'The ReVe Festival 2022 - Birthday'

The record

‘The ReVe Festival 2022 - Birthday’ is the mini album Red Velvet released on 28 November 2022, five tracks led by ‘Birthday’. It is the second chapter of the series reopened eight months earlier by ‘The ReVe Festival 2022 - Feel My Rhythm’.

The album introduction on Bugs says the title track is a trap-based pop dance track sampling George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, with a lyric promising that every day will feel like a birthday in the singer’s company. The same text calls it a second classical sample after the Bach of the previous record, and says that record reached number one on the domestic album and song charts and on the iTunes top albums chart in 41 territories. The other four songs are an R&B pop dance track, ‘BYE BYE’; a hyper-pop dance track, ‘롤러코스터 (On A Ride)’; an R&B pop dance track, ‘ZOOM’; and a mid-tempo R&B ballad, ‘Celebrate’.

Reviews

NME’s Tanu I. Raj reviewed the record three days after release. She wrote that it “celebrates their strengths while introducing elements of surprise”, and went through three of its songs in turn. What she counts as the record’s achievement are the B-sides: “‘Bye Bye’ and ‘Zoom’ help Red Velvet defend their crown of the act with the best B-sides.”

The same piece closes: “On that front, ‘The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday’ certainly is commendable progress – whether that distills into a more confident and cohesive sound on future releases is something we’re more than willing to wait for.”

Among the tracks

‘BYE BYE’ is the song both pieces put forward. NME wrote that it “samples a classical song, layering cool R&B-pop beats and groovy bass over Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’”, and that “the best part, though, is how the group incorporates the recognisable melody into their own vocal harmonies on the chorus, before stripping it all away for a minimal arrangement”. In the 127-song retrospective NME published for the group’s tenth anniversary on 1 August 2024, Tássia Assis asked of the same track: “What is the secret ingredient that makes these women so good when doing vintage and moody R&B?” She called the song a masterpiece.

Of ‘ZOOM’ the review wrote that “the haughty and proud ‘Bye Bye’ is matched in intensity by the equally dramatic ‘Zoom,’ where the group first discovers a lover’s deception”, and that “their vocals elevate the playful, bassy R&B dance-pop”. The retrospective calls the same song a track “playing out like a movie script”, where “a slinky bassline and fiery raps present their case”.

Of ‘롤러코스터 (On A Ride)’ NME wrote that “completing this trifecta of wins is ‘Rollercoaster (On A Ride)’”, and that “bold instrumentation rests comfortably on a consistent light beat, with twinkling xylophonic sound effects adding texture”. The retrospective calls it “the weirdest ride in the amusement park”, and says “this oddly addictive ‘roller coaster’ — its Korean title — will have you lining up for a repeat”.

Afterwards

The next release by the full group came eleven months later with the third full-length album, Chill Kill.