Russian Roulette (Red Velvet song)

"Russian Roulette"
Single by Red Velvet
from the album Russian Roulette
Released September 7, 2016 (2016-09-07)
Format Digital download
Genre
Length 3:31
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Jo Yun Gyeong
  • Albi Albertsson
  • Belle Humble
  • Markus Lindell
Producer(s)
  • Albi Albertsson
  • Belle Humble
  • Markus Lindell
Red Velvet singles chronology
"One of These Nights"
(2016)		 "Russian Roulette"
(2016)		 "Rookie"
(2017)

"One of These Nights"
(2016)		 "Russian Roulette"
(2016)		 "Rookie"
(2017)
Music video
"Russian Roulette" on YouTube

"Russian Roulette" (Hangul: 러시안 룰렛; RR: Reosian rullet) is a song by South Korean girl group Red Velvet and was released as a single for their third extended play of the same name. Written by Jo Yun Gyeong, it is primarily a synth-pop song which lyrically compares the process of winning someone's heart to a game of Russian roulette. It was released on September 7, 2016 by S.M. Entertainment along with an accompanying music video.

"Russian Roulette" received generally favorable reviews from critics upon its release, both internationally and in the group's native country, South Korea. It also gained attention for its unique music video semi-inspired by The Simpsons' fictional animated television series, Itchy & Scratchy that masks violent and almost lethal pranks the members pull on each other in a bright, bubbly and seemingly fun-filled video. Dazed Digital placed it at number six on their 20 Best K-pop Tracks of the Year and it won Best Music Video at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.

The song was a commercial success, peaking at number two on both Billboard's World Digital Songs chart and South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, which, at the time, were the group's highest rankings on both charts.

Background and release

After the release of the group's second extended play The Velvet in March 2016, various news sites in South Korea reported in May that Red Velvet will have a summer comeback. Despite this, the album was postponed multiple times, causing the group members great stress before their company S.M. Entertainment finally announced its release in August.[1][2][3]

The group released the first teaser on September 1, and then released several individual teasers of the group presented as collages on their official Instagram account throughout the week. On September 7, they revealed the album's title along with the lead single.[4]

Composition

"Russian Roulette" was composed by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell who previously worked with the group for their last single "One Of These Nights" while its lyrics were penned by Jo Yun Gyeong. The song was written before Red Velvet's debut, and was first heard by the members when they were still trainees, unaware that they will one day record and release it.[5]

Musically, Jeff Benjamin of Billboard describes the single as a synth-pop song that incorporates 8-bit and arcade-inspired sounds.[6] Bradley Stern of PopCrush on the other hand, characterized it as a perky, retro-sounding electro-pop tune.[7] The song's lyrics compare the challenge of winning someone's affections to a game of Russian roulette.

Promotion

An hour before the single's release, Red Velvet held a special countdown through the Naver app V Live, where they discussed the album and its tracks. The group began promoting the song on music shows on September 8, performing both "Russian Roulette" and another song from the album "Lucky Girl" live for the first time on M! Countdown.[8][9] Throughout the week, they performed both songs on other music programs such as Music Bank, Inkigayo and The Show, where they won their first music show trophy for the song on September 13.[10][11]

Music video

A music video of the song directed by Shin Hee-won was premiered on the official YouTube channel of S.M. Entertainment on September 7, 2016, to coincide with the album's release. It was choreographed by Ryu Sohee and Los Angeles-based choreographer Kyle Hanagami who did the choreography of the group's second single "Be Natural" (2014) and their third single "Ice Cream Cake" (2015).[12][13]

A screen capture of an Itchy & Scratchy scene featured in the music video and the scene where the members reenact it.

With its bright, sports-themed and colorful setting, the music video gained attention for its violent content hidden beneath a fun and playful song. While dressed in cute outfits, the members sing about a romantic relationship that they compare to a game of Russian roulette as they try to inflict harm on each other. Each member appear in various scenes dropping tennis balls, pianos, refrigerators, and lockers on the other girls, or even feeding the rest colored nuts and bolts instead of cereal. The video featured clips of Itchy & Scratchy, which is a fictional cartoon show and running gag on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. These scenes were shown right before the members reenact the characters' actions, such as when they push a member in front of an oncoming car or into an empty swimming pool.[14] Sherly Tucci of The Daily Dot stated that the song's cheerful sound "juxtaposes the catastrophic and lethal pranks the girls play on each other" in the video where the members "show their dark side with stone-faced stares and subtle smirks".[15] Bradley Stern of PopCrush likened the black comedy in the video to the film Jawbreaker and said it's "pretty genius".[7] The Inquisitr said it utilized colorful visuals, entertaining video shots and plot settings, claiming that it is just as artistic as the music videos for their previous singles "Dumb Dumb" and "One of These Nights", although it "takes a slower pace than the former but quicker than the latter".[4] "Russian Roulette" became the most viewed k-pop music video for the month of September in America and worldwide.[16]

