#rv psycho

[venompinks]

RED VELVET 𓆩☆𓆪 Chill Kill

[revesoiree]

drew joy! ^^ (this is a repost, i made an art blog!)

[mainfaggot]

enhypen -> bite me; itzy -> mr. vampire; enhypen -> paranormal; itzy -> supernatural... the parallels FOR MEEEEEE for me. i ❤️ vampire concepts in kpop

[married-2-the-music]

K-pop Discography Deep Dives: Red Velvet (Part ONE)

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. All this to say, for the love of god, I’m a sleep-deprived student and I don’t have time for internet hate, so don’t kill me. With that being said, enjoy!

Here are my credentials: Red Velvet was the first k-pop group I ever loved, even though Blackpink was really my introduction. I became a ReVeLuv in 2019, because of Russian Roulette, and I’ve been a fan since, including of the members’ solo careers (Wendy in particular). But as I’ve gotten more into k-pop and since they come back so infrequently, I haven’t really been keeping up with them and I feel like I’m less of a fan than I once was. So, I’m super excited for their comeback on the 13th (especially with a full album!) and I’m hoping that through this deep dive, I’ll fall back in love just in time for the new album.

Red Velvet is almost a decade old, having debuted with four members (Wendy, Joy, Irene, and Seulgi) in 2014, with the 5th, Yeri, being added the year after. Red Velvet is known for their dual concept: the poppier, brighter Red side and the R & B focused, more sensual Velvet side, which sets them apart from many girl groups of their time that were pigeonholed into either “cute / naive” or “sexy / mature”.

Happiness is their official 2014 debut (again, with four members). While I do like this song, I don’t find myself coming back to it often because it just doesn’t sound like Red Velvet to me; it’s bubbly and odd, but in a similar way to a lot of k-pop; it sounds like many other “quirky” k-pop groups from the same time, and just a bit too young for a group who were all adults at the time. Wendy’s bridge remains a highlight, but like NingNing’s vocal showcase in Next Level, it doesn’t fit the song enough, and I wish it was in a better one so I could love it more.

Be Natural is the balance of sorts to Happiness, a more mature R & B track that’s a cover of the 2001 classic by S.E.S. I love the jazzy background of this one, and the kind of drawn-out pull of the vocals that sound much smoother than in Happiness. It was this song that proved RV could be more than just their debut, and could tackle both more childish and more grown-up concepts. While this is a cover, they put their own spin on it, though I admit I’m not a fan of Taeyong’s part, as I’m almost never in favor of random rap verses in very subdued songs. Also, I’m not a choreo blog, but shoutout to all the difficult work that they do dancing on the chairs, because my back hurts just watching it.

Ice Cream Cake marks the introduction of Yeri, which gives me a fair bit of bias towards this as I’m happy to see them all together. It’s bubbly and bright with almost impressive amounts of aegyo that’s definitely a product of its overly bubbly 2015 k-pop world, especially the rap verse that just jumps in out of nowhere. While it has far more personality than Happiness does (like in the slight creepiness of the playground-esque lalalala’s and the bizarre music video), I think that it’s still very much a marker of the beginning stage of Red Velvet’s career when they were still figuring out their identity as a band. I want to be clear that it’s not a bad song. But it doesn’t stack up to the instant classics that we’ll see in a bit.

Automatic, like Be Natural for Happiness, is the Velvet balance for Ice Cream Cake, and where ICC feels very young, Automatic is far more sleek and graceful in its delivery. It’s a gentle R & B track that glides along like it’s dancing on its tiptoes the whole time. It clearly was put together after the success of the Be Natural cover, and while there are similarities, I prefer Automatic for two reasons: a) Yeri’s there, rounding out the voices well, and b) It sounds more like a Red Velvet song, with a few little quirks. The instrumental is minimalistic, which lets the voices speak for themselves, and it’s the first title in this series I’ve loved on first re-listen.

