Russian Roulette (Red Velvet EP) explained
Russian Roulette |
Type: | EP |
Artist: | Red Velvet |
Cover: | Russian Roulette, Red Velvet album.png |
Caption: | Digital cover |
Released: | September 7, 2016 |
Recorded: | 2016 |
Genre: | Pop |
Length: | 24:45 |
Language: | Korean |
Label: |
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Prev Title: | The Velvet |
Prev Year: | 2016 |
Next Title: | Rookie |
Next Year: | 2017 |
Russian Roulette is the third Korean 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 the lead single "Russian Roulette".
Background and release
Despite earlier reports of Red Velvet having a summer comeback,[2] SM Entertainment announced that the group would release a new album in September.[3] 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".[4]
After revealing the first teaser on September 1, SM Entertainment announced that Red Velvet will release their third extended play on September 7, with seven tracks in the album. The album and title track were both titled Russian Roulette.[5]
Composition
The title track "Russian Roulette" is a synth-pop song with arcade sound feel with a retro 8-bit sound source.[6] The song was produced by Albi Albertsson, Belle Humble and Markus Lindell who also had a part in producing 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.[7]
"Lucky Girl" is a retro-style dance-pop song produced by Hayley Aitken and Ollipop with lyrics written by Kenzie. "Bad Dracula" was produced by Tomas Smågesjø, Choi Jin-Suk, and Nermin Harambasic from Dsign Music and American singer-songwriter Courtney Jenaé Stahl 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 produced 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 January 8 of Jam Factory and composed by Malin Johansson and Josef Melin. "Some Love" is a tropical house song written and produced by Kenzie, while "My Dear" was written and produced by Hwang Hyun of MonoTree.[8]
Promotion
Red Velvet held a special countdown to the release of their album through Naver's 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".[9] [10] This was followed by performances on Music Bank and Inkigayo where they also performed both songs.[11]
Critical reception
Tamar Herman of Billboard 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."[12] It ranked sixth on 20 Best Kpop Tracks of the Year by Dazed Digital. Taylor Glasby commented that the video "has a sinister combination of sweetness and threat" and called the song "devilishly satisfying".[13] [14]
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".[15]
Commercial performance
The album peaked at No. 2 on Billboards 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.[16] 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 one week later. All of the album's other tracks also charted.[17] [18] "Russian Roulette" became the most-viewed K-pop music video for the month of September in America and worldwide.[19] The album peaked at number 63 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums for the week of September 19, 2016.[20]
The group won their first music show trophy for "Russian Roulette" on the September 13 broadcast of The Show.[21]
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Russian Roulette.[22]
- Lee Soo-manproducer
- Jeong Eun-kyeongrecording engineer
- Kim Hyun-gonrecording engineer
- Jang Woo-youngrecording engineer
- Lee Ji-hongrecording engineer
- Hwang Hyunrecording engineer
- Lee Ju-youngrecording engineer
- Choo Dae-kwanrecording engineer assistant
- Nam Koong-jin (SM Concert Hall Studio)mixing engineer
- Koo Jong-pil (Beat Burger) (SM Yellow Tail Studio)mixing engineer
- Kim Cheol-soon (SM Blue Ocean Studio)mixing engineer
- Jeong Ui-seok (SM Blue Cup Studio)mixing engineer
- Tom Coyne (Sterling Sound)master engineer
- Min Hee-jincreative director
- Shin Hee-wonmusic video director
- Min Hee-jindesign
- Jo Woo-cheolGraphic design
- Kim Ye-minGraphic design
- Kim Ju-youngGraphic design
- Kim Han-kyeolGraphic design
- No Hae-nastylist
- Jeong Seon-eehair stylist
- Kim Ji-youngmake-up artist
- Kim Yong-minexecutive supervisor
- Red Velvetvocals
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Accolade
Year-end awards
Release history
Notes and References
- Web site: Russian Roulette - The 3rd Mini Album. Genie Music. 19 November 2024. ko.
- Web site: Hye-jin. Hwang. ko:SM 측 "레드벨벳 컴백 준비중, 일정 확정되면 발표". http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=201605261725330410. September 2, 2016. Newsen . May 26, 2016. ko.
- Web site: Young-woong. Park. ko:[단독] SM, 엑소 다음은 레드벨벳! 9월 새 앨범 컴백. http://entertain.naver.com/read?oid=076&aid=0002976550. September 2, 2016. Sports Chosun. Naver. August 19, 2016. ko.
