First of all, I want to establish that there are no stakes here, and I am in no way disappointed or upset. Red Velvet is so far past the point of “they don’t have to do anything,” nearing a decade and having released a masterpiece in the after-years. They’ve given me everything; I don’t get to be disappointed or upset. Red Velvet doesn’t have to do anything, and so anything they do is a bonus – for which I’m grateful. Their latest album has been occasion for behind-the-scenes footage, and that’s always fantastic. The album itself? I haven’t finished it. I tapped out after four songs. Of those four, the title track “Chill Kill” was the best, where the others are shockingly low-key mood pieces.
So the reason I wanted to jot these notes down is because I think it’s interesting. Red Velvet is the only musical act I like to study to understand why it works, and I’ve only ever had one example where it doesn’t – “Attaboy,” which is a discordant mess. Of course I really want to like “Chill Kill” (though, again, I don’t strictly need to – I still have “Birthday” and so on), and it’s got that characteristic sticky quality: I’ll hear a piece of it in a Reel and want to hear the rest. But it’s got these problems that even I recognize, as a non-musical person and Red Velvet sicko (short for “sycophant”).
At around 40 seconds (of the song itself, not the video), the already minimal instrumentals drop out heading into the pre-chorus. The first verse is effective and the pre-chorus reminds me of the energetic “Player” from the Solid State Society soundtrack, but there’s nothing to connect them. There’s no “narrative” here. The pre-chorus builds up to a reversal, with the bright “Hey!” and then the sound again changes dramatically. It’s a lot of back and forth that feels like rug-pulls. The chorus is at first staccato and then we have the harmonized “What a chill kill,” taking us into the most discombobulating Red Velvet lyric ever: “Bring me lightning / Like a winner!”
The trick with English in things like K-pop and anime is that it has to at least sound cool. The word “winner” is our punchline, and I can’t parse how it’s intended. Even if the word hasn’t connoted “loser” too often, I don’t see how it correlates to “lightning bringer” in any sense, perhaps because that idea is too figurative anyway? They’re describing something figurative with something abstract. In other, more successful Red Velvet songs, it may only be one English word like “psycho” or fragments that help characterize the group’s overall aura of mystery (“Feel my rhythm / Come with me / 상상해 봐 뭐든지”, like, wow, that’s really threatening).
(To be fair, Irene’s translated “Chill Kill comes in like thunder” is perfection)
From there, we have the most difficult part of Red Velvet songs, which is the transition from the chorus back to the verse. To accomplish this in “Feel My Rhythm,” they introduce this horrible glitching effect that’s basically a jump scare. Here, the chorus just kind of melts into the verse. No urgency, no sense of purpose. The second verse starts with something of an evolution, with Seulgi going high-pitched – to where I’m not even sure it is Seulgi – like the increasing pitch of successive “Feel My Rhythm” choruses, and then returns to one with Wendy’s almost spoken-word segment. I do like how the final chorus is different in substance to the previous two, and Irene’s closing note is as effective as ever.
For sure, the vocalists give spirited performances – Wendy rapping remains the essential lost ingredient in the repertoire – but the instrumentals aren’t there to support them. In places, it feels like a capella. The best Red Velvet music ensures that the vocals and the production enhance each other. “On a Ride” feels plotted out beat for beat, where each element feels complimentary, and even recedes when necessary, allowing the combinations to feel like payoffs. God, that’s a really good song. With only the vocals of “Chill Kill” working, we’re left with, you know, Red Velvet vocals – nothing to complain about – but it’s not what I expect from a title track, and it doesn’t even try for the heights of previous material.
“On a Ride” also manages to feel playful – to feel like something. It’s completely in control. I don’t believe “Chill Kill.” It doesn’t identify a tone and commit to it.
And, well, that’s all I have to say about it. I think it’s a bad song by Red Velvet standards, for the reasons outlined above, but a bad Red Velvet song is both impossibly rare and still fascinating. It’s just as strange and ambitious as the rest of the discography. No trend-chasing here. Keep experimenting – usually, the experiments work, but there had to be a misstep at some point. No lesson to take away; it just wasn’t happening for me this time. (There’s a good chance it will someday).
With Eyes East 