Battle of the B-Sides:: Red Velvet: Huff n Puff

 I haven't done a lot of the Big 3 groups in these, which is fine. I like that because while they've done a lot of groups, they haven't done all the groups and there are a lot of very good groups that aren't from one of the Big 3 companies. But I'm also not going to discriminate against a bigger group because though they've had more opportunities to grow because of the weight behind them, that doesn't mean they don't also deserve their renown. And so, thank you to whoever tossed Red Velvet at me from The Form. They're one of those groups that while I haven't heard a lot of their songs, the ones I have heard, I've loved (Red Flavor is my absolute jam), so this opportunity for me to deep dive into one I haven't heard is awesome. Also, find me surprised that while looking up this song, I found out that the group did an OST for Hotel Del Luna, which was almost the second K-Drama I ever watched and could have sent me on an entirely different K-Pop journey had I chosen that one instead.

So, this song comes from their first studio album, The Red, which was released in 2015 and meant to represent the red part of their group name. I don't quite understand that whole thing, but then I haven't gone into a full deep dive on the group and their lore, so that's something to look forward to if I ever get to it. Huff n Puff is the second track of the album. This one actually had the lyrics written by Kenzie, which is exciting considering her legacy and discography, and not something that the title track can boast.

There is so much happening in this song that it's hard to know where to start, and the answer is the lyrics. Y'all, when I say that I have a strong love for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a book I read fairly often because I love how clever it is, I wish it was an exaggeration, and here we have a song that is referencing the story. This is good. This is what we want to be seeing, and there's a delightful cheekiness to the lyrics that mirror the source story. Plus, we have a song with a full narrative, which is the kind of song I grew up listening to. I don't know that I've mentioned that before, so I think this is just a delightful coincidence, but I couldn't be happier. We've got a journey to Wonderland with the lyrics detailing some of the weird stuff that goes on there.

This song is so catchy. Are you hearing this? The percussion is almost a marching beat, and I'm reminded of Bang by After School with the same strong drive and punchiness to the instrumentals, so I imagine that the choreography would be same. We've legitimately got some militaristic snap here, with actual snapping and that's always a delight to be hearing, but it's just such a powerful song here that I'm also adding this to my workout playlist because it's perfect for that. 

And let's also take a minute to talk about those vocals. The members are not pulling any punches here, though it would be weird to have such a strong grip with the instrumentals and then have something soft and fluffy vocally. We have harmonic layering. We've got gorgeous ad-libs. We've got belts that remind me of Aretha Franklin and Etta James and Tina Turner. That is the quality of these belts going on in this song, and it's so big. This is such a big song vocally that I'm in complete awe of these voices, especially Wendy. 

Forget limiting this voice to K-Pop. I legitimately think she has one of the best voices in the world. Now, my experience is somewhat limited with even a drop in the bucket of the artists in the world, but I'd also argue that she shares a lot of vocal traits with artists who are renowned for their voices, so I genuinely don't think it's too much of a stretch to make that claim for her. And her vibrato makes my brain shut off. That sounds like it should be a downside, but my brain is very busy almost the entire time, so this is not a common occurrence for me. 

Okay. So, let's start off with a fancam of approximately half the song. I like fancams like this because they're harder to mess with in terms of the audio, so we get a good approximation of what their voices actually sound like. Wendy is amazing. Also, I had to clear my YouTube history on this to get YouTube to give me the translations or the comments again. It's fine. It's just annoying. I can rebuild my algorithm, again. 

Anyway, a lot of the comments are relating to how cute they are, which is very much true. The choreography is incredible, not as militaristic as I was thinking it would be from the instrumentals, and obviously they're going for more of a schoolgirl vibe based on the outfits, but I really kind of love this? It's still strong choreography, even if it is a lot cuter than I was expecting. I don't know which member that is in front at the beginning, but that wave and smile is adorable. And what even is that ending? They're so cute, I kind of want to throw my shoe, which is how my cuteness aggression regularly manifests.

Look, I know this is a combo video from Music Bank, but Huff n Puff does start the video, so I don't even really have to give you a timestamp to start, which I am grateful for. Good part of this one is it includes both the Korean lyrics as well as an English translation, something else I'm grateful for. Once more, this is cuteness overload, and the ending pose is different from the first one I shared. Comparisons were drawn to f(x) in the comments, as well as a comment from last year about how underrated this song is. I hope this review finds its way to you, random person on the internet, because you are not alone, obviously since someone out there loves this song enough that they suggested it to me. Or maybe it was that person. In which case, that's pretty cool. 

I love this so much. This is such a great song, but that choreography really adds something to it that catapults it.

And, finally, I've found the song in full! Wendy and Seulgi get a lot of attention in the comments, which I can fully get behind. I'm not sure which members is Seulgi, but I'm pretty sure that Wendy is the one in the light blue stripes. I'm also not sure what those shoes are, but they're somehow charming despite being a little ridiculous. Also, I finally get my big choreography from them that scratches the itch I have.

I hope you all enjoyed this little journey with me. Now, I'm off to go add this song to about five playlists.