Review of all girl k-pop group, Red Velvets’ “RBB.” PHOTO CREDIT: Kpopreviewed.com
Red Velvet is one of the most vocally talented and gifted groups in all of K-Pop, in my opinion. All five members, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri have become one of the most iconic girl groups in K-Pop history.
The group debuted on August 1, 2014, with their debut single “Happiness.” They debuted with only four of the members, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy. Yeri wasn’t added into the group until March of 2015 due to her being too young at the time of the group’s debut to join.
Fans have theories about Red Velvet’s debut, and they make sense. Their company, SM Entertainment, was going through a rough year in 2014 with two of their groups, f(x) and Girls Generation, with a member from each of those groups left. Fans believe that SM needed something to distract people from all the drama in their company, so they rushed Red Velvet’s debut.
However, Yeri was only 15 at the time and SM wanted to wait for her to turn 16, so the group debuted originally with the four members. Then, in 2015 when Yeri turned 16, she was added to the group and was a part of their first mini album comeback “Ice Cream Cake.”
The meaning of their name relates to the two sides of them as a group, “Red” being the bold and vivid side of them as a group, and “Velvet” being the more classy and poised side.
Fans all across the globe praise their visuals and vocal power as they are known as a group with all main vocalists. In K-Pop, almost all groups have members with set positions, those positions being leader, vocalist, dancer and rapper. For vocalist, dancer and rapper a member is either the main, lead or sub.
So, in the case of Red Velvet, Irene is the leader, main rapper, lead dancer and sub vocalist. Seulgi is the main dancer and lead vocalist. Wendy is the main vocalist. Joy is lead rapper and sub vocalist and Yeri is the sub rapper and vocalist. However, Joy does more singing and Yeri does more rapping.
Although Wendy is the only main vocalist and the other four members are lead and sub, all five of them have a lot of power and strength in the vocal department. As I said before, any K-Pop idol under SM Entertainment can sing like nobody’s business. SM always has the most vocally talented idols even if they’re sub vocalists.
Anyway, Red Velvet has released a total of 12 mini albums, two full albums and one repackage album during their time as a group, and one of my favorites is their fifth mini album “RBB.” This album was released on November 28, 2018, and immediately became my favorite when I first listened to it.
The title track, “RBB (Really Bad Boy),” is one of their best songs and most powerful vocally. Everything from the high notes to the choreography is absolutely perfect and iconic. Seulgi carried the song entirely with her “ah-ah’s” during the chorus of the song, and her being in the center during the dance break was visually pleasing. Wendy and Joy killed it when they sang the pre-chorus and bridge, and Irene and Yeri’s rap verses both separate and together flowed beautifully. This is one of their more fast-paced and upbeat pop songs which was a treat because they normally have very regal and more slow paced songs and themes.
“Butterflies” is my second favorite from this album because it’s such a sweet song and it’s so calming and loving. I listen to it when I want to cheer myself up and it works every time. Irene and Yeri never cease to amaze me with their raps, and as always Wendy, Seulgi and Joy use their siren-like voices to make me put the song on repeat.
“Taste” was also a really good track on this album. Once again, I loved the rap verses by Irene and Yeri. Their verses were the best part of this song because those two always come together for the rap and it makes it sound like only one person is rapping when they do their separate verses.
“So Good” was single-handedly made for Wendy and Seulgi. Their voices were so smooth and angelic on this track, and it was made even better with the other three members rapping. I truly believe that this album was made for Seulgi because she really shined this album with every song.
“Sassy Me” was a really good song, but not one of my favorites. I listen to it when it comes on, but I personally prefer the other tracks on this album when I listen to it. Of course all the members severed perfect vocals as they always do, but the song was just not for me.
“RBB (Really Bad Boy) [English Version]” was not as good as the Korean version. I love when idols do English and Japanese versions of their Korean songs and vice versa, but I end up always preferring the original song in the original language it was sung in.
Red Velvet is one of the most vocally talented groups in the world, and they deserve so much more love and praise for the work that they do. I hope people will find this and listen to their work and enjoy it as much as I do!