Album Review: Red Velvet - The Perfect Red Velvet
(The Perfect Velvet teaser image. Credits to SM Entertainment)
Red velvet is quite an interesting flavor. You have the familiar and smooth chocolate cake, but also the bright and intense cream cheese frosting. They seem like an odd duo but the combination works surprisingly well-- each part stands strong on its own, but they merge and balance together perfectly. It's a match made in heaven! As such, I cannot think of a more apt name for K-pop girl group Red Velvet. Composed of 5 members, Irene, Wendy, Seulgi, Yeri, and Joy, the quintet debuted way back in 2014, and still holds strong today. Their music bases itself upon a gimmick inspired by their namesake dessert: their "red" side offers sugary and mind-twisting pop, while their "velvet" side offers lush and chocolatey R&B.
It's an interesting venture-- an ambitious one, even, considering that traditional R&B is not a particularly prominent genre in K-pop. But they make it work. Red Velvet has been praised for revolutionizing the K-pop hemisphere with their pioneering take on R&B, and both traditional and experimental pop. Some songs offer electronic, like 'You Better Know,' some songs offer smooth R&B, like 'Something Kinda Crazy,' and some songs offer an eccentric combination of the two, like 'Feel My Rhythm.' Like and unlike twist and interpolate to form an unexpected bond of genre-bending music. And the topper to this dual-edged discography is The Perfect Red Velvet, the group's magnum opus. Ranked at place 5 on Billboard's Top 25 K-pop albums of the 2010s, The Perfect Red Velvet offers Red Velvet's finest selection of R&B music on a bloodstained platter. In this article, I will be taking you back to 2018 to review this album's musical and visual direction.
("Bad Boy" music video. Credits to SM Entertainment)
The crown jewel of The Perfect Velvet is title track 'Bad Boy,' capturing Red Velvet's unique offerings in a mere 3 minutes. To understand this song, context is incredibly important. First, R&B is generally limited to slow ballads or hip-hop heavy infusions in mainstream K-pop, but Red Velvet instead frequents more "upbeat," midtempo R&B songs with traditional jazz influences. Their R&B songs aren't just a few random ballads, but treacly, fulfilling numbers with soulful vocals. An important element of this is full-group singing, or when all 5 members sing together as opposed to each individually. Secondly, despite bringing a unique genre to K-pop, success was not immediate. When they first debuted, songs like 'Automatic' and 'Be Natural' did see Red Velvet releasing R&B title tracks. However, these were not met with equal public enthusiasm compared to dance numbers like 'Dumb Dumb,' which lead to an inevitable decrease in R&B fare. Still, their velvet music was represented within b-sides, touted by fans year after year.
Then came the repackage with the title track 'Bad Boy.' An R&B song as the lead single! Finally re-emerging from the b-sides, 'Bad Boy' offers classic velvet with its R&B, but also attempts to blur the boundaries of their red side with the inclusion of gentle hip hop influences. As a marker, it's full of dazzling harmonies and sultry vocals, offering a taut, yet groovy start to the album. The chorus' full-group singing offers flow and feminity, but this song isn't explicitly vulnerable. Hi-hats, bubbling synths, and even the click-clack of heels add refined flourishes to the vocals that take the song from feeling sentimental, to confident. From start to end, 'Bad Boy' is imbued with smooth sophistication and coldness that present a unique lens on their R&B songs. Even more, it represents the public embracing their velvet side once and for all, and quite aptly, it was the first time the combination of their two sides was so velvet-dominated. After all, isn't the balance of dessert more cake than frosting?
("Peek A Boo" music video. Credits to SM Entertainment)
We hear more velvet music on the album with 'Kingdom Come,' often acclaimed as Red Velvet's best b-side. The classic drums are a notable touch right off the bat. This percussion is a smart move in providing definition against the gentle, atmospheric quality of the synths and keyboard. Against this backdrop, Red Velvet's vocals take the spotlight on this song. They sound sleek and luxurious-- Seulgi especially shines on this track. The verses push and pull, but then the smooth slide into the chorus is a melodic relax. And the finale is a moment of perfection: group singing combines with ad-libs, high notes, and synths to zenith into a sensory overload that climaxes all too quickly. The high comes and goes like a brush on the lips, but Wendy asserts that it will remain for a rewind "until kingdom come."