From the Ice Cream Cake EP, Stupid Cupid was an immediate favorite. Starting off with that Western-movie-esque guitar, its intonation and production is reminiscent of a 2nd gen title, Girls Generation in particular. Normally I’m not a fan of a slight drop between pre-chorus and chorus, but it works here. I even don’t mind the rap verse, as the humor in it fits more with the tone of the song than one usually does. I never gave this song a second thought before, so I’m glad I found it.

Dumb Dumb is the first song that feels quintessentially Red Velvet in this review. It’s very much a “throw things at the wall” track, with that delightfully funky instrumental and a never-stopping drumline that feels like it’s beating your heart for you. It’s a song that feels like it shouldn’t work, between the key changes, the tempo changes, the many repetitions, the chanting, etc, and yet…it does? Dumb Dumb toes about five dozen tightropes perfectly, and I have no idea how. This song has so many things that are genuine pet peeves of mine, but I love it anyway, and if anyone could pull this off (with a random verse honoring Michael Jackson), it’s them.

The Red is almost universally known as an excellent album, and I can’t talk about every song (even though I would!), so I’ll just talk about a few of my favorites: Huff n’ Puff, Campfire, and Don’t U Wait No More. Huff n’ Puff bounces back and forth with an oddly warped instrumental and off-beat clapping, then ties it all together with a great bridge and its titular refrain. Campfire has more sing talk than I normally enjoy, but it’s still melodic and its brassy chorus more than makes up for it. And Don’t U Wait No More has an interestingly clipped call and response in its chorus that is now very much stuck in my head.

One Of These Nights is a surprising choice for a single, especially for 2016. Many reviewers responded with mixed or even negative opinions on it after the delightful bombast that is Dumb Dumb, and I can see why they did. One Of These Nights is not a song for everyone; it’s quiet, melancholy, and honestly depressing, and yet it’s so beautiful and heartfelt that it’s honestly my favorite of their singles. It was made to mark the Korean festival of Chuseok (that is, in legend, the one day of the year where two fabled lovers can reunite, before they have to part again), and that gentle yearning and happiness with an edge of tragedy is so comforting for anyone coming out of grief but still remembering the good times. Red Velvet’s voices are something special; they’re great separately, but together, they’re just stunning.

The Velvet is less critically praised than The Red, but I love both Rose Scent Breeze and Light Me Up. Rose Scent Breeze may seem like just another b-side at first, but it soon goes from gentle melancholy to a furious guitar riff-led power ballad that lifts you up without losing its palpable emotion. Light Me Up is an R & B song too, but has a youthful energy and a joy not found in their other “Velvet” songs. As both a queer person and a huge fan of Wendy’s voice, I admit I like her “La Rouge” version more than the original, though the harmonizing at the end feels like honest-to-god floating.

Russian Roulette starts with a similarly creepy “lalala” to the one in Ice Cream Cake, and was actually the first Red Velvet song I ever heard. It bounds forward with the choppy energy of a classic video game, and between the insane catchiness of its hook and the bizarre combination of murderous Tom-and-Jerry imagery and skyscrapers of aegyo, it’s no surprise it went viral. It both fits perfectly into k-pop cliches and pokes fun at them in the process, zig-zagging between what seems like a sweet love song and the visuals of a gang of expressionless dolls. It is…utterly bizarre, and, just like the first time, I’m utterly enthralled.

What to say about the EP? I love this entire album, and it’s so hard to choose a hidden gem. Lucky Girl, Fool, and Bad Dracula are all excellent tracks, and I love all of the different combinations of doo-wop, synth, and other vintage genres too. I’ve got to say that my favorite is Lucky Girl, though, partially for the delightful catchiness of the song as a whole, partially for the inclusion of actual “shoo-be-doo-wop” vocalization, and partially for the immaculate Girls Generation-esque 50’s/60’s production.

