Song Review:: Red Velvet: Velvet Summer- Surfin' Boy

-

  • Release date: 2026 August 03

  • Album tracklist: Surfin' Boy, Hot Girls Cold Vibe, Orchestra, Hula Hoop, Hawaii

  • Album runtime: 15 minutes

 Congrats on the win! I was trying to delay listening to this until I got around to the review, because I'm so behind, but now that it's finally time to post the Music Show Wins that this got a win on, I get to enjoy the summer album from the third gen summer queens. I love their velvet concepts because most of them are just spooky and I love that. But their red concepts are some of my favorite hype songs.

Call me crazy but this sounds like a minor key. Which fits then that this is a velvet summer per the album title. Well named. There's something odd about the instrumental that I've been trying to put my finger on for a couple of days now, which is why it's taken me so long, but I have to because it got a win. Not that I wouldn't anyway. It almost sounds like a preset on a midi keyboard, or at least like that's the base, which is fine, but this is also an SM Entertainment song. It's a perfectly lovely instrumental, but it's also oddly restrained in a way that I don't think works for the song. There are spots where it feels like the song wants to get a bit brassier, but it doesn't. 

I love songs sung in minor keys. I don't like the whispering parts, but when they're unloading those vocals, they're incredible. Red Velvet is top tier. I do not make these rules. And there's a dolphin whistle going on in the ad-libs, so I hope whichever member has that part is taking care of her voice for it. Whatever gripes I have with the instrumental, they're mostly mitigated by the vocals here. I'll probably warm up to the song eventually.

They really do have the SM look, don't they? Also, they're not mermaids. Those are full Sirens and the mermen were never going to survive them. It's fun. It's nice. It's the kind of thing where we get Red Velvet doing what Red Velvet does best in their music videos: murder. Including a crossbow. But, of course, that also means that we've got a lovely storyline and I'm here for it. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Song Review:: Super Junior: Super Junior 25- Express Mode

-
Image
Release date: 2025 July 8 Album tracklist: Express Mode , Haircut, Air, Delight, I Know, Say Less, D.N.A, Finale, Stuck With You Album runtime: 28 minutes  Average runtime of over three minutes, which is aided by the four minute song, but there are only two that are under three minutes. This is all good. Congrats on your almost 20th anniversary, SuJu! The fun thing about this group is that the group and me almost share a birthday. Just as a fun fact, The Incredibles movie is almost exactly one year older than the group.  The introduction of this song is one of the funniest things I've heard in a while. Oh, my gosh. I thought I'd accidentally hit a radio somehow.  Ah, we've got a skittering beat. Good stuff. I'm a little amused that for what I'm assuming is their 20th anniversary album, they went more hip-hop than they normally go, but you know what? The second gen groups adapting to the times is a good sign. They are keeping it in the family, though, because it...
Read more

Song Review:: KickFlip: Flip It, Kick It- Umm Great {Pre-Debut}

-
Image
 Well, friends, as this is a new debut (or near enough), I need to take a look at the ages and verify that what I heard was correct. And it was! The maknae, Donghyeon, turns eighteen in a couple of months, so if I like the sound, I can like the group. Four of the seven were contestants on Loud , which also produced TNX (THE NEW SIX) back in 2021, including the maknae, so I'm honestly grateful that they took so long to debut because Donghyeon would have have been fourteen. Three more years of training? I have tentatively high hopes for the group, as well as the fact that a lot of other people (including my Stay friend whose judgement I trust) are talking about this song. She actually brought the song up just as I was sitting down to write this after I finished reading my book. They'll be officially debuting later this month on the 20th. So, let's see what the buzz is about. I'll add the info when the debut happens, and I link everything.  The runtime. Why. Ooh, we've...
Read more

Song Review:: ALL(H)OURS: SMOKE POINT- Graffiti {Pre-Release}

-
Image
Release date: 2025 February 04 Album tracklist: Smoke Point,  Graffiti ,  GIMME GIMME , Kings & Queens, Freaky Fresh Album runtime: 12 minutes  I am aware that this group exists. I know they're a fairly recent boy group, but have no idea their company, the number of members, or debut year, and I do have two of their songs in one of my playlists, but they're my Junk Drawer playlist and haven't gotten to them yet. Ah! Seven member group under Eden Entertainment (which is now sort of a subsidiary of JYPE, I think?) that just had their one year anniversary. And because they're a recent debut, I have to check the ages, but they pass! As of December, they're all eighteen or older. So, if I like the song, I can add it to the playlists! Nice! This song has a lot going on. I don't know why I'm getting strong tropical vibes with clanging metal, which sounds a little like an oxymoron as the associations with clanging metal are more industrial and the ones with jung...
Read more

Song Review:: NEXZ: Beat-Boxer- I'm Him {Pre-Release}

-
Image
Release date: 2025 October 27 Album tracklist: Legacy,  Beat-Boxer , I'm Him , Co-Star, Next To Me Album runtime: 14 minutes  There are a whole lot of pre-releases that have all dropped at the same time, belonging to albums that are not all dropping on the same day. Fascinating. Also, that means that you all have lots to look forward to. Happily, the maknae is eighteen as of a couple of weeks ago. Happy birthday, Yuki! Also, this album looks like it's going to be longer than the last one I covered, so I am very happy about that one. Title track is questionably short, but this one is within acceptable limits. My only question here is if that sound at the beginning of the music video is in the actual audio track or not. If it's not, I'm sad. The general thing the instrumental is doing is interesting, and I kinda vibe with it because there are textures to the song and I really like that. However, the opening sound? I was catapulted back to childhood with the similarity to ...
Read more