During their Naver V Live broadcast on September 6, the group revealed that some members broke large parts of the set which the staff had to rebuild as they were filming it, partly due to the nature of the scenes they shot. Member Joy also expressed her concerns about its rating due to the violent theme of some of the scenes.[17][18]

On January 27, 2018, the music video for "Russian Roulette" hit 100 million views on YouTube, which makes Red Velvet the seventh K-pop girl group to reach 100 million views, as well as the third girl group from SM Entertainment to reach this milestone.[19]

Critical reception

Upon its release, "Russian Roulette" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jeff Benjamin of Billboard opined that unlike the "straightforward, in-your-face bubblegum" their past singles "Ice Cream Cake" and "Dumb Dumb" delivered, "Russian Roulette" brings a different flavor, incorporating 8-bit and arcade-inspired sounds into the mix and has "repetitive, nearly robotic-like hooks that are just as addicting as their past bangers".[6] Writing for The Daily Dot, Sherly Tucci called it a "cute and bubbly song complemented by the bright colors of the music video". She also said that the members' sugar-coated voices in conjunction with an upbeat melody "make it impossible not to bob your head to the music".[15] In her interview with the group, Taylor Glasby of Dazed Digital said the music video "has a sinister combination of sweetness and threat" and remarked that "it's hard to think of anyone else that could pull off those kinds of concepts". The song was eventually included in their 20 Best K-Pop Tracks of the Year, ranking at number six and the site called it a "devilishly satisfying" track with a "memorable chorus and crazily joyous synth breakdown" that "sneaks in with robotic stuttering, doing a lot to break up the sweet but tonally deliberately narrow vocals".[20][21] Tone Glow also put it at number nine on their 30 Best K-pop Songs of 2016 list, stating that its chipper "heart b-b-beats" and arcade noises grant the song a bright sheen.[22]

However, Chester Chin of the Malaysian news site The Star felt that the single and the album was somewhat a disappointment after the "brilliant experimental vibes" of their last EP The Velvet, which was released in the same year. He commented that the song was "a fun and glossy dance-pop number" with "infectious hooks and bubbly rhythms" but claimed that the album's tracks "lacked the edge and quirks" of their other singles such as "Ice Cream Cake" and "Dumb Dumb".[23]

Commercial performance

The song was a success both internationally and in South Korea. It debuted at number three on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart but quickly rose to number two a week later, becoming the group's highest charting single in the country at the time.[24][25] Elsewhere, "Russian Roulette" also charted at number two and hit a new peak on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart.[6] In 2017, the song became the group's best-selling single before being surpassed by their 2017 single "Red Flavor".

The song won Best Music Video at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.[26]

Credits

Credits adapted from Russian Roulette liner notes[12]

  • S.M. Entertainment Co., Ltd. – executive producer
  • Lee Soo-man – producer
  • Lee Joo-hyung – vocal director, recording engineer
  • Jang Woo-young – digital editing
  • Nam Koong-jin – mixing engineer
  • Red Velvet – vocals
    • Irene – vocals, background vocals
    • Seulgi – vocals, background vocals
    • Wendy – vocals, background vocals
    • Joy – vocals, background vocals
    • Yeri – vocals, background vocals
  • Belle Humble – background vocals
  • Yoo Shin-hye – background vocals
  • Jo Yun Gyeong – lyricist
  • Albi Albertsson – composer, arrangement
  • Belle Humble – composer, arrangement
  • Markus Lindell – composer, arrangement

Charts

Monthly chart

Chart (2016) Peak

position

South Korean Gaon Digital Chart[28] 3

Release history

Region Date Format Label
South Korea September 7, 2016 Digital download S.M. Entertainment, KT Music
Worldwide S.M. Entertainment