(L: The Perfect Red Velvet album artwork. R: The Perfect Velvet album cover. Credits to SM Entertainment)
'Perfect 10' is another smooth number on the album, and it very much follows in the footsteps of 'Kingdom Come.' Again, the entrance into the echoey, sung chorus is simply euphoric. The glittery sounds sprinkled throughout the song are satisfying transition elements as well. Standing alone, 'Perfect 10' is probably the least eye-catching track, though.
Following 'Perfect 10' is 'About Love,' another Red Velvet classic. The song represents a fuller fusion of pop into the velvet side-- if songs like 'Kingdom Come' crafted a slow and silky ambiance, songs like 'About Love' interrupt that with bounce, clink, and groove. That is to say, pop is injected into the album via disco influences. We see this with the lively 'All Right,' which has 80s instrumentation and glimpses of the chiptune of 2016's 'Russian Roulette' shining through. Other highlights include the synth-explosive 'Look' and 'I Just.' It is notable that within these retro-fashion songs, the full-group singing that previously intensified the smoothness of R&B now adds to the charming disco feel. Consistency in feel despite the genre shift!
The sort of upbeat, game-like soundscape in 'All Right' represents another signature sound in Red Velvet's red side. 'My Second Date' exemplifies the way they combine these video game beats with a sense of unease and creepiness. The driving instrumentation is from a music box, which creates quite an unsettling, childish ambiance. Then, the chorus is a full-on explosion, with all sorts of quirky sounds and noises on display. It's an eccentric song, but nicely exemplifies their red side with its bombastic pop sound and creepy mood.
("Peek A Boo" music video. Credits to SM Entertainment)
This range of sounds is complemented by the horror-film-inspired visual direction of Min Heejin. Album artwork sees the members dressed in all-red ensembles with rudimentary crowns, all against the backdrop of black and white suburbs. There are old telephones, pizza boxes, and even blood spatters, but the latter is given a more cartoony look. This matches with the typography, which maintains a nostalgic comical quality with its flattened, rounded edges. The repackage builds upon this as well, continuing to portray Red Velvet as menacing with a retro horror aesthetic. As a whole, it is reminiscent of old thriller films. I think this matches the music quite well. You have the darker imagery matching songs like 'Peek A Boo' and 'Attaboy,' the old-age aesthetic matching the disco influences, but also a sense of menace and maturity that jives well with the confident R&B tracks.
(The Perfect Velvet teaser image. Credits to SM Entertainment)
Finally, the album ends with 'Moonlight Melody.' Mind you, K-pop albums, at least during this time period, usually had boring throwaway ballads as their ending note. 'Moonlight Melody' is not that-- it holds its own against every other track, and to be honest, has to be one of the best Korean ballads to come out of K-pop. It's glittery, slow, and soothing. It is a lot more stripped-down and slow compared to the rest of the album, though. The sudden sentimental sound can be a bit jarring, so I do wish the tracklist was better arranged for a more apt transition. Still, it ends the album on a very satisfying note: reassurance. Up till now, the songs have dealt with the issues surrounding self-perception in a relationship, and each song provides an intriguing sub-context: 'Bad Boy' about desires and love, 'My Second Date' about a budding romance, 'I Just' about independence, the list goes on. And as a finale, we have 'About Love,' about a positive relationship, and 'Moonlight Melody,' a call to move forward.
This album is based upon an idealized balance of two opposites. Frosting could be too sugary, and cake could be too bland, but it is the combination of the two that sits at a spiritual balance. Similarly, the aesthetics of the album artwork and music videos sit at a middle range between horrifying and serious, and comical and playful. Sonically, the album offers an incredible inter- and intra-incorporation of electropop and R&B. Smooth R&B is matched by the slightly subdued animation of disco on the red side, with fizzy, yet creepy pop sprinkled in-between. It equally glamorizes both the excitements and the discomforts of love, taking joy in both the satisfaction and lessons gained. Perfection requires a fickle balance that can only be born over time and experience. It is known that success is sweeter when preceded by failure, and that the release of play is intensified by the drab of work. This is the very story of Red Velvet, training for year upon year to reach their dreams of releasing music that is soulfully theirs. The Perfect Red Velvet is exactly that: a perfect forkful of Red Velvet, with just the right balance of cake to frosting