Song Review:: ILLIT: I'LL LIKE YOU- Cherish (My Love)

-
Image
Release date: 2024 October 21 Album tracklist: I'll Like You, Cherish (My Love) , IYKYK (If You Know You Know), Pimple, Tick-Tack Album runtime: 12 minutes  I'm pretty vocal on my stance on minors in K-Pop. The fact that they're not allowed to stay for the end of year award shows seems to be pretty good evidence that they really shouldn't be working in groups like this anyway; at least, not yet. But until enough people can say "stop exploiting the children," nothing is going to change. In the case of ILLIT, yes, their maknae turned sixteen this year, much like Dino of Seventeen when they debuted. But, also like Seventeen, the group as a whole gets to squeak by in my books on a technicality: she didn't turn sixteen after they debuted (which means she turns seventeen in their first year, which is tolerable though not ideal), and at least half of the group was already fully eighteen or older at debut. I'm also not going to bother rehashing any of the dram...
Read more

Music Show Wins:: Week of 10/22 - 10/28

-
Image
  If you haven't heard the news, The Show is set to be canceled in the first half of November, which is infuriating. The Show , while probably the least frequently occurring of the music shows, was the one that the younger/less well-known groups had the best shot of getting wins on, especially that all important first win. And, related to that, it appears that After School Club may also have been canceled. It's listed as a previous show on the website, and I cannot begin to express my displeasure in this. Again, this was a good space for the rookies and the smaller groups to start. Some groups that got very big eventually started out as rookies or young, struggling groups on ASC (BTS, Seventeen, and Stray Kids, to name a few), and it filled a niche for those groups to have more much-needed exposure. Hopefully, we get something to replace the shows, especially since I think they were on the same broadcasting network.  Okay. Bad news over. Good news. NMIXX. Almost a clean swe...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: Hyo (Girls' Generation): Sober

-
Image
 The final song of my little triptych of Sober songs to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of BIGBANG's debut, and I went with a contemporary soloist. Girls' Generation is only a year younger than BIGBANG and occupies much the same role as BIGBANG does in the canon, just on the girl group side. So it really worked out that there is a soloist from Girls' Generation that has a song with the same name as Sober because that also gives us a different texture to look at. Plus, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that the impact Girls' Generation and its members have had on the industry cannot be hyped enough, especially when their activity has slowed down a little and I've seen younger or newer fans mistakenly dismiss them just because they're not pulling the streaming or release numbers like the streaming farms for some of the other groups. But that's why I do the research and hand y'all the results: to make the context around the last 30...
Read more

Song Review:: Billlie: appendix: Of All We Have Lost- trampoline {Pre-Release}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 October 16 Album tracklist:  remembrance c andy ,  trampoline, Bluerose, BTTB (Back to the Basics),  shame,  dream diary ~ etching mémoires of midnight rêverie Album runtime: 20 minutes  I'm aware of one of the members of the group by name and know she and one of the other members came off hiatus earlier in the year. I'm always relieved when a member on hiatus for whatever reason becomes active again, and I hope she is doing well. I also believe this is the first full group album in a while, so that's also an exciting moment. I'm also aware of the recent controversy of the use of AI in promotional/album artwork for this album, or this particular single. I'm not entirely sure. I also do not condone the use of generative AI in artwork. But that's something to be aware of.  Audience participation snapping? Be still, my soul. There are a couple of sections where you could actually have audience participation clapping as well, which ...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: BIGBANG: Sober

-
Image
 Happy anniversary, BIGBANG!! I am so late with this, but I was not going to skip this because it's the big 2-0 and I would have to make an entire other post to talk about why BIGBANG requires acknowledgement as one of the biggest playmakers in shaping what K-Pop became. I find it amusingly fitting that their company was founded by a member of the boy group generally acknowledged to be the first K-Pop group: SeoTaiji and Boys. Also, fun fact, I went to a cupsleeve event yesterday (as of writing this paragraph) for their anniversary and I really liked that they included TOP in the design, even if he was on one side and the three current members were on the other. Some related bookkeeping first though. There is a prison-striped elephant in the room with this group. If you are OT5 for this group, you may want to skip this post. If I acknowledge him, it will be with begrudging frustration and a curled lip, and only if I have no choice. I'd be lying if I said his immoral choices and...
Read more

Song Review:: BABYMONSTER: DRIP- Love In My Heart

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 1 Album tracklist:  CLIK CLAK ;  DRIP ; Love Maybe; Really Like You ;  BILLIONAIRE; Love In My Heart ; Woke Up In Tokyo; FOREVER; BATTER UP (Remix) Album runtime: 28 minutes  I wasn't expecting a music video over a month late, but it's here, and I'm vaguely reminded that they were planning on doing several music videos for this song. But, a song that's longer than three minutes is what I'll almost always be here for. I really appreciate the quality of the mellow instrumentals, especially when put against CLIK CLAK  and DRIP . They're soothing in a way I'm excited to see from the group, even when the energy level spikes during the chorus related sections, being the pre-chorus, the chorus, and the post-chorus. The clapping during the pre-chorus definitely brings me joy. It's not quite audience participation clapping, which I've been very vocal about how much I love, nor is it quite clapping as I'm almost positive that it...
Read more