So I am back with another review, this time for my favorite girl group, Red Velvet! I’m a bit excited since it’s my first review for them and this comeback was pretty unique, to say the least. As per usual, let’s get some background on this group!
Red Velvet is a group formed under SM Entertainment, consisting of five members: Yeri, Seulgi, Wendy, Irene, and Joy. They debuted in 2014 and established themselves as a quality group, having won the Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Female Group in 2017. With eight EPs and two full length albums, Red Velvet is known for their versatility with music and powerful vocals, among many other things.
Their name, Red Velvet, is actually supposed to contribute to their well-rounded image—the “red” part is used to describe their light-hearted and bubbly pop tracks, while “velvet” represents their more sophisticated and mature R&B concepts. The approach taken for this girl group isn’t one commonly seen, which only stands to increase their appeal to the public. The album ‘Perfect Velvet’ solidified their mission to be a group capable of musical diversity as it was labeled as one of the most diverse albums in the K-Pop industry. The artists have even been credited for pushing the boundaries of idol music in Korea and changing the passive image of Korean women.
Having a dual concept impacts other aspects of their artistry, especially fashion. When promoting red concepts, the girls are dressed in colorful clothing that radiate youthful vibes, whereas velvet comebacks consist of mature outfits that have less of a girlish feel. Below are examples of their red and velvet sides.
Big difference, right? While I do enjoy their lighter comebacks, I think the velvet side is more suited to my taste. Now that you know more about them, let’s go on to the review.
Lyrics
‘Really Bad Boy’ doesn’t leave much to interpret in terms of lyrics. With catchy and repetitive lines, you can pretty much get that these girls have fallen for a bad boy, knowing he’s no good, yet remain completely indifferent to that fact coz they’re in love. It’s basically a continuation of their song ‘Bad Boy’, in which the girls are playing a sort of mind game with the guy in question, being attracted to them and to the challenge of attracting them. The main difference between the two tracks (other than sound) is that this time round, the girl is hopelessly head over heels for him and the tension that existed in the ‘Bad Boy’ lyrics is no longer present.
Aesthetics
I’ll be honest, the concept of this particular comeback feels a little bit random given that we’re nearing Christmas, but it’s entirely possible that SM had to push it to a later date so right into the start of December, the fans receive a Halloween themed music video. It’s definitely creative; I have to give credit where it’s due.
The settings differ from a graveyard to a checkered dance floor with a bright purple background, and it captures the vibes of late October with its Halloween color scheme and use of props, specifically the giant wolf mouth that they’re sitting in. I can’t tell how I feel about that bit, but it fits the scenery and might just be the perfect touch for the video itself. Lastly, the dancing is a good mixture of cutesy and grown-up so it was delightful to watch.
Sound
The song sounded nothing like ‘Bad Boy’, which caught me off guard in a good way. I was worried that with the concept carrying over for this comeback, so would the vibes. But thankfully, it’s not the same song at all—’Bad Boy’ was all velvet and no red, whereas this song has a healthy combination of both sides. It’s a shame that this song wasn’t released so late in the fall, because it would have had a greater amount of hype surrounding it during Halloween. Nevertheless, the upbeat and cheery atmosphere created by the song is sure to make it well-loved by fans. While it wasn’t my favorite comeback by them, I do see myself coming back to replay this track as it does a good job of lightening the mood whenever necessary.
That concludes it for this review! Thank you for reading.
Today, I’ll be reviewing RM’s ‘forever rain’ and let me just say, I’ve been incredibly excited to write up a post for this track. It’s obvious that lyrics play an important role in my opinion of the song, and RM typically has lyrics that are worth having a conversation about. He’s poetic and reflective, a feature I genuinely look forward to whenever I listen to his music. But before getting into my admiration for the guy and this track, let’s go into some background.
RM, a.k.a Kim Namjoon, is the 24 year old leader of the seven member boy group, BTS. He is the most involved of the members in terms of musical contribution, having over 100 songs linked to his name. Aside from doing the main songwriting and composing for BTS, RM has released solo works and collaborations, and his style is notably different from the overall BTS sound. RM’s individual pieces cater more to his personal image and taste, mixing mellow and introspective tracks with those containing hard-hitting rap meant to pump someone up rather than sit in deep reflection.
His first mixtape, RM, was released back in 2015, and after an eventful three years, the artist has given us mono, a mixtape showcasing RM’s maturation from his 2015 year old self and allowing for a more intimate peek at the workings of his mind. The seven track release has a consistent theme of loneliness, its tunes carrying vibes of calm yearning and sadness, yet it somehow possesses a soothing effect. RM refers to it as more of a playlist, and it’s been the first one up for a commercial release.
I could go on about RM and just his works alone, but before I get too carried away, let’s dive into the review.
Wistful. That’s the best way to sum up the message of this song. From the very first line, RM expresses his desire to have someone care about him, for someone to reach out to him and give him a safe haven, because all he seems to get from others is judgment. As an artist and a K-Pop group leader, RM has conveyed this emotion before, the fear of constantly being judged by others and criticized, which ‘forever rain’ elaborates on.
