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Album: Chill Kill
Artist: Red Velvet
Genre: #Kpop
SubGenre: N/A
Label: SM Entertainment
Non-Airable Tracks: N/A
Revisiting the "Hidden" Gem
It's been one year since Red Velvet released their 3rd full album 'Chill Kill'. Almost a year after their previous release 'The ReVe Festival 2022', their previous release didn't do well in the charts and the views slowly depleted. Their popularity decreased as SM Entertainment focused on the newer groups that have debuted under the company. Despite SM's lack of regard for Red Velvet, their latest album was announced. Many fans and casual listeners were excited about the next comeback as it would be the group's 3rd full album release.
Over the years, especially with the quickly changing of K-pop's culture and sound, it's hard for the former groups to represent the rising trends to be successful and gain a larger audience from what they post miscellaneously and for their upcoming music. Also, the company's lack of promotion and ignorance that older groups begin to face as they get older and phased out by their own company. It gets frustrating considering how much potential Red Velvet continues to show despite not getting as much recognition as they previously had.
'Chill Kill' is an album and a song that truly lived through hope and dreams, with the constant worry by fans about disbandment or members not renewing their contract in the next year with the company. People had low expectations for any new release because it had almost been a year since their last comeback, 'Birthday', which was not as successful as their previous release 'Feel My Rhythm'. With the lack of promotions and fans' interest in 'Birthday', people were hopeful for the next release after the concept photos and mood samplers were uploaded for the upcoming title track.
Who Is Red Velvet?
Red Velvet is a five-member South Korean girl group that debuted under SM Entertainment in 2014. Originally, it had only four members (Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, and Joy). The group officially debuted in 2015 with 'Ice Cream Cake', featuring the newest addition, Yeri (as shown in the cover photo). Red Velvet was an experimental music group for SM as their two debut songs 'Happiness' and 'Be Natural' presented two sides of the group that could be executed well. The dynamic in the vocals and dance that Red Velvet has, presented is a new age of K-pop with each member complementing each other instead of overshadowing.
The group gained a lot of popularity in a short amount of time with their unique and distinctive style of music and aesthetic of concepts and narrative. The diversity they presented on and off stage was eye-catching for many, as they continued their music career they grew bigger and bigger in popularity, even outside of South Korea. Like many other groups, Red Velvet had a large legacy to follow after the company's previous female successors; BoA, S.E.S., Girls' Generation, and F(X). Fans and followers of both the group and country were highly anticipating Red Velvet's future, and they would not be wrong to assume the group would be big.
The group's talent and success in and outside of Korea is something to recognize, almost all of their title tracks have gained a significant amount of popularity on social media through memes or specific audio clips, and the members themselves have a large audience following them. Their most recognized music is their B-sides on their mini or full albums that many fans enjoy, such as 'Day 1', 'Sunny Side Up', and 'Kingdom Come' (great songs by the way). Although, Red Velvet is popular among the K-pop community, their talent, and capability as members individually and collectively still go unnoticed. Even so, it hasn't stopped their fans from continuing the group's popularity outside of the community, friends, and outsiders of the community.
Red Velvet (Left to Right): Yeri (Sub Rapper/Sub Vocalist), Joy (Lead Rapper/Sub Vocalist), Irene (Main Rapper/Leader), Seulgi (Main Dancer/Lead Vocalist), and Wendy (Main Vocalist)
'Chill Kill' Overview
The title track 'Chill Kill' exemplified their concept of Red and Velvet by mixing the two sounds into one song, intertwining the music video into the album concept felt like Christmas morning because it felt like old Red Velvet concepts in a rebirth. The idea that Red Velvet presented for the music video and concept photos illustrated a storyline for the group's lore (and the company's storyline) with eerie concepts that complement Red Velvet's capability as a group, but a K-pop group. For many fans, it felt good to see the rekindling of Red Velvet's notable concepts. The album itself showcased new elements of the vocals and the latest sounds in productions in K-pop represented a new era the group was exploring despite phasing out within the industry itself.