Rookie is not and never has been a song for me. It’s not that it’s a bad song, per se, and I actually enjoy the greater part of the verses. Red Velvet’s voices are great as always, and I also love that bridge. This song, truth be told, annoys me more than anything, because it’s so, so close to being good. But why, why, why, did they have to give it a chanty, aegyo-filled hook? Come on, guys, we were almost there. We could’ve had another so-crazy-it-just-might-work situation like Dumb Dumb, but instead there’s too much crazy and not enough working for me.

From the Rookie EP, I honestly preferred almost every song to the title, but Little Little was my favorite. It’s slow and quiet at first, and during the verses, you’ll think it’s bound to be depressing. But then, like an opposite version of Rookie, the chorus completely changes the song, turning it into a dreamy R & B ballad that’s been a fixture on my sleep playlist for years.

If the last few songs have been upbeat, Red Flavor is practically jubilant. It’s been called THE summer k-pop song, and for good reason. It bounces off the metaphorical walls, full of delight and youthful energy. Even the verses, albeit slower, set up that juggernaut of a chorus with its distinctive “red, red, red flavor” distortion in the post. I’m sure this is just me being a ReVeLuv, but this song is so nostalgic for me and never fails to make me a bit sappy, especially the slightly wistful outro. I don’t mind the rap, but I wish we could’ve gotten more of the singing section of the bridge instead. Overall though I really like this one.

The Red Summer is one of their strongest EPs, and while I wanted to give Mojito a quick shout-out, my hidden gem is, without a doubt, You Better Know. If you’ve read at least one of the disclaimers at the top of my reviews, you’ll know I’m neurodivergent. I have autism, and I kind of didn’t let myself believe it for a while. But one day I was walking outside and this song came on, and its message was just what I needed to finally let go and let myself stim for the first time. If you don’t have autism, it’s almost impossible to explain the pure rush of joy that stimming (especially after so long repressing it) can bring, and so whenever You Better Know comes up on my playlist, I find myself fighting a huge grin and getting the urge to dance. God, I love this song so much. I’m trying not to smile right now.

Peek-A-Boo: this was the song I considered my favorite Red Velvet single for a while, although One Of These Nights currently takes that trophy. From the start it crackles with an odd, tongue in cheek humor and a “well what do you want from me” shrug. The instrumental seems to pop out of random places, between a twinkling piano, snapping fingers, and some kind of chime that I can’t place, which go far better with the vocals then I would have assumed. I wish they’d pushed the voices more to be honest, because they feel a bit subdued here (and not in an expressive way like in Automatic), besides the last chorus, but otherwise this one still holds up for me. Because hey, who doesn’t want to watch five girls in rainbow dresses kidnap pizza boys from their cabin in the woods?

From the Perfect Velvet album, I have one main stand out. Kingdom Come needs no introduction for ReVeLuvs since it’s already practically required reading for anyone looking to get into the fandom. I admit I was put off from it for a while because it didn’t live up to being treated like the second coming of Christ, but I’ve definitely warmed up to it. It’s so soothing and warm, like a cat curled up by a fireplace, and Red Velvet’s voices come together almost perfectly to set the scene.

Bad Boy takes an even greater shift away from the Red side and towards the Velvet. One would think that a song like this would be boring and barely leave an impact, and they would be completely wrong. Bad Boy possesses a self-assured and smooth R & B flair reminiscent of Taemin’s more subdued tracks, and moves forward with an unhurried strut. It’s often cited as the pinnacle of their Velvet side, and I might have to agree. I don’t have a hidden gem for the Perfect Red Velvet repackage, since it’s only a couple songs.

So this is where we’ll take a break, because I think we’re about halfway through their discography. Like in the BTS review, I’ll leave my final thoughts until next time, and invite you to touch some grass and eat some Doritos.

I’ll see you in a few days for a boy group supplemental and then next weekend for the second part of Red Velvet. Tschüss!

