Russian Roulette (Red Velvet EP)

Russian Roulette
EP by Red Velvet
Released September 7, 2016
Recorded 2016
Genre
Length 23:68
Language Korean
Label S.M. Entertainment
Red Velvet chronology
The Velvet
(2016)		 Russian Roulette
(2016)
Singles from Russian Roulette
  1. "Russian Roulette"
    Released: September 7, 2016
Music video
"Russian Roulette" on YouTube

Russian Roulette is the third extended play by South Korean girl group Red Velvet. It was released on September 7, 2016, by SM Entertainment.

The album is the group's second 'Red' and 'Velvet' album, after releasing Ice Cream Cake in 2015. The EP consists of seven tracks, including "Russian Roulette".

Background and release

Despite earlier reports of Red Velvet having a summer comeback,[1] S.M. Entertainment announced that the group will release a new album in September.[2] Member and leader Irene talked about the difficulties the group faced while preparing for the album on the September 9 broadcast of the radio show Super Junior's Kiss the Radio and stated that it was "physically and mentally tiring as the comeback date kept getting postponed".[3]

After revealing the first teaser on September 1, they announced that the group will release their third extended play on September 7, with 7 tracks in the album. They revealed the album was to be called Russian Roulette, the same name as its title track.[4]

Promotions

Red Velvet held a special countdown to the release of their album through the Naver V app on September 6, just an hour before the release of "Russian Roulette"'s music video and the album. The group started their music show promotions on September 8, on M! Countdown, performing "Russian Roulette" and "Lucky Girl".[5][6] This was followed by performances on Music Bank and Inkigayo where they also performed both songs.[7]

Music video

The music video is bright and bubbly like the song, and semi-sports themed. In it, the girls are seen playing tennis and dodgeball and were also seen at a pool. They also wore various colorful outfits throughout the music video. While seemingly fun and playful, the members are seen in different scenes trying to inflict harm on each other. Dropping tennis balls, pianos, refrigerators, and even pushing one member in front an oncoming car. The scenes were inspired by clips from The Simpsons' fictional cartoon show, Itchy & Scratchy.[8]

During their Naver V broadcast on September 6, the group stated that while filming the music video they broke large parts of the set which the staff had to rebuild.[9] Member Joy also expressed her concerns about its rating due to some of the scenes' violent content.[10]

Kyle Hanagami choreographed the song, his third time working with the group after "Be Natural" in 2014 and "Ice Cream Cake" in 2015.[11]

Composition

The title track "Russian Roulette" is a synthpop song that has an arcade sound feel with a retro 8-bit sound source.[12] The song was composed by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell who also had a part in composing their previous album's title track "One of These Nights". Its lyrics compare the process of winning someone's heart with a game of Russian roulette. On the September 13 broadcast of SBS Power FM radio show "Choi Hwa Jung's Power Time", the members revealed that the song was written before they debuted. They heard the song then, when they were still trainees, not realizing they would release it.[13]

"Lucky Girl" is a retro-style dance-pop song composed by Hayley Aitken and Ollipop with lyrics written by Kenzie. "Bad Dracula" was composed by Tomas Smågesjø, Choi Suk Jin & Nermin Harambasic from Dsign Music and American singer-songwriter Courtney Woolsey with lyrics by Jo Yun Gyeong, who also wrote the lyrics of the title track. "Sunny Afternoon" is a 90s throwback, slick song and is composed by Swedish producers Simon Petrén & Andreas Öberg, Maja Keuc and Kim One with korean lyrics written by Jeong Ju Hee. "Fool" is an acoustic pop song written by 1월8일 of Jam Factory and composed by Malin Johansson and Josef Melin. "Some Love" is a trop house song written and composed by Kenzie, while "My Dear" was written and composed by Hwang Hyun of MonoTree.[14]

Reception

Billboard's Tamar Herman wrote that the song was "more saccharine than their typical sound" and described the music video as a "bubbly, athletic-themed music video that offered fun times for all as a murderous ode to The Simpsons' impish duo Itchy and Scratchy."[8] Taylor Glasby of Dazed Digital also commented on the video and stated that it "has a sinister combination of sweetness and threat".[15]

Bradley Stern of PopCrush called the title track a "perky, retro-sounding electro-pop tune" that was expected from most k-pop idols, and praised the black comedy in the song's music video. He compared it to the film Jawbreaker and said it's "pretty genius".[16]

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's World Albums Chart and peaked at No. 18 on Heatseekers Albums chart, their highest to date. The title track "Russian Roulette" also charted at No. 2 on World Digital Songs, making it their highest ranking on the chart.[17] The album debuted at no. 1 on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, with "Russian Roulette" charting at no. 3 on its Weekly Digital Chart, before rising to no. 2 a week later. All of the album's other tracks also charted.[18][19] "Russian Roulette" became the most viewed k-pop music video for the month of September in America and worldwide.[20] The album peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums for the week of September 19, 2016.[21]

The group won their first music show trophy for "Russian Roulette" on the September 13 broadcast of The Show.[22]