- Teuk. Lee. Super Junior Kiss The Radio. . . Seoul . September 9, 2016 . ko.
- Web site: Woo-rim. Ahn. Red Velvet to Make Comeback on September 7. BNT News. BNT. September 1, 2016. September 2, 2016.
- Web site: In-woo. Jo. ko:레드벨벳, '러시안 룰렛'으로 컴백. http://dc.koreatimes.com/article/20160903/1009584. The Korea Times. September 3, 2016. ko.
- Web site: Soo-hyun. Kim. ko:'최파타' 레드벨벳 "러시아 룰렛 데뷔 전부터 꽂혀... 애착多". http://pop.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=201609131223548588376_1 . September 14, 2016. The Korea Herald . September 13, 2016. ko.
- Web site: ko:컴백 레드벨벳, 세 번째 미니 앨범 'Russian Roulette' 베일 벗는다!. http://www.smtown.com/Board/Details/7138296 . September 6, 2016 . SM Town. September 6, 2016. ko.
- Web site: Video: Red Velvet Drops Teaser Video for 'Russian Roulette'. Min . Susan . eNewsWorld. September 7, 2016 . September 6, 2016.
- Web site: Susan. Min. Red Velvet to Perform 'Russian Roulette' for First Time on M Countdown. enewsWorld. September 12, 2016 . September 8, 2016.
- Web site: ko:[예능리뷰] '인기가요' 레드벨벳, 청량함 가득한 '러시안 룰렛 (Russian Roulette)' 무대. Ahn. Eun-kyung. Top Star News . http://www.topstarnews.net/detail.php?number=212549 . September 12, 2016 . September 11, 2016. ko.
- Red Velvet & Bobby Kick Off K-Pop's Wave of September Releases . Herman . Tamar . Billboard . September 9, 2016 . September 7, 2016.
- Web site: Meet the girl group breaking K-pop's rules . Glasby. Taylor . Dazed Digital. October 13, 2016 . October 12, 2016.
- Web site: The 20 best K-Pop tracks of the year . Glasby. Taylor . Dazed Digital. December 14, 2016 . December 14, 2016.
- Web site: Red Velvet's 'Russian Roulette' Video Makes Murder Look Positively Adorable . Stern. Bradley. PopCrush. September 12, 2016 . September 6, 2016.
- Red Velvet Hits New Peak on World Digital Songs, Heatseekers Albums With 'Russian Roulette'. Benjamin . Jeff . Billboard . September 15, 2016 . September 14, 2016.
- Web site: ko:2016년 37주차 Digital Chart. http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/online.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=ALL&targetTime=37&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. dead. Gaon Music Chart. ko. https://web.archive.org/web/20160919151456/http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/online.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=ALL&targetTime=37&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. September 19, 2016.
- Web site: ko:2016년 38주차 Digital Chart. http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/online.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=ALL&targetTime=38&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. dead. Gaon Music Chart. September 25, 2016. ko. https://web.archive.org/web/20160923041442/http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/online.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=ALL&targetTime=38&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. September 23, 2016.
- Most Viewed K-Pop Videos in America, Around the World: September 2016. Benjamin. Jeff. Billboard. October 12, 2016. October 13, 2016.
- News: Billboard Japan Hot Albums Charts. Billboard Japan. ja. November 28, 2016.
- Web site: Soo-young. Park. ko:레드벨벳, '더쇼' 1위... 큰절로 감사인사 "추석 잘 보내세요". http://osen.mt.co.kr/article/G1110495917. Osen. September 13, 2016. September 15, 2016. ko.
- Russian Roulette. Red Velvet. S.M. Entertainment. ko. 2016. booklet.
- Web site: French Digital Albums: Week 36, 2016. September 2, 2016. March 30, 2019.
- Web site: ja:CDアルバムランキング 2016年09月19日付. http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2016-09-19/p/4/. Oricon. September 19, 2016. February 25, 2017. ja.
- Web site: ko:2016년 37주차 Album Chart. http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&targetTime=37&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. dead. Gaon Music Chart. September 25, 2016. ko. https://web.archive.org/web/20160919151734/http://gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&targetTime=37&hitYear=2016&termGbn=week. September 19, 2016.
- Web site: ko:2016년 09월 Album Chart. http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&targetTime=09&hitYear=2016&termGbn=month. dead. Gaon Music Chart. October 13, 2016. ko. https://web.archive.org/web/20161121082227/http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/section/chart/album.gaon?nationGbn=T&serviceGbn=&targetTime=09&hitYear=2016&termGbn=month. November 21, 2016.