References

  1. ↑ Hwang, Hye-jin (May 26, 2016). "SM 측 "레드벨벳 컴백 준비중, 일정 확정되면 발표"". Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  2. ↑ Park, Young-woong (August 19, 2016). "[단독] SM, 엑소 다음은 레드벨벳! 9월 새 앨범 컴백". Naver (in Korean). Sports Chosun. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  3. ↑ Leeteuk (September 9, 2016). Super Junior Kiss The Radio (in Korean). Seoul. KBS. KBS Cool FM. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. 1 2 Omega, Jan (September 7, 2016). "Red Velvet Comeback: Music Video For 'Russian Roulette' Shows They Play Risky Love After Week Of Teasers Enticing K-Pop Fans". Inquisitr. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  5. ↑ Kim, Soo-hyung (September 13, 2016). "'최파타' 레드벨벳 "러시아 룰렛 데뷔 전부터 꽂혀…애착多"". The Korea Herald (in Korean). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Benjamin, Jeff (September 14, 2016). "Red Velvet Hits New Peak on World Digital Songs, Heatseekers Albums With 'Russian Roulette'". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  7. 1 2 Stern, Bradley (September 6, 2016). "RED VELVET'S 'RUSSIAN ROULETTE' VIDEO MAKES MURDER LOOK POSITIVELY ADORABLE". PopCrush. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  8. ↑ Min, Susan (September 6, 2016). "[Video] Red Velvet Drops Teaser Video for 'Russian Roulette'". enewsWorld. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ Min, Susan (September 8, 2016). "Red Velvet to Perform 'Russian Roulette' for First Time on 'M COUNTDOWN'". enewsWorld. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ Ahn, Eun Kyung (September 11, 2016). "[예능리뷰] '인기가요' 레드벨벳, 청량함 가득한 '러시안 룰렛 (Russian Roulette)' 무대". Top Star News (in Korean). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  11. ↑ Kim, Ye-na (September 25, 2016). "'인기가요' 레드벨벳, '러시안 룰렛'으로 임창정 꺾고 1위… "팬들에 감사"" (in Korean). kyeonggi.com. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Russian Roulette (booklet) (in Korean). Red Velvet. S.M. Entertainment. 2016.
  13. ↑ Ahn, Eun-kyung (September 9, 2016). "레드벨벳(Red Velvet), 신곡 '러시안 룰렛 (Russian Roulette)' 무대 첫 공개…'눈길'". Top Star Bews (in Korean). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  14. ↑ Herman, Tamar (September 7, 2016). "Red Velvet & Bobby Kick Off K-Pop's Wave of September Releases". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  15. 1 2 Tucci, Sherly (September 6, 2016). "Red Velvet's new song 'Russian Roulette' is cute and dangerous". The Daily Dot.
  16. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (October 12, 2016). "Most Viewed K-Pop Videos in America, Around the World: September 2016". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Red Velvet 'Russian Roulette' COMEBACK COUNTDOWN". SMTOWN. September 6, 2016. Naver V Live. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  18. ↑ Leeteuk (September 9, 2016). Kiss the Radio (in Korean). Seoul. KBS. KBS Cool FM. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  19. ↑ "Red Velvet Hits 100 Million Views For First Time With "Russian Roulette" MV". Soompi. January 27, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  20. ↑ Glasby, Taylor (October 12, 2016). "meet the girl group breaking k-pop's rules". Dazed Digital. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  21. ↑ Glasby, Taylor (December 14, 2016). "The 20 best K-Pop tracks of the year". Dazed Digital. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  22. ↑ "The 30 Best K-Pop Songs of 2016". Tone Glow. August 8, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  23. ↑ Chin, Chester (September 16, 2016). "Review: Russian Roulette by Red Velvet". Star2. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  24. ↑ South Korea's Weekly Gaon Digital Chart September 4-10, 2016 (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on December 4, 2017.
  25. 1 2 South Korea's Weekly Gaon Digital Chart September 11-17, 2016 (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on December 4, 2017.
  26. ↑ Hwang, Ji-young (November 19, 2016). "'2016 MMA' 레드벨벳, TOP10·MV상 "불참한 예리도 감사"". JoongAng Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  27. ↑ "2016 Year End Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Monthly Chart - September" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.