[witchblade]

i guess queendom song doesn’t really match any of rvs other title tracks except maybe sappy in terms of energy but most rv title tracks dont match each other esp the ones that aren’t explicitly red. type...

[divorcedyaoi]

The restaurant we went to last night had tvs in it and on half of them they played football and the other half it was kpop music videos

[bktkou]

just discovered that mbc's new singing competition pits covers against originals and i'm eating that shit up!! i love a reimagined song

like swja's version of psycho?????? gives me chills. takes my breath away. magic to my ears. it's so good UGH

[bububudew]

aespa's thirsty becoming by top song of the year n then lucid dream shooting up to the 2nd one but id only started listening to them proper in june.......

[a-bishvare]

✧ Loner Page ✧ pt.1

Hey, hey - welcome! Here, I'm back with the series I promised to post.

And well, I've got none better idea for the title so... 👾 It is what it is ╮⁠(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)⁠╭.

Me when the when the.

Just to remind, it's going to be a series of something like sketchbook tour, but hell yeah I do have over 7 sketchbooks so~ (I mean. None of them is totally finished, there some pages in each that just aren't fully filled and in the latest ones there are the empty ones. ¯⁠\⁠(⁠◉⁠‿⁠◉⁠)⁠/⁠¯)

Anyway, it's gonna be

💥Fun🎉

Okay let's start form the beginning, read it - the first official sketchbook, I started it in early October 2021. It's called "1/6"

Yeah my ✨creativity✨

And that's how the cover looks like. This one isn't a brand sketchbook idk just a simple notebook with white pages.

(I think the rose - on the cover - was for my Maths teacher for the Teacher's Day, it was definitely drawn at school. I adore her so much, she made this subject my freaking passion when I was in the primary school. I still like Math so much but.. in high school... well I have different teacher and the subject itself is harder here. It kinda sucks. It was the only thing I enjoyed in school and now, now nothing is fun about this hell.)

Let's see~ what's inside~~

(I'm not gonna show some pages cuz. I simply don't waNT TO.)

Sooo~ that was drawn at my Polish classes (and yes I'm from Poland uwu). Since we finished all exercises the teacher told us to draw the iconic manor from our school lecture called "Pan Tadeusz" by A. Mickiewicz (it may sound strange for some of my fellows but I actually DO like this writer's work. Idk I always understood his poetry etc. wth is wrong with people). And well, my Polish teacher knew about my hobby and appreciated my TaLeNt so she liked it as always. Also, on some auction (it was for charity) she bought my another painting (inspired by this lecture too) and I made it a month later than this above. You can see it here.

Right up here (as you can see cause it's written) an outfit (Seulgi's) from the Music Video "Monster" by Irene and Seulgi from Red Velvet. I used to have a little obsession with Red Velvet' music back in October 2021 (I still love them 💗) like "Psycho", "Peek-a-boo" and ofc "Monster". Such a Halloween vibe. 🎃

This one is a sketch of an outfit that I used for my mom's portrait (she has birthday in October also). Please ignore the title on the picture ʕ⁠ノ⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠ʔ⁠ノ⁠ ⁠︵⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻. I was never good at English but as I had written some days ago that thanks to my 10 h per week of this language now I'm a master compared to me in the past 💥. This dress was inspired by Pinterest ofc.

So, the last one are a.. fanarts?? that I've made while thinking of some movie idea and the characters above were inspired by Red Velvet members. These girls are sth like ghosts idk, they were supposed to be main (hidden) antagonists in my "imaginary" scenario. It was meant to be an horror movie inspired by "Peek-a-boo" Music Video and the cannibals motive. Could've be good actually..

Well, we're enough for today. (I had no idea that there's a limit of pictures in one post here to be honest 👾) That's it for this part, I think I wrote all about those pictures and that I didn't forGOT ABOUT ANYTHIN-

Thanks for those who even liked this and even more for those who actually READ EVERYTHING.