When it rains, he feels a sense of protection—it’s his shelter, in a way, hiding him from the opinions of others since people are under umbrellas and minding their own business on such gloomy days. He yearns for the rain for the feeling it gives him, the feeling that someone is crying for him and sensing his pain, the feeling that he doesn’t need to keep running. RM wants to slow down, breathe slowly, walk slowly, think slowly, because all he does in his day to day life is run around. It’s non-stop, with little time for introspection, but those moments of self-reflection are what comfort RM, and that’s what he finds in the rain.
But it isn’t that he wishes to be alone. It almost sounds like RM yearns for a friend to confide his inner thoughts to, the implications coming from lyrics such as “when it rains I get a little feeling that I do have a friend” and I’m not lonely when you’re pouring”. These lines are powerful, because having spent several years in the public eye, it must be difficult for RM to find that balance between being himself and being what the masses want him to be. He may often feel that he has to behave one way to get the love and approval of others, so when he really wants to sit down and discuss thoughts that Kim Namjoon (rather than RM) has, he finds that there’s not as many people around. So he confides in the rain, which asks him how he is as it slides down his window, and he replies with an answer that allows his fans a glimpse at how dark his inner thoughts can really be.
Despite the massive successes RM and BTS have been experiencing lately, the artist is still prone to depression and sadness, which isn’t unusual by any means. After all, he’s still very human, and I think that’s what this song is about. It serves as a reminder to his fans (and the world) that he is painfully human, and he feels crestfallen, depressed, and alone, regardless of his achievements. With heart-wrenching lines such as “I don’t live because I can’t die, but I’m chained to something” and “Would someone welcome me, maybe embrace my weary body”, RM puts his exhaustion out there. He wants the rain to last forever, even though he knows that nothing is forever, because rain is the only friend that gives him solace. Having nobody around to hold him in his fatigued state, he turns to the rain, and instead, pours his heart out there. The reality of his loneliness is heartbreaking, and to put out a track that demonstrates his vulnerability is pretty brave, in my opinion.
K-Pop often markets their musicians as perfect people without any problems whatsoever, but it’s far from that. Underneath the industry’s glittery veil of big budget music videos, synchronized dance moves, and high fashion lie darknesses like those of RM. But these artists don’t talk about it as often to protect their image, and that is why I applaud RM for stepping out once again and allowing the world, the industry, and his own fans to see that he’s as human as can be. He feels pain, emptiness, loneliness, and lethargy just like any ordinary person might, allowing his audiences to connect to him on a deep and personal level. It goes to show that success by no means can buy happiness, and I think that’s RM’s personal battle. He’s hugely successful and within this, he walks forward to find a balance between work and play in a way that will leave him with more smiles than tears.
Aesthetics
There’s not as much to talk about with the aesthetics of this music video as it’s very raw and stripped back. There’s no sparkle factor, and rightfully so. Given the subject matter, I think it’d be rather unfitting to have a big dance number in over the top outfits. But the color scheme fits the theme of the mixtape, with the monochromatic animations adding another layer of depth to the song.
The art style is interesting, straying far from being cute or adorable. Rather, the texture of it does a good job of emphasizing flaws. It’s not meant to highlight the beauty of humanity at all; people are drawn as deformed, with the protagonist being faceless and subdued. My interpretation is that he talks about how rain hides his sad face, so he’s drawn without facial features as a result of that, while the other people are shown as monsters—not because they’re ugly, but because of their judgments of him, how he views them. People who care to do more harm than good hiding under their umbrellas.
I love how simple yet entirely complex the whole video is, and I recommend watching it with the closed captions on. It’s artistic, creative, and beautifully fitting for the concept of the song in a sad way.
Sound
The piano intro paired with the slow ticking of the clock does a brilliant job setting up the atmosphere of the song. It prepares the listener for a song that’s more on the gentler side of RM’s music. As RM quietly takes us through the song with rap that’s slow and steady, we can sense that this is a song with far deeper meaning than others without having to look up the lyrics. The piano comes and goes throughout the whole song, always present for the chorus, its melancholy notes providing a backbone for the piece. In the chorus and bridge, a guitar is added to RM’s faded vocals to further amplify those feelings of loneliness and yearning, which it successfully does.
The song is ideal for listening to on a rainy day, and it honestly gives something to connect to when anyone is experiencing those moments of sadness and they want to feel less alone in their struggles. It’s beautiful and raw, and I’m really proud of RM for talking about issues that he faces rather than maintaining a facade where he pretends that he’s always okay when he truly isn’t.
I love this song so much, and I love the rest of the mixtape as well. My favorite tracks thus far are ‘tokyo’ and ‘forever rain’, but I need to give it more listens to see if other ones stand out to me. It’s also really cool that RM’s been releasing lyric videos to accompany the songs; I totally recommend checking those out.
Next time, I’ll review Lay’s ‘NAMANANA’ and if you have any recommendations, let me know. Thanks for reading!
Musical Musings 