The Next Red Velvet?

Rescene, Bad Lieutenant, Announcement!

No one will replace Red Velvet. If I were to suggest that, I should be summarily executed. Anyway, as you well know, I’ve been hesitant to explore the fourth generation of K-pop, a hesitance so lengthy there’s now a fifth generation. The reasons were twofold. One, as previously outlined, the idol experience is more than the music itself. My interests in groups like Red Velvet and Oh My Girl began with the music, and then gradually I’d fall in love with the members and their dynamics. I love Solar’s chaotic energy and artistry and her chemistry with Moonbyul, and Moonbyul’s no-bullshit attitude and friendship with Seulgi, and Seulgi’s curious mind and so on and so on. I love the demystification of seeing the idols in music videos either playing characters or performing with uniform professionalism, only to then discover their individual selves, which are sometimes dramatically different. I tried this with Kep1er, who are so cool in the video for “Killa,” but in the behind-the-scenes material, they’re a little too kidlike. Only in their early 20s, they’re not too far removed from their teenage years, and it gave me a visceral reaction. As someone in his 30s now, I shouldn’t be so concerned with the interior lives of people that young. No, no, please, hold your applause. Xiaoting just put out a solo track called “Legend,” though, if you’re interested.

The second reason for the hesitance, I think (I wrote that first paragraph and then a few days later am now writing the rest), is that the fourth generation group I was obligated to like was aespa, being the direct follow-up to Red Velvet. I do like “Next Level,” but for the most part, their music never clicks with me, even their recent offerings. And because my K-pop fandom actually predates aespa, I watched their arrival in real time and it just seemed like they appeared fully formed. Like, before I even knew who Karina and Winter were, people were shipping Winrina just like Taeny and Seulrene. Maybe it was a more natural process I couldn’t see, but it felt slightly artificial, especially coming from SM (and this is no insult to Karina and Winter who are, genuinely, adorable together). This brings us to a polar opposite situation. Where I know how brutal the SM process can be – as we saw, filtering out megatalent like EJAE – and ultimately producing K-pop Terminators, I’m heartened to know there’s an alternative route to success, even if it requires a bit of luck.

I learned about Rescene because of Instagram. I’d just happened to have the sound on when scrolling by a post by Bona, which was playing a song from 2024 called “Love Attack.” I said, “Ooh, that sounds good,” and held the phone up to my ear (as if practicing for the day I receive a call). “Love Attack” is about as perfect a K-pop song as there is. I literally can’t stop listening to it, and apparently, neither can South Korea. According to the YouTube video linked above, the song has become their “summer anthem.” And whether coincidentally or not, it bears similarities to the Queens of Summer: a gorgeous harmonizing chorus, an almost cultlike creepy undertone (“I am all you need, I am all you need”), and a playful, teasing aspect bordering on the patronizing. I don’t really mind (nor do I fully love) when girl groups’ lyrics are all about boys and kissing boys, but I think the best possible version is if the desire is somehow predatory. Red Velvet’s recent single, “Surfin’ Boy” is a reiteration of the murderous “Peek-a-Boo,” and of course, I love the threatening aura of their magnum opus, “Feel My Rhythm.” Rescene’s 2025 extended play, Glow Up, would even explore the cold, robotic side of Red Velvet, with fast, droning deliveries. Again coincidentally, “In my lotion” features the lyrics “feel my rhythm.”

The above YouTube video discusses the history of Rescene, but the gist is that these girls come from an agency so small that they’re the only artists associated with it. Some of the members were runners-up at talent search programs, and their eventual debut as Rescene was overshadowed by Illit’s a day later. They haven’t gone completely under the radar these past two years, but the group achieved algorithmic fame with a viral video by Woni, one of the members. It’s something to do with “gyaru,” which I remember Miyauchi teaching Mahiro and a very not-having-it Chisato in Baby Assassins: 2 Babies. Woni’s YouTube channel – @helloiamwoninicetomeetyou – now has over a million subscribers, more than Rescene’s. Fans are responding so strongly because these idols don’t seem overly manufactured. I don’t know if that means they aren’t starving themselves or working themselves to death, but God, wouldn’t that be the dream? They came back this year with a song I knew sounded familiar, a remake of Kara’s “Pretty Girl,” and even performed it on stage with Nicole. Damn it, I saw that on Nicole’s Instagram Story and didn’t understand what it was because she’s also touring with Kara right now. And now I see that Rescene’s Minami did a YouTube video with Mijoo a month ago. How did I miss all this? God, Mijoo cracks me up.

By the way, Red Velvet came back today, so it looks like they’ll always be the next Red Velvet.

So, what else is going on? Check out the trailer for Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, which I’d call “the latest from Takashi Miike,” but you blink and the guy’s already got another one out. Confession time, I’ve only seen Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, possibly because it’s one of the greatest subtitles of all time. My experience with Abel Ferrara begins and ends with Ms. 45, though Donovan recently anti-recommended King of New York, so I don’t know. Aside from the sort of fringe filmmaker lineup of Ferrara, Herzog, and now Miike, Tokyo is also notable for featuring Shun Oguri, who I just talked about at length for Human Vapor (though not as much as Yu Aoi). Here, he’s not playing a detective again, obviously, he’s a lieutenant. Miike’s a weird guy, you know? I remember thinking it was odd that he remade Hara-kiri, as if you could improve upon that perfection, only to later find out that one of his signature films – at least in the West – is also a remake: 13 Assassins. Did I blow your mind?

Finally, I’ll be out of town until at least Monday the 17th, which means that even if I watch the fifth and sixth episodes of The Ghost in the Shell, I won’t have write-ups on the night of. I don’t know why that’s been a goal of mine, but now I’ve failed it.