Track listing

No. TitleLyricsMusicArrangement Length
1. "Russian Roulette" (러시안 룰렛)Jo Yun Gyeong
  • Albi Albertsson
  • Belle Humble
  • Markus Lindell
 3:31
2. "Lucky Girl"  Kenzie
Ollipop 3:23
3. "Bad Dracula"  Jo Yun Gyeong
Choi Suk Jin 3:01
4. "Sunny Afternoon"  Jeong Ju Hee
Simon Petrén 4:00
5. "Fool"  1월8일 (Jam Factory)
  • Malin Johansson
  • Josef Melin
 3:53
6. "Some Love"  KenzieKenzieKenzie 3:16
7. "My Dear"  Hwang Hyun (MonoTree)Hwang Hyun (MonoTree)Hwang Hyun (MonoTree) 3:34
Total length:
 24:45

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[23] 1
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[24] 18
US World Albums (Billboard)[25] 2

Monthly charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[26] 4

Awards and nominations

Music program awards

Song Program Date
"Russian Roulette" The Show (SBS MTV) September 13, 2016
September 20, 2016
M! Countdown (Mnet) September 15, 2016
September 22, 2016
Show Champion (MBC Music) September 21, 2016
Inkigayo (SBS) September 25, 2016

Release history

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

References

  1. ↑ Hwang, Hye-jin (May 26, 2016). "SM 측 "레드벨벳 컴백 준비중, 일정 확정되면 발표"". Newsen (in Korean). Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ Park, Young-woong (August 19, 2016). "[단독] SM, 엑소 다음은 레드벨벳! 9월 새 앨범 컴백". Naver (in Korean). Sports Chosun. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ Leeteuk (September 9, 2016). Super Junior Kiss The Radio (in Korean). Seoul. KBS. KBS Cool FM.
  4. ↑ Ahn, Woorim (September 1, 2016). "Red Velvet to Make Comeback on September 7". bnt news. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ Min, Susan (September 6, 2016). "[Video] Red Velvet Drops Teaser Video for 'Russian Roulette'". enewsWorld. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  6. ↑ Min, Susan (September 8, 2016). "Red Velvet to Perform 'Russian Roulette' for First Time on 'M COUNTDOWN'". enewsWorld. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ Ahn, Eun Kyung (September 11, 2016). "[예능리뷰] '인기가요' 레드벨벳, 청량함 가득한 '러시안 룰렛 (Russian Roulette)' 무대". Top Star News (in Korean). Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Herman, Tamar (September 7, 2016). "Red Velvet & Bobby Kick Off K-Pop's Wave of September Releases". Billboard. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Red Velvet 'Russian Roulette' COMEBACK COUNTDOWN". SMTOWN. September 6, 2016. Naver V Live.
  10. ↑ Leeteuk (September 9, 2016). Kiss the Radio (in Korean). Seoul. KBS. KBS Cool FM.
  11. ↑ Ahn, Eun-kyung (September 9, 2016). "레드벨벳(Red Velvet), 신곡 '러시안 룰렛 (Russian Roulette)' 무대 첫 공개…'눈길'". Top Star Bews (in Korean). Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  12. ↑ Jo, In-woo (September 3, 2016). "레드벨벳, '러시안 룰렛'으로 컴백". The Korea Times (in Korean). Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  13. ↑ Kim, Soo-hyung (September 13, 2016). "'최파타' 레드벨벳 "러시아 룰렛 데뷔 전부터 꽂혀…애착多"". The Korea Herald (in Korean). Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ "컴백 레드벨벳, 세 번째 미니 앨범 'Russian Roulette' 베일 벗는다!". smtown (in Korean). September 6, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  15. ↑ Glasby, Taylor (October 12, 2016). "meet the girl group breaking k-pop's rules". Dazed Digital. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  16. ↑ Stern, Bradley (September 6, 2016). "Red Velvet's 'Russian Roulette' Video Makes Murder Look Positively Adorable". PopCrush. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  17. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (September 14, 2016). "Red Velvet Hits New Peak on World Digital Songs, Heatseekers Albums With 'Russian Roulette'". Billboard. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  18. ↑ South Korea's Weekly Gaon Digital Chart September 4-10, 2016 (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on September 25, 2016.
  19. ↑ South Korea's Weekly Gaon Digital Chart September 11-17, 2016 (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on September 25, 2016.
  20. ↑ Benjamin, Jeff (October 12, 2016). "Most Viewed K-Pop Videos in America, Around the World: September 2016". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Billboard Japan Hot Albums | Charts | Billboard JAPAN". Billboard JAPAN (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  22. ↑ Park, So-young (September 13, 2016). "레드벨벳, '더쇼' 1위..큰절로 감사인사 "추석 잘 보내세요"". Osen (in Korean). Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  23. ↑ South Korea's Gaon Album Chart from September 4–10, 2016 (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on September 25, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Red Velvet – Chart history" Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums for Red Velvet. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Red Velvet – Chart history" Billboard World Albums for Red Velvet. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  26. ↑ South Korea's Monthly Gaon Albums Chart (in Korean) Originally from Gaon Music Chart (September 2016). Retrieved on October 13, 2016.
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