it. The second was the rap-speak that was going on. It just didn’t meld well with the rest of the melodies and flow of the song, which were strong aspects of Surfin’ Boy.

I have seen the social media posts of people theorising the video is about mermaids (played by Red Velvet) eliminating the men in the video. But now that has been mentioned, going from all men around them to just females at the end probably confirms that. Backing up this theory as well is the fact that one of the men’s webbed hands was seen later in a specimen jar, and YERI both pushed a guy to his death and aimed for another guy’s head with her crossbow. Quite an interesting concept, and I loved the dreamy execution of it all.

Those sophisticated and elegant vibes from the song come through the performance quite well. But it was the outro bit of the choreography that I really liked. It felt like the performance was building towards this peak, and the members looked like they had a lot of fun with it.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.3/10

At the start of this month, Red Velvet celebrated its 10th year as a KPOP group! A huge congratulations for reaching this milestone! As part of the celebrations, Red Velvet released Sweet Dreams as part of a newer version of Cosmic (their 7th mini-album released in June this year, led by the same-name single).

Sweet Dreams is indeed a sweet song. The group sings about their journey with their fans, likening it to a child who has reached the age of 10 alongside them. For long-term ReVeluvs, this is sure to be a heartfelt song. Sweet Dream‘s instrumentation is a mellow and hopeful pop track. While the instrumentation isn’t exactly the most riveting piece of music out there, I did like the use of the heavy beats and synths. The song is already quite light overall, so the heavy beats were helpful in anchoring Sweet Dreams down, while the synths provided a nice complexity and texture to the song. As mentioned earlier, the song is sweet, and this comes down to the members’ vocals. Very light and airy on this side of Sweet Dreams as well. Like the heavy beats, the rap-like deliveries we get interlaced throughout Sweet Dreams help anchor the track down, while their high ranges bring out that high range quite nicely. I can’t pinpoint exactly if it is the instrumentation or melody, but something within Sweet Dreams reminds me of a nursery rhyme of some kind. Given the song’s analogy towards a 10-year-old kid growing up alongside Red Velvet, this felt appropriate for Sweet Dreams.

There isn’t a formal music video for this release. Instead, we got a ‘special video’ of Red Velvet recording Sweet Dreams, presented in a scrapbook format. Around these recordings were moments from past music videos, behind-the-scenes shots and the song’s lyrics, all presented in the same format. This concept worked well with the song and was a nice way to reflect on 10 years of music videos and other content. A proper music video would have been more satisfying if I were honest. But this works just as fine.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10

I know I haven’t posted over the last few days (work depleted all of my energy) but now we find ourselves at the end of the week. But I don’t think I can ‘end the week’ perse without reviewing Red Velvet’s latest comeback, Cosmic, which is both the title track and title of their 7th mini-album. Obviously, this review is just for the song, and I will definitely be returning to review the album some time in the future. Cosmic is the group first release since last year’s Chill Kill studio album and lead single comeback.

Elegant and soothing is what came to my mind when I first heard Cosmic on Monday. I wasn’t completely sold on it, at first, and I will speak to that in a moment. But repeat listens to Cosmic since its release has helped me realized that the track is indeed wonderful. Cosmic has this really enjoyable smooth flow to it, thanks to the members’ vocals and the song’s melodies. I honestly would not expected this from Cosmic‘s instrumental, which takes on a slightly more groovier texture and disco profile. But then again, Red Velvet have previously spun a unexpecting sound profile into something aesthetic (like Chill Kill and Psycho), and in the case of Cosmic, tranquil. The melodies themselves have a nice ring to them, and that gets the song in my mind even after it has ended. What I also liked about Cosmic is the spark of brightness the members bring to the song, whilst singing about a short-lived love-at-first-sight interaction. This brightness and the earlier mentioned flow propels the song forward for me, making it feel like it went somewhere. I also really enjoyed the harmonies and ad-libs that Cosmic had. A great song, overall.

But earlier I mentioned that I wasn’t completely sold on Cosmic in the first listen and part of me still feels that way. It stems from an inherent problem with ‘smooth songs’. Too smooth can make a song easily be passed over. Because I know what music Red Velvet puts out, I will always check them out (no matter the level of smoothness). I just not sure how this would go with the broader audience who don’t tune into Red Velvet as often, or know about Red Velvet whatsoever. As such, I feel like Cosmic needed a striking element. I am not sure what that would be, but it needs something aesthetic enough to fit in with the rest of itself and also really grip the audience at the same time.

As confirmed at the end of the video, the music video for Cosmic is inspired with Midsommar, a film about an American couple in a deteriorating relationship who are drawn into a violent cult in rural Sweden. Obviously, Red Velvet’s visual material doesn’t focus on the first part or the violence that featured in that movie. But the video does feature a similar cult from the movie. Flowers and the maypole are elements also taken from the movie. Additionally, we see a person fall from the sky and the cult members (including Red Velvet) pick them up and carry them to their base to be sacrificed (I think this is the case based on the placement of flowers on the eyes towards the end). Both the person who fell from the sky and Red Velvet seem interested in one another throughout the video. But as the song lyrics suggests, this is rather short-lived, given my theory that a sacrifice had to happen. Interesting video overall, as well as an interesting choice for a KPOP music video inspiration.

The choreography for this comeback is very pretty. The pace and moves all match the smooth drive that the song has, and focuses on an output of elegance. I also like how the performance was also very smiley, which shows off a great side of Red Velvet.

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