Red Velvet

Inspired by artists like En Vogue, Destiny's Child, and Gwen Stefani, South Korea’s Red Velvet are a five-member, all-female vocal group who make dance-oriented contemporary R&B and rap-infused pop. After the release of their first mini-album, Ice Cream Cake, they began their rise as one of K-pop’s more popular international acts, topping charts in both Korea and the U.S. with efforts such as their official debut full-length, 2015′s The Red, 2017′s Rookie and Red Summer EPs, and 2019′s two-part ReVe Festival sets. The group returned in 2021 with their sixth EP, Queendom, followed in 2022 by two more ReVe Festival EPs and the Japanese studio album Bloom.
Formed by music management giant S.M. Entertainment in Seoul in 2014, Red Velvet feature the talents of former S.M. Rookies Seulgi (Kang Seul-gi), Irene (Bae Joo-hyun), and Wendy (Son Seung-wan), as well as Joy (Park Soo-young) and Yeri (Kim Ye-rim). The group’s two initial singles, 2014′s “Happiness” and “Natural,” fared well with audiences and became two of South Korea’s most watched online videos during the month of their release. In March 2015, Red Velvet issued their first EP, Ice Cream Cake, which included the single “Automatic” and hit number two on Billboard’s World Albums chart.
Their debut full-length, The Red, arrived in September 2015. The album topped both the Billboard World Albums and the Korean Albums charts atop the success of the single “Dumb Dumb.” An R&B-influenced follow-up, The Velvet, arrived in 2016, with EP number three, Russian Roulette, released just months later. Another chart-topper, Rookie: The 4th Mini Album, was issued in January 2017. Several months later, Red Velvet delivered their sophomore album, the aptly titled Perfect Velvet: The 2nd Album. Buoyed by the single “Peek-a-Boo,” the set topped the Billboard World Albums chart. The Summer Magic EP arrived in 2018, and included the single “Power Up,” as well as an English version of “Bad Boy.” In 2019 the group issued the mini-album The ReVe Festival: Day 1, which was followed a month later with ReVe Festival: Day 2. Both sets topped the Korean charts and rose into the Top Ten on the U.S. World chart.
Sidelined from promotional touring in 2020, Red Velvet kept busy with contributions to Trolls World Tour (“Russian Roulette”) and an anniversary project for pop predecessor BoA (a cover of “Milky Way”). In 2021, they returned with their sixth EP, Queendom. Bloom, their first Japanese studio album, appeared in 2022, followed closely by the EPs The ReVe Festival 2022: Feel My Rhythm and Reve Festival 2022: Birthday. ~ Matt Collar & Neil Z. Yeung