Hope somebody will even see this 🦇

Y'all, have a g'day, I'll be back with the next parts soon 💗 Adios 💥

(artwork from October 2021) ☕👽✌🏻

[lovechoerrymagic]

the red summer is literally one of the best kpop mini albums of all time ever. i dont even remember what mojito sounds like but the other 4 songs carry it either way

[married-2-the-music]

Red Velvet Deep Dive #1

[astagfirulah]

what if I said I like birthday by rv

[ca-dmv-bot]

Customer: I AM A FINANCE MANAGER FOR AN RV DEALER AND CRAZY ABOUT MY JOB DMV: FUCKIN PSYCHO Verdict: DENIED

[nar-bo00]

── 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗉 𝖻𝖾𝖾𝗉 ! 𝗇⍺𝗋𝗇𝗂⍺ 𝗌⍺𝗒𝗌: Psycho – rv ♡💭

𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖻𝗅𝗈𝗀. 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖽𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 !

─̤──๋────── ┄┄┄ ─̤──๋────── ┄┄┄

︵︵⠀⠀⠀𝅄⠀ ⠀⠀ ◌⠀ ⠀⠀𝅄⠀⠀⠀◯⠀⠀⠀⏜︵

[trudemaethien]

uno reverse I would like to know your know your headcanons about Sev. also on Fi? Both of them seem like such jumbles of contradictions to me but in opposite directions

Sev

A. (Realistic):

The reason why he didn’t make it back up to the RV point during/after Order 66 was because in addition to losing comm-contact with Delta, his leg was crushed and he ended up losing it. Has a variety of prosthetics over the rest of his life. Also I like to think about The Ground On Kashyyyk and what a man might have to do to survive there alone and injured. But that’s more of a C headcanon 😈

B. (Hilarious):

my hc for sev’s deep voice (and all the different voices of delta squad) was that they were vocoder mods. furthermore, i headcanon delta squad uses them to sing a mean barbershop harmony LMAO it’s their squad hobby okay?

C. (Heart-crushing and awful):

I think he feels things very deeply, remembers things people have said forever, and is nursing a lot of pain under that surly exterior. Who called him psycho? He knows. He believes it’s true. He’s internalized all the abuse, partly because he takes things literally (hc neurodivergent sev hello), and partly because he’s never had anything other than a steady diet of grueling, thankless achievement and dehumanization (and if he ever dared to let himself hope for better, it would only bring pain at the inevitable downfall). He couldn’t and wouldn’t articulate any of this if his life depended on it.

D: (I substitute my reality):

if he ever unbent his ori’jagyc pride enough to let someone fuck his ass, he’d become the worlds neediest and most demanding bottom forever. Nah, I do like him switching but it think it would be fundamentally life-changing and paradigm-shifting for him to have a prostate orgasm. 😌

Fi

A. (Realistic):

He likes glimmik for the rhythm so he also dances and beatboxes and calls cadence and does his exercises in tempo. to take it kinky, i bet he’s into impact play. as a medic, his favorite thing is taking a pulse (and hearing it beat alive alive alive)

B. (Hilarious):

He has a finger😉 in every branch of the Repcomm Polycule™️, like a free bouncing rubber ball in a rube goldberg machine. like the nursery rhyme: put in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said what a good boy am i!

C. (Heart-crushing and awful):

what because canon wasn’t enough? well okay you asked for it: so what if after his injury he didnt get his memories back intact and barely remembered omega squad? He was only with them for a year and change. Please imagine Niner and Dar coming home to him like that from Imperial service. Please imagine how Atin would feel about it. Please imagine how awkward it would be for Corr. They all know him and he doesn’t know them. Imagine how Fi might feel about it. Parja Bralor is his closest friend now.

D: (I substitute my reality):

He and Parja are really good friends and got married as a double beard situation for one another. Maybe they have a little queerplatonic sex with each other for fun and comfort but they are not the loves of each others lives.

from this meme