As many fans would agree, the title track should've been bigger than it was when it first came out because it didn't win any awards. At the time, Red Velvet hasn't won any award since 2021 with 'Queendom' after their 1 year of being on hiatus. Making many fans frustrated with the lack of attention and recognition that Red Velvet was beginning to receive after not being entirely appealing to newer audiences in K-pop. The difference in sound when 'Chill Kill' was first released was apparent, the trending groups that released music at the same time Red Velvet did made it difficult for the five to get an equal chance as their opponents. Because the group is older (in K-pop generations), the company only lets the members promote their new music for 2 weeks versus 3-4 weeks, limiting their time engaging with new audiences.
Inside Chill Kill
The album was announced to be a full album, which meant for fans and casual listeners there would be more than 4 songs that would display the group's ability in a fuller light than the past releases. The next three songs continued after the title track showcased the pop and 'sensual' side of the group that still emphasizes the ability of the vocals stacks and the ability each member has within each song. The fan favorite song from the three is 'Underwater'. The energy shown in the song revisits the R&B side of the group like 'Perfect 10', 'Kingdom Come', and 'Time to Love' present, which fans claimed they haven't seen in a very long time. Fans were excited to hear this side of the group again with this old sound that's argued hasn't been heard in a long time.
'Knock Knock (Who's There?)' and 'Will I Ever See You Again?' are the two songs that ask a question in the album but have a beautiful instrumental and presentation of vocals by Wendy and Joy, the hidden vocals from each member exhibits the registers that layers within each song produced, and are most especially shown in these two songs. What doesn't go unrecognized is the vocals and the production on every track in the album, the advancement of having a full album for Red Velvet allowed the group to have larger opportunities to show their vocal ability and collaboration which Red Velvet continues to outdo themselves in. The bridge in 'Will I Ever See You Again?' was incredible to listen to, Irene and Wendy's overlapping vocals showcased the low and high registers of both members' vocals and perfectly executed it well.
Moving further in the album, 'Iced Coffee' is a song that is reminiscent of 'Hello, Sunset' and 'Little Little' as the instrumental in the song is loud, and pop-like, but still applies a soft tone of vocals and a strong complement to each vocal stack. 'One Kiss' is a song that is underappreciated within the album as it shows the ability of Joy, even though she's a sub-vocalist in the group, having the bridge flourish the potential every member has in songs should be discussed further than being forgotten. Overall, the album continues to outdo itself with each song in the album. Because of the lack of popularity the album and title track received, it didn't get as big as many people anticipated, it allowed fans to note it as a hidden gem of Red Velvet's discography.
Even though some self-proclaimed mega fans of the group did not like or had very different expectations for the album; it stopped fans from wanting to listen to the album for how poorly it was first being seen. Truly, that's just the K-pop community at its finest with the constant changes of trends in sound and groups, fans start to care less about older groups instead of wanting to look through what less popular groups are capable of.
Post Revisit Thoughts
After revisiting the album myself, I wish the album was larger than it was first released. This was the group's third full album after six years and went underappreciated by many fans. Red Velvet is my personal favorite K-pop group out of any of the groups I've listened to in my four years of a K-pop stan. Each song in this album exceeded my expectations after listening, and I wish I from a year ago appreciated the album instead of pushing it aside because there was so much potential from this album that was missed! Red Velvet's previous two full albums contain some of my favorite songs and they're great concepts and further showcase how ahead of their time they were almost ten years ago.
As frustrating as it is to see the development of Red Velvet's fanbase and treatment by their company, it still doesn't stop the true fans and the members trying their best to release music or variety shows for the fans and themselves. As previously stated, I believe there is potential Red Velvet has yet to achieve because of the lack of support from their staff and company, it limits them. There are many other factors to this as well, such as the misogyny that's displayed in the industry and SM Entertainment, and many more. I hope maybe in another timeline or eventually Red Velvet maintains its recognition and acknowledgements without fighting for it.
Chill Kill Essentials:
Chill Kill
Underwater
Will I Ever See You Again?
Ice Coffee
One Kiss
Scenery
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