Red Velvet celebrates release of new EP ‘The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday’

Red Velvet is back with another classical tune to show what it means to “be like Red Velvet.”

The girl group’s five members — Irene, Seulgi, Wendy, Joy and Yeri — introduced their new EP “The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday” at an online press conference on Monday, with U-Know Yunho from boy band TVXQ serving as the host of the event.

Like Red Velvet’s previous lead track “Feel My Rhythm” released earlier this year, which sampled J.S. Bach’s “Air on the G String” and proved to be a megahit, the new lead track “Birthday” samples melodies from another classical work: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924), but combines them with eccentric modern synth sounds.

“This year, we pondered really hard with each EP we released: What is the unique color that only Red Velvet can show?” said Joy. “So this year was a series of challenges with classical samples. Classical music can sound unfamiliar at first, but I think a lot of people accepted that unfamiliarity as something refreshing and unique to Red Velvet. We want to continue showing that ‘Red Velvet-ness.’”

“’Feel My Rhythm’ portrayed more of a timeless and elegant image through classical music,” said Seulgi. “This time, the vibe is starkly different. ‘Birthday’ also takes after classical melodies but is more kitsch and bubbly.”

According to Wendy, “Birthday” sings about wanting to give a loved one an unforgettable birthday and is one of her favorite songs of all time from Red Velvet, along with “Red Flavor” (2017).

“When I first heard the demo for ‘Birthday,’ I found myself vibing along to it,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘Why am I low-key dancing?’ The song really stole the members’ hearts from the first encounter.”

“In the lyrics for ‘Birthday,’ you’ll be able to find a lot of our previous song titles or lyric phrases,” added Joy. “I’ll be fun to look out for those.”

The EP sold over 710,000 copies in pre-orders as of Monday, already surpassing the first-week sales of the group’s previous “The ReVe Festival 2022 – Feel My Rhythm” (2022) released in March.

“We’re so thankful for the new records we set with every new release,” Joy said.

The EP also features tracks “Bye Bye,” “On A Ride,” “ZOOM” and “Celebrate.” Seulgi said that the group joined forces once again with producing team Moonshine, known for Red Velvet’s hits “Peek-A-Boo” (2017) and “Power Up!” (2018), for “Bye Bye.”

“The theme of the EP is time travel through our imagination,” said Yeri. “So perhaps ‘Celebrate,’ which sings about wanting to turn back time after a great day to enjoy those moments again, best conveys this EP’s concept.”

Red Velvet also premiered its kitsch, pastel-toned music video for “Birthday” during the online press conference, which shows members infiltrate a fantasy land.

Throughout the eight years since debuting under SM Entertainment in 2014, Red Velvet has never fallen off from being one of the top girl groups in K-pop.

“It’s because we’ve been challenging ourselves with a wide range of concepts, and that was only possible because fans trusted us to take on those challenges,” Wendy said.

“SM Entertainment has a lot of artists who have had long careers and are still very prolific today,” Wendy said, referring to acts like TVXQ and BoA. “Looking at them, we also become inspired to become long-running artists.”

“This year was like a festival for us, just like our EP series, and full of challenges,” Irene said. “We will continue to make challenges that show our ‘Red Velvet-ness’ throughout music.”

“The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday” drops on Monday at 6 p